Modeling Spatial Musical Instruments using Wave Field Synthesis

Abstract

This proposal integrates the areas of music, computer music and audio engineering and aims to develop the foundations towards a sound system to create spatial sound images through the practical application of the theory of Wave Field Synthesis (WFS), still unused in projects in Brazil. It is expected to create new listening opportunities through controlling the positioning or the projection or sound of each sound source (musical instruments and voices) so they can be located in different parts of the auditory space (concert halls, auditoriums, etc.). With this mapping of the listening space it would be possible to develop advanced applications of virtual musical instrumentation and physical modeling of spatial listening spaces, producing the sensation of being in the midst of sound sources and, through approximations and removal of projections of sounds, hear them with more or less emphasis. For that, it is proposed the development of a WFS encoder and decoder based on the AUDIENCE auralization platform developed at USP, which should be integrable as tools for interactive spatial sound applications in the context of mobile FAPESP thematic project.