The Hyper-Mandolin

Abstract

This paper presents the Hyper-Mandolin, which consists of a conventional acoustic mandolin augmented with different types of sensors, a microphone, as well as real-time control of digital effects and sound generators during the performer's act of playing. The placing of the added technology is conveniently located and is not a hindrance to the acoustic use of the instrument. A modular architecture is involved to connect various sensors interfaces to a central computing unit dedicated to the analog to digital conversion of the sensors data. Such an architecture allows for an easy interchange of the sensors interface layouts. The processing of audio and sensors data is accomplished by applications coded in Max/MSP and running on an external computer. The instrument can also be used as a controller for digital audio workstations. The interactive control of the sonic output is based on the extraction of features from both the data captured by sensors and the acoustic waveforms captured by the microphone. The development of this instrument was mainly motivated by the author's need to extend the sonic and interaction possibility of the acoustic mandolin when used in conjunction with conventional electronics for sound processing.