Khatzotzra’ash

Khatzotzra’ash – an Augmented Trumpet

a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument design

by: Yuval Adler

The Name:

Khatzotra

χ

noun

trumpet
fallopian tube

Ra’ash

ʔ

ʃ

noun

noise
uproar

Problem Statement:

The goal of this instrument design is to allow a trumpet player to use his expressive technique to drive virtual instruments in a live setting. This is done by sampling the buzz of the mouthpiece and using it to drive physical models of said instruments, thus re-introducing the essential “noise” disregarded by contemporary MIDI controllers for sound synthesis.

The most difficult technical part of this design would be to obtain a high quality signal from the mouthpiece buzz on as wide a dynamic range as possible.

The challenges involved are mostly (but not limited to):

obtaining a high quality signal of the lip-buzz
mounting virtual instrument controls on the trumpet in a non-cumbersome way
balancing flexibility and simplicity for virtual instrument control interface
programing the virtual instruments to work with the buzz signal’s unique characteristics

Idea Research:

http://www.digitaltrumpet.com.au/
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/entertainment/lighted_key_fret_instruments/ez_series/ez-tp/

– Existing “E-trumpets” – mostly wind controlled MIDI interfaces.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/winds/silentbrass/silentbrass/sb7x-2/?mode=model

– Trumpet pickup mute for suppressing acoustic sound, and using the muted sound input to generate an unmuted sounding audio output.

http://www.ptrumpet.com/product/ptrumpet/

– Plastic trumpet for lighter weight, to balance added instrumentation to final product and reduce signal feedback from trumpet body back to mouthpiece.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019I3J37A?th=1

– Plastic flugelhorn, with variable lead pipe for easy addition of mouthpiece pick-up.

http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/brassacoustics.html

– Acoustics background for brass instruments.

http://recherche.ircam.fr/pub/dafx11/Papers/20_e.pdf
https://cycling74.com/2015/08/20/press-release-updated-percolate-objects-on-maxology/#.WA_Qkdw-5E4

– Physical modelling software kits.

http://www.dextermorrill.com/books.php

– Trumpet player and music technology researcher, Dexter Morrill (more MIDI-centric ideas).

https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~rmichon/bladeaxe/

– Good use of audio-stream input signals to drive digital synthesis in similar hybrid electro-acoustic instrument.

https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cc/shtml/cellettoMusic.shtml

– Good use of existing acquired skill utilized with familiar interface for electric musical instrument.

http://www.electrumpet.nl/Site/Electrumpet.html
http://www.sarahbellereid.com/#/migsi/

– Two hybrid electro-acoustic trumpet designs, involving some form of audio effect addition to the trumpet’s acoustic sound, with each representing a different point on the spectrum of interface complexity/simplicity.