Project description
Haptic-enabled digital harpsichord innovation
Musical keyboards are environments that blend touch and tone. The harpsichord, often misunderstood, features subtle interactions that modern performers are rediscovering. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the eMIDAS project will preserve and enhance intangible heritage by developing the first digital harpsichord that integrates haptic feedback with sound synthesis. It will create a digital twin of the harpsichord, enabling real-time adjustments of touch-tone features through virtual voicing. Building on previous advancements in touch synthesis, eMIDAS introduces the first ambimodal synthesiser, enabling keyboard players to transcend the limitations of existing instruments. The research involves collaboration with the Bologna Conservatory to ensure that professional harpsichordists and students contribute to prototype development and explore its potential.
Objective
Musical keyboards are not just sound producers but environments whose exploration requires touch and tone to be integrated. The harpsichord, often caricatured as lacking nuance, in fact embodies subtle haptic-aural interactions, whose historical dimension – elusive due to the loss of perishable materials and oral traditions – is revived and renewed by today’s performers. eMIDAS (expanding Musical Interactions with a Digital Ambimodal Synthesiser) seeks to preserve and extend this intangible heritage by creating the first digital harpsichord coupling haptic feedback and sound synthesis.
The project has three aims: (1) design a digital twin of the harpsichord by integrating a haptic keyboard with physical-model sound synthesis; (2) introduce “virtual voicing”, enabling performers to adjust touch-tone features in real time; and (3) develop methods to assess the credibility of digital twins through performer-centred evaluation. Building on pioneering work in touch synthesis and the ERC-funded NEMUS project, eMIDAS goes beyond the state of the art by creating the first ambimodal synthesiser, allowing keyboard players to transcend the current touch-sound intertwinement afforded by the existing instruments.
The research combines musical acoustics, engineering, performance studies, and organology, supported by training and supervision at the University of Bologna and a secondment at the University of Pavia within the ERC Synergy project REM@KE. Partnership with the Bologna Conservatory will ensure professional harpsichordists and students inform prototype development and explore its potential.
eMIDAS will strengthen the fellow’s interdisciplinary profile at the crossroads of engineering and humanities, advancing expertise in physical modelling and cognitive research. Its impacts range from scholarly and artistic research to education, heritage, and the European creative industries, where ambimodal synthesis may become a driver of innovation.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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40126 Bologna
Italy
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