Automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars

Idiophones generate sound through the vibration of their beam-like “keys”. The musical sound generated depends on the natural bending vibrations of the free-free beams. The tonal quality of the idiophone bar is achieved by tuning the second and third natural bending frequencies in relation to the fu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Zhao, Mingming
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Curtin University 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68
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author Zhao, Mingming
author_facet Zhao, Mingming
author_sort Zhao, Mingming
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Idiophones generate sound through the vibration of their beam-like “keys”. The musical sound generated depends on the natural bending vibrations of the free-free beams. The tonal quality of the idiophone bar is achieved by tuning the second and third natural bending frequencies in relation to the fundamental natural frequency. Tuning these harmonic overtones becomes one of the primary tasks for making idiophone bars. It is achieved by removing material from the underside of the beams. This thesis focuses on the accurate prediction of the geometry of the beam underside (undercut) shape of marimba bars1 and the fine tuning process for correcting the unavoidable uncertainties of wood during automated tuning.The correct underside shape of the marimba bar was predicted using Timoshenko beam receptances. The underside shape predictive model predicts the resulting natural bending frequencies based on the undercut geometry of the bars. A search algorithm was implemented to find the correct geometry of the undercut for the multi-mode frequency requirements. A CNC machine tool was adapted to mill the specified underside shape from a wood blank, and this machine tool was combined with the predictive model and automatically controlled by the hardware controlling program. A fine tuning program was developed to incrementally approach the target natural frequencies from above, thereby correcting for the unknown non-homogeneity and anisotropy of wood.Manufacture of wooden bars showed that the underside shape predictive model was very accurate when the elastic properties of the test material are accurate. For non-homogeneous and anisotropic material the improvement of the actual results made by the fine tuning program were observed. A physical machining centre, which combines the underside shape predictive model, the fine tuning program, the hardware controlling program, the frequency measuring program and a self-built CNC machine, have been developed to automate the tuning process.
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format Thesis
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T05:43:04Z
publishDate 2011
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-682017-02-20T06:42:04Z Automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars Zhao, Mingming Timoshenko beam receptances marimba bar multi-modal tuning idiophone bars Idiophones generate sound through the vibration of their beam-like “keys”. The musical sound generated depends on the natural bending vibrations of the free-free beams. The tonal quality of the idiophone bar is achieved by tuning the second and third natural bending frequencies in relation to the fundamental natural frequency. Tuning these harmonic overtones becomes one of the primary tasks for making idiophone bars. It is achieved by removing material from the underside of the beams. This thesis focuses on the accurate prediction of the geometry of the beam underside (undercut) shape of marimba bars1 and the fine tuning process for correcting the unavoidable uncertainties of wood during automated tuning.The correct underside shape of the marimba bar was predicted using Timoshenko beam receptances. The underside shape predictive model predicts the resulting natural bending frequencies based on the undercut geometry of the bars. A search algorithm was implemented to find the correct geometry of the undercut for the multi-mode frequency requirements. A CNC machine tool was adapted to mill the specified underside shape from a wood blank, and this machine tool was combined with the predictive model and automatically controlled by the hardware controlling program. A fine tuning program was developed to incrementally approach the target natural frequencies from above, thereby correcting for the unknown non-homogeneity and anisotropy of wood.Manufacture of wooden bars showed that the underside shape predictive model was very accurate when the elastic properties of the test material are accurate. For non-homogeneous and anisotropic material the improvement of the actual results made by the fine tuning program were observed. A physical machining centre, which combines the underside shape predictive model, the fine tuning program, the hardware controlling program, the frequency measuring program and a self-built CNC machine, have been developed to automate the tuning process. 2011 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68 en Curtin University fulltext
spellingShingle Timoshenko beam receptances
marimba bar
multi-modal tuning
idiophone bars
Zhao, Mingming
Automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars
title Automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars
title_full Automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars
title_fullStr Automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars
title_full_unstemmed Automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars
title_short Automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars
title_sort automatic multi-modal tuning of idiophone bars
topic Timoshenko beam receptances
marimba bar
multi-modal tuning
idiophone bars
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68