Using Haptic Devices to Interface Directly with Digital Waveguide-Based Musical Instruments

A haptic musical instrument is an electronic musical instrument that provides the musician not only with audio feedback but also with force feedback. By programming feedback controllers to emulate the laws of physics, many haptic musical instruments have been previously designed that mimic real acoustic musical instruments. The controller programs have been implemented using finite difference and (approximate) hybrid digital waveguide models. We present a novel method for constructing haptic musical instruments in which a haptic device is directly interfaced with a conventional digital waveguide model by way of a junction element, improving the quality of the musician’s interaction with the virtual instrument. We introduce both the explicit digital waveguide control junction and the implicit digital waveguide control junction.