Posts from — February 2010
Electric Violin Update {Update X3}
This week I will be putting together the first functional prototype of our electric violin. Here is a preview:
Update {03/03/10}: Just finished the design the alpha version of our group’s 3D speaker array. Going to build it tomorrow morning.
Update 2 {03/04/10}: The cabinet is built. Speakers have yet to be installed.
Update 3 {03/05/10}: The drivers are installed and it is soldering time! After that, this beast is going to be rigged up with a custom amp designed by John Bell, then tested at the University of Michigan’s anechoic chamber. Only then will we know if this design was reasonably successful at reproducing the directional tone color of an acoustic violin.
February 28, 2010 No Comments
Violin Update
Since I began working with Joseph Curtin, we have collaborated on several projects which have tried to improve the object that is the modern day violin. I am excited to report that we have evidence of some amount of success in our endeavors. The proof is that musicians are starting to request some of our inventions!
The photographs above show a fingerboard that features a new geometry we designed (digital model, FB just after milling, and FB on an instrument), as well as a next generation violin bridge, and a digital model of a standard bridge. Our improvements to these violin components are as follows. The new fingerboard geometry optimizes the area underneath each string to make depressing and playing a string as easy as possible, while our innovative bridge design reimagines the way bridges are constructed. This new method allows us to strengthen several fragile areas of the bridge, conferring the added benefit of improving sound conductivity between the strings and the soundboard. When our design is applied to traditionally shaped bridges, it improves the quality volume of a violin’s sound. These improvements are made even more dramatic when coupled with our inventive ultralight bridge shape.
February 3, 2010 No Comments
Baby Houdini With Katun {Update}
My band, Katun, is opening for Baby Houdini this Friday at the Canterbury House. For details look thought the links below.
Baby Houdini with Katun – Date: Friday, February 05, 2010 – Time: 8:00pm – 11:00pm – Tickets: $10 – $5 Students – Location: Canterbury House, Canterbury House, 721 E. Huron, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-5903
– Facebook Event
UPDATE: Baby Houdini and Katun have decided to donate all of the door revenue to Haitian Relief. Please come to support a good cause and listen to some good music! And don’t forget to spread the word, because the more people that come to the show the more money we raise for Haiti.
February 1, 2010 No Comments