Project description
Creating new music through sound morphing
The MORPH project uses signal processing to examine timbre in traditional musical instruments, and through sound morphing and technology to create hybrid musical instruments. Examining the sonic gap between instrument sounds, this multidisciplinary project will integrate a user interface to lead expression beyond the known boundaries in digitised acoustic music. It will develop new modelling techniques for instrument sounds, expand our knowledge of signal processing and timbre, and blur the distinctions between sounds. This will not only add to the understanding of timbre but will also exponentially boost the creation of new music through hybrid instrument sounds.
Objective
Sound morphing has the potential to provide critical new insight into our understanding of timbre perception, and to deliver innovative virtual hybrid musical instruments for the creative exploration of the sonic gap which exists between traditional musical instrument sounds. Timbre, a highly complex perceptual phenomenon traditionally associated with musical instruments, is considered one of the last frontiers of auditory science. Sound morphing holds enormous promise for the investigation of timbre perception because it can gradually blur the categorical distinction between sounds by blending their sensory attributes. In this groundbreaking multidisciplinary project that fuses signal processing, experimental psychology, and music technology, I propose to use sound morphing to create continuous timbre spaces by filling the gaps between traditional musical instruments and therefore breaking the categorical perception of musical instrument timbre by the auditory illusion of hybrid musical instruments. This radically novel approach will integrate a touch user interface to enable the creative exploration of sound morphing with original virtual hybrid musical instruments that push the creative boundaries of musical expression by moving beyond the physical limitations of acoustic musical instruments and the traditional digital musical instruments that rely on them. The impact of this project will be felt across three prominent, complementary research domains, namely: signal processing; timbre perception; and musical interaction. First, this project will advance music signal processing by developing new modeling techniques specifically tailored for musical instrument sounds. Second, it will provide powerful analysis tools to further our understanding of musical timbre perception. Finally, the project aims to revolutionize musical expression by fostering new musical results through the creative exploration of continuous timbre spaces and hybrid musical instrument sounds.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
75794 Paris
France