Don Rickert Musical Instruments

Electro-mechanically Augmented Violin by Don Rickert (the Details)

EAAV-A, plus B+B+C “EAAV” is an acronym for Electro-mechanically Augmented Violin. “A” refers to version, in this case Version A. “B+B+C” stands for baritone, bass and contra-bass. An “Augmented” Musical Instrument Augmented musical instruments like EAAV-A, plus B+B+C are inspired by existing acoustic instruments, building upon their existing design, playing technique and performance practice, with new electronic and/or electro-mechanical vibrating elements added that extend their expressive capabilities. “Augmented” instruments are closely related to “Actuated” instruments. See the article, Augmented and Actuated Acoustic Musical Instruments. Both “Augmented” and “Actuated” musical instruments exist in a design space that lies between pure acoustic and electric or electronic instruments (e.g. synthesizers and violin-like MIDI control surfaces). EAAV-A, B+B+C Consists of Three Primary Parts that Make Sound There are many other supporting technologies utilized, which will be described later. EAAV-A, or the violin itself—this is the part that is played directly This can be thought of as the user interface to a 3-part network of musical instruments. B+B (Baritone and Bass Unit): An instrument about the size of a small cello (a highly-modified acoustic bass guitar), which plays the baritone and bass ranges (down to about 40Hz) B+B is not played or manipulated directly, but rather reacts to a highly-processed signal from EAAV-A. A unique feature of the “B+B” unit is that is has 7 bass sympathetic strings. These sympathetic strings react to the vibration of the B+B unit, producing a kind of natural acoustic auto-accompaniment (i.e. droning chords) to whatever is played on the... Read more →

Augmented and Actuated Acoustic Musical Instruments

Common Definition of “Augmented” and “Actuated” Musical Instruments: Musical instruments inspired by existing acoustic instruments, building upon their existing design, playing technique and performance practice with new electronic and/or electro-mechanical vibrating elements added that extend their expressive capabilities Difference in emphasis between “Actuated” (as commonly used by researchers and designers of such instruments) and “Augmented” Instruments Indeed, “Actuated” and “Augmented” musical instruments BOTH generally use a large number of electronic filters to “shape” sound output and, of course, audio amplifiers to drive the actuators. The fact is that most of the invention work on Actuated instruments is being done by computer scientists. Much of the work on Actuated instruments is happing at the Stanford University, Department of Music, Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (better known as CCRMA), the Aalborg University, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology in Aalborg, Denmark and the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology. For example, in a recent paper, Dan Overholt, et. al. (Overholt, D., Berdahl, E. & Hamilton, R., Advancements in Actuated Musical Instruments, the authors clearly state that... "Actuated musical instruments are physical instruments that have been endowed with virtual qualities controlled by a computer in real-time but which are nevertheless tangible." So... Actuated Instruments Emphasis is on computer control aspects of controlling the vibrating elements (i.e. actuators). It is all about the software! Augmented Instruments Emphasis is on lutherie (the making of stringed musical instruments such as guitars and violins) aspects, especially... Capitalizing on traditional methods of sound generation... Read more →

Update on Our 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry

Post moved to www.WildRockStudios.com. Please visit WildRock Studios for post relating to musical instruments designed by Donald Rickert and/or Don Rickert Musical Instruments. We Are Now Affiliated with the NEW WildRock Studios Hub Site Update on Our 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry Links to Guthman Video and Photos Don Rickert's 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry Related articles Read more →

Don Rickert Advances to the Performance Phase (Semi-Finals) of the 2013 Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition

Post moved to www.WildRockStudios.com. Please visit WildRock Studios for post relating to musical instruments designed by Donald Rickert and/or Don Rickert Musical Instruments. We Are Now Affiliated with the NEW WildRock Studios Hub Site Update on Our 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry Don Rickert Advances to the Performance Phase (Semi-Finals) of the 2013 Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Don Rickert's 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry Related articles Read more →

Don Rickert's 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry

Post moved to www.WildRockStudios.com. Please visit WildRock Studios for post relating to musical instruments designed by Donald Rickert and/or Don Rickert Musical Instruments. Competition Entry Links to Guthman Video and Photos Links to Guthman Video and Photos Don Rickert's 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry We Are Now Affiliated with the NEW WildRock Studios Hub Site Update on Our 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry Don Rickert's 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry Links to Guthman Video and Photos Related articles Read more →

Links to Guthman Video and Photos

Post moved to www.WildRockStudios.com. Please visit WildRock Studios for post relating to musical instruments designed by Donald Rickert and/or Don Rickert Musical Instruments. Related articles WildRock Studios (Updated 3-3-13) Update on Our 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry Don Rickert's 2013 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition Entry Links to Guthman Video and Photos Read more →

Don Rickert a Finalist in the 2012 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition

The 2012 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition is sponsored by the Georgia Teach Center for Music Technology. With his entry, an Electro-mechanically Augmented Acoustic Violin (EAAV) Don Rickert of Don Rickert Musical Instruments has been selected as a FINALIST in the "Augmented" category of the 2012 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition . The finals, involving actual live performance, will be Feb. 16-17. Dr. Rickert's Electro-mechanically Augmented Acoustic Violin (EAAV) bridges the gaps between acoustic violins and electric as well as MIDI violins. The violin has a completely orginal "floating bridge" that sits on a "shelf" that is an extension of the fingerboard. This "floating bridge"-"shelf" arrangement, in which the bridge does not come into contact with the instrument soundboard, has been dubbed by Rickert as a "Cantilevered Fingerboard." The entire neck, fingerboard and bridge assembly is as acoustically separate from the body as is practical. Multiple input transducers pick up as much as playing as possible. The inputs from the various transducers are put through a mixer, which is used to adjust the levels from the various tranducers. The output from the mixer is processed by a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) running on an iPod Touch. The output from the iPod goes to an on-board miniature stereo amplifier. The amplifier drives output transducers attached to two sound-plates composed of soft aluminum and a veneer of maple. This instrument can be made to sound like an antique classical violin, a cello, and various electronic effects can be applied via the DAW.... Read more →