SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY

ENGINEERING PROGRAM

DRUM SYNTHESIZER THAT EMULATES PROPERTIES OF TWO SIDED DRUMS

A PROJECT PROPOSAL REPORT Submitted by S.M.L.K.Rasnayake EN 10502020

B. ENG. (HONS) IN ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING MODULE: 16-6077

24th February 2012

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my Project advisor and supervisor Mr. M.Kalyanapala for accepting to supervise this project and guide me in this wondrous journey into the world of acoustics. Secondly I would like to thank all the people who have contributed to me indirectly by giving guides regarding sound related electronic projects through which I have gained the background knowledge and the courage to initiate this project. I would like to thank my friends who spent their time on discussing about my project and giving me ideas on how and where to start. Lastly and most importantly I would like to thank my parents for introducing me into the world of music which is the primary basis of motivation and courage for me to step into the wonderful hybrid world of music and electronics.

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Abstract
This is a project intended for developing an electronic percussion device that generates sounds similar to those of two faced drums. The final intended outcome is to generate tones of any part two sided drum so that this Drum Synthesizer can be used for overcome issues in recording the actual drum. This generation will not be made of samples, but by pure synthesis of the sound will be considered. The way in which this synthesizer would work is by usage of appropriate pressure sensors to detect the position at which a drum stroke is performed. Simultaneously a microphone will record the sound at that instant. Then triangulation is done using the sensors position to detect the actual position of the drum stroke. By analyzing the spectrum of the microphone input the type of stroke can be recognized. Then by usage of different synthesis methods, the information of the impact on the drum head and the information of the type of stroke, appropriate physical model emulation occurs within the main controller chip, which could be a DSP controller or DSP processor and the sound is generated in digital bit format. This is converted to analog audio by usage of D/A controllers and analog circuitry. The project shall address a lot of issues in percussion instrument recording.

Keywords:Drum Synthesis Percussion Synthesis Two Sided Drum Audio synthesis Physical Modeling Digital Waveguide Synthesis Digital Signal Processing Drum Membrane Modeling Hardware Physical Modeling Synthesizer

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgement Abstract Keywords List of Figures and Tables 1. 2. Introduction Background Information 4 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 9 10 11 11 12 12 14 14 14 15 16 17 18 19

2.1.Physical Modeling 2.1.1. Digital Waveguide 2.2. Analysis/ Re-synthesis 2.3.Hybrid Synthesis 2.4.History of electronic percussion
3. 4. 5. Literature Review Problem Definition Aims and objectives

5.1.Objectives
6. Methods / Activities

6.1. Sensor Use Description

7. Required Resources

7.1.Hardware 7.2.Software
8. 9. Cost Analysis Beneficiaries

10. Work Plan 11. Conclusion 12. Bibliography

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List of Figures
Figure 2.1.1.1 A digital waveguide for a drum membrane Figure 2.2.1 Syndrum Quad Figure 2.2.2 Korg Wavdrum 1994 Figure 2.2.3 Korg Wavedrum WD-X Figure 6.1 Project Development Process Figure 6.2 System Block Diagram Figure 6.1.1 Intended Placement of Piezo-electric Sensors(small circles) beneath the drum head(large red circle) and the microphone(indicated in blue) for proper determination of drum stroke Figure 10.1 Gantt Chart for the implementation of the project

List of Tables
Table 8.1 Table 8.2

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1. Introduction:Music is a field that is in need of electronics with the advent of sound engineering and is now in need of newer developments for instruments that can be lightweight, intelligent and different so most home music producers can actually produce more quality music without any hassle or need of expensive instruments so the best option for them is to buy midi controllers or other instruments that can support different sound banks present within a computer. But this does not allow the user to let his musical capabilities to be unleashed to his maximum extent. So if the producer has knowledge on drums it would be very useful if he has a suitable platform to utilize for creating more quality music. The device which I intend to develop is for fulfilling this purpose. It would allow a musician to have one device that can have many sounds and the musician would be able to create his own drum sounds. Current devices that provide a physical interface to the musician include mostly midi capabilities, i.e. they only allow a musician to trigger sound within a computer audio workstation and have many buttons to suit this purpose whereas some instruments that generate their own sound will often be very much limited but different in nature. So on their own they are not standalone music devices. But this again limits the musician to his sound banks and the buttons. Those that go beyond midi which include synthesizers and those with their own multi sampled sound banks are also limited in terms of emulating the actual functionality since most of these have mostly just a little more than one sensor on each drum pad that senses pressure and velocity. But for instruments like the Dhol (Indian Percussion) or native Sri Lankan Drums which feature a hollowed cavity in between the two faces of the drum, many electronic instruments that can synthesize them arent made commercially due to their unpopularity and also because most electronic musicians are able to afford multi-sampled instruments, which are sometimes more expensive than the drum itself. Also the important thing to note is that not many percussion instruments are studied for synthesis by physical modeling. Thus the necessity to create a drum synthesizer arises. When we consider two sided drums there are many parameters that govern the timbre, pitch, loudness, and the response towards different drum strokes. So the electronic percussion synthesizer should be able to change the various parameters that govern the above mentioned factors and thus allow the user to work with more flexibility with this instrument.

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2. Background Information:Before continuing into further aspects of the project it is important to know the technical terms used in this text to describe the project more clearly.

2.1. Physical Modeling: This is the method of using all equations pertaining to the parameters of a drum or other musical instrument and deriving relations between them to come out with the final equations for producing the required output [1]. This is the main basis required for digital waveguide synthesis technique. There are other ways to synthesize sound like additive synthesis, wavetable synthesis, etc. This method of synthesis is chosen because it presents a good approach to synthesis of sound for percussion. This method can be used for stringed instruments too but what is usually done is a combination of different synthesis methods.

2.1.1

Digital Waveguide: -

This is a method of modeling equations related to the wave and creating a digital medium for the sound wave to be propagated so that the required parameters are simulated within the Digital Signal Processor and the required output is generated from the output of the simulation [2]. This can be done within MATLAB and exported to the relevant DSP controller

Figure 2.1.1.1 A digital waveguide for a drum membrane ` This method of synthesis is very much desired for simulation of the drum membrane visually within a computer for analytical purposes. It has been shown that this sort of synthesis is possible by usage of transfer functions.

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2.2. Analysis/ Re-synthesis

This technique of synthesis is where drums are recorded and analyzed and then the Harmonic and Inharmonic components are taken into account and the sound is re-synthesized by generating those sounds. This requires lot of analysis time and cost but the final product cost is reduced to a great amount. Thus a cheap yet high quality synthesizer can be approached [3].

2.3.Hybrid Synthesis
Hybrid Synthesis is the method of combining two or more sound synthesis techniques to simulate percussion instruments more quickly. The primary reason why this method is used is to create the required synthesizer more quickly at a lower cost. Pure physical modeling synthesis is hard to implement within a small timescale therefore needs to be combined with some other form of synthesis such as wavetable synthesis, additive synthesis, etc. This method is used in most synthesizers that comes standalone [4].

2.4.History of electronic percussion

If we look at the history of electronic percussion first comes the drum controller known as the Moog modular synth in 1973 [5]. But the first commercially released in 1976 by Pollard Industries known as the Syndrum Quad. It was a percussion synthesizer with 4 drum pads and one pedal for the bass drum.

Figure 2.2.1 Syndrum Quad

This percussion synthesizer was in no means capable of any memory storage. It was a pure synthesizer so it came with its own manual for achieving different sounds which could be achieved by changing various parameters in the sound module in it. Sounds such as Laser(film sounds), birdcall could be achieved, which implies that this itself could be anything but definitely not a physical modeling synthesizer. In 1977 Star Instruments produced the Synare. It was an electronic snare drum synthesizer although it had a look of octo pads. This had features like a fully adjustable filter, and pink noise. All the above products, and some products that came later were not the best when it comes to physical modeling since the sound was achieved by mostly other combined forms of synthesis as seen from the history. It wasnt until 1994 that Korg released a mind blowing percussion synthesizer that had this capability known to the whole world as the Korg wavedrum [6]. This may not have only used physical modeling synthesis but it may have combined many others.

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Figure 2.2.2 Korg Wavdrum 1994 Since the Korg Wavedrum has most of the feautures desired in the device intended in this project, its history and background information is very noteworthy, In the figure 3.2 a black electronic unit is seen attached to the Wavedrum. This unit enables the user to edit parameters of the program loaded in the Korg wavedrum. However there were a lot of constraints in this unit when considering the customers perspective, which is mainly the price. However Korg reincarnated the Korg Wavedrum with a new model in September 2009, namely the Wavedrum WD-X.

Figure 2.2.3 Korg Wavedrum WD-X

This of course does not feature all the editing features granted by its predecessor but of course it has the modern technology in it and is thus way cheaper in comparison. This combines 36 DSP algorithms and 200 PCM samples that create this amazing musical interface. It basically has four sensors and uses them to process the type of drum stroke i.e. to see whether the drum was hit or scratched or rubbed. So the aim of this project is to create an electronic percussion instrument that can create sound based on various parameters related to percussion instruments such as tuning, skin properties, properties of the drum body,

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3. Literature Review
There are some research papers that discuss pure physical modeling or not only percussion instruments but also many others. These are basically abstract papers and they show that many equations should be processed for pure physical modeling [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]. Most of these papers show that three main researchers L.Trautmann, R. Rabenstein and S. Petrausch being involved in the development of pure physical modelling. Thus we can understand that pure physical synthesis is hard to achieve with low cost hardware development and project cost in mind. All the above mentioned abstract papers show that extensive research is still going on in this context which means that pure physical modeling synthesis is not feasible on a low cost DSP or DSC device due to the time scale allocated for this project and the target cost shown. Besides, the required equipment for that sort of research is very much expensive and is very specific to those who follow sound engineering as their primary discipline. Another reason why pure sound physical modeling is not very much implemented is due the high processing power of the DSP processor required in this sort of project. Initially this document mentions of the Korg wavedrum which has a very high capability in percussion synthesis [13]. The smaller lighter and portable version of the Wavedrum namely the Korg Wavedrum mini uses the SHARC ADSP-21375 Digital Signal Processor which is a 32 bit floating point DSP that runs at 266 MHz [14]. Techniques used in sound synthesis and how sound is perceived by the ear and spatial sound synthesis [15] is discussed by David Rochesso. Here he discusses usage of MATLAB to synthesize sounds using many equations related to different types of synthesis techniques. This has lot of material on the basic concepts of sound synthesis for the beginner. The topic on Psychoacoustics, which discusses how we perceive sound, is emphasized in the last chapters. This is useful for proper synthesis of any desired effects to be achieved by changing parameters so that it is correctly perceived by us. Since DSP processors deal numerically synthesis should be performed numerically within the DSP processor. This technique is discussed by Stefan Bilbao [16]. His text is mainly based on physical modeling of instruments. Since it is a numerical based context, it is important to use software that has very high numerical handling capability in this case, so MATLAB stands out as powerful software in this context. Then the text [17] Fundamentals of Acoustics is a great in depth insight into sound. Lot of matter is discussed including underwater acoustics as well. This is very useful to model parameters so that the device turns into a highly creative platform for musicians for experimentation. Also this itself alone is a very huge guide into acoustics and is used by standard institutions for reference as well as by other authors for their work as well. The reason for the selection of the dsPIC30F4011 in comparison with the TMS320C5535/C5505 (Texas Instruments) is due to the rapid prototyping capability since it comes in DIP package and low evaluation cost required for the deployment of the final project. This was done in comparing the availability and cost. Most of the Texas Instruments evaluation modules of these DSPs were low in stock, which meant that their delivery couldnt be guaranteed. Therefore the clear choice was of course the Microchip DSP. Both the Microchip and Texas Instruments chips use 16 bit fixed point processing and both had similarities[18] [19] so the choice was of course the Micrchips dsPIC30F4011

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4. Problem Definition
Electronic percussion had only been limited to drum sets for a very long time. Many others that aid percussion are merely midi controllers that do not synthesize different sounds depending on the user. Also the capabilities in the lately produced Korg Wavedrum are very limited as they do not allow users to customize their own sound. Also most of the percussion synthesis instruments are aimed at physical modeling for bass drums, snare drums, cymbals, hi-hats and not instruments like a Tabla or any other percussion instrument used before the modern drumset. Another issue is that percussionists are unable to fully let their ideas be produced without fault due to possible problems encountered when recording percussion instruments since different types of microphones are needed and these can be expensive [20]. This decreases the output of a creative percussionist due to costs involved in the studio. Recording with microphones is problematic if the recording uses more than one since two microphones separated by a certain distance may cause destructive or constructive interference. A worse issue is when they are not exactly in the same phase which in return will change the whole timbre of the actual sound and thus is problematic for music producers when coming to their final mix. Usually recording with more than one mike can happen for a two sided drum if more mikes are used to capture the spatial feeling and roomy atmosphere to give the sound engineer a greater flexibility to create a beautiful mix. But unfortunately since sound contains many spectral components from 20 Hz to 20 kHz this means the overall timbre will have subtle changes. Another issue seen in drum recording is the capture of the original bass sound of ethnic instruments. Many sound engineers have to go through great difficulty trying various methods to come to one final solution to record the original tone of the desired drum. Sometimes percussionists are capable of playing two different percussion instruments, so in that case they would require both the instruments to be brought to the studio if they were to record both these instruments. This is very tiresome and more than that would require setup time in the studio to record different percussion instruments. If they could have an electronic drum that can actually address this issue it would be of really good use. Another consideration is that if a percussionist can make use of his drum style(ex:- a Tabla Player) to play different drum (like a native Sri Lankan drum)it would help musicians explore different dimensions of sound and unleash their creativity at a different level. A percussion synthesizer should be able to synthesize the sound when the parameters and equations governing this are correctly input to the processing system. So this system will allow different percussionists to experiment their drum styles to be experimented with virtually any drum that has been made and any drum that can be made. One of the most important issues this device could address is live recording. Here noise from outside would not be any issues since there is no noise output from the device itself since the sound is generated through synthesis only. Therefore this would contribute to the live performance of percussionists. So the intention of this device would be to address these issues in a suitable manner, with the feasibility and cost in mind.

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5. Aims and objectives

The issues discussed in the problem definition are to be addressed in the project. Not only that but the liberty for a musician to change properties of a drum to create new sounds so that the musician gets a unique touch to whatever soundtrack he may be producing.

5.1.Objectives
1. 2. 3. 4. To create a two sided percussion synthesizer To create a platform for percussionists to work in the field of electronic music with more familiarity To create a low cost synthesizer with many functionalities that appeal to percussionists. To create a device that can deliver rich sound to the user so that tone and timbre

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6. Methods / Activities
For ensuring the achievement of this project I intend to follow the below development cycle. Informationrequiredobtained

PlanforInitiation

Simulationofrequired parameters

Simulation satisfactoryor possiblein hardware

Not Satisfactory

Satisfactory SoftwareDevelopment

Hardwareprototyping No

Final targets achieved? Yes Hardwaredevelopment

END Figure 6.1 Project Development Process

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The diagram of the working methodology of the intended project is as follows:-

PiezoElectric Sensorsgiveforce andpointof applicationdata.

DataisreadbyADC andsentindigital formattoDSPorDSC

Circuittodetect thetypeofstroke willsendthe stroketypetoDSP orDSC

DSPandMicrocontroller combination,oraDSC willdoprocessingof inputusingthestored equationsanddata

DACwilltake theoutputof the processing systemand turnto outputto analog

Microphoneused todetecttypeof strokeonthedrum head.

UserControlKnobsto ChangeParametersof thesystem

Feedbackon parameters changedto theuser

Analogcircuitrywill clearthesignaland amplifyitandwill havea3.5mmoutput andmanyotheraudio outputs

Figure 6.2 System Block Diagram

6.1. Sensor Use Description

Piezo-electric sensors will be placed under the drum head as intended and required as shown below in the figure and the required triangulation process is performed along with the processing of the mike placed in near vicinity to the drum head to determine the stroke on the drum in order to properly synthesize the desired output. A microphone in near vicinity provides information of the spectrum of the drum stroke.

Figure 6.1.1 Intended Placement of Piezo-electric Sensors(small circles) beneath the drum head(large red circle) and the microphone(indicated in blue) for proper determination of drum stroke

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7. Required Resources

7.1.

Hardware

The required hardware for this project will be as follows:Pressure/force Transducers: - For this sort of sensors Piezo Electric sensors can be used since they convey analogue information on how much pressure is applied on the drum head. DSP: - High amount of quick mathematical calculations will be required for this device therefore a device that is powerful than a M.C.U. will be needed for processing the input signal and deriving the output signal. The intended DSP processor for this purpose is the dsPIC30F4011 / dsPIC30F4013 since both are low cost, come in DIP packages. The dsPIC30F4013 is best suited for audio applications such as audio cancellation. If the final product requires higher processing power, a chip suited for high end devices such as the TMS320C5505 (Texas Instruments) will be taken into consideration. M.C.U.: - A microcontroller unit should give output information regarding the variables changed in the system so that the user can perform tuning of parameters to suit the occasion. A MCU Buttons and Knobs: - These are essential for the user to change parameters of the constants included in the mathematical equations governing the system. LCD/other type of display: - The user must be aware of what is being done within the system so relevant feedback is given through this unit.

7.2.

Software

MATLAB: - This will be used to simulate the system and ease calculations and derivations within the equations that govern the system and will be useful to make models of the actual system. ORCAD: - This software package will be used for precision PCB layout and other simulation purposes before emulation is performed. MPLAB: - If a PIC MCU or a dsPIC DSC is used, then in that case MPLAB can be used for the system. PIC Simulator IDE: - This is if a PIC MCU is to be used on the system. Proteus: - This has a large library of MCUs and Processors to simulate so this can be used before hardware prototyping. Other Software: - In case the requirement for higher processing power arrives, the software relevant to the DSP processor will be used.

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8. Cost Analysis
No proper cost analysis can be performed since the hardware to be used has yet to be determined since many suitability options are available for this project. The selection of components is also part of this project and thus needs time for a correct cost analysis for determining the exact cost. But given below is an estimate for the whole project.

Component dsPIC30f4011 PIC16f877A PiezoElectric Sensors Programmer PCBconstruction SmallMicrophone Auxiliary components DrumHead
Table 8.1

Unit Price Units Price 1550 1 1550 600 1 600 75 1900 4000 400 2000 1000 Unit Price 40000 600 75 1900 4000 400 2000 1000 15 1 1 2 1 2 1125 1900 4000 800 2000 2000 13975

This is the estimated cost if a dsPIC is to be used

Component OtherDSP processor PIC16f877A PiezoElectric Sensors Programmer PCBconstruction SmallMicrophone Auxiliary components DrumHead
Table 8.2

Units 1 1 15 1 1 2 1 2

Price 40000 600 1125 1900 4000 800 2000 2000 52425

This is a cost estimate if any other dsp processor is to be used(Here we actually attach the DSP evaluation board to the rest of the circuitry).

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9. Beneficiaries
The intended beneficiaries include:1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Musicians Sound Engineers Music Hobbyists Schools Music Producers Composers

This product does target a very specific audience. But this issue has to be addressed since the present day technology has the capability and it must be made use of to provide more quality audio entertainment as well as let musicians experience their capabilities in different percussion instruments without creating an environment where they are unable to utilize their percussion skills.

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10. Work Plan

The intended work plan for the given timescale is as follows:-

Figure 10.1 Gantt Chart for the implementation of the project

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11. Conclusion
So what can be concluded from this is that the final intended outcome of this device is to produce sounds of percussion instruments and change their properties based on analysis, which is to be achieved by a combination of physical modeling and analysis re-synthesis method. The practical difficulty arises in implementing this with a dsPIC but the required effort shall be put to make the cost price as low as possible since the final product is merely a prototype of the actually intended device. This means that

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B IBLIOGRAPHY
[1].Donell,MichealJ'o.DigitalSoundModelling.March1996. [2].SANDBERG,GRANandOHAYON,ROGER,[ed.].COMPUTATIONALASPECTSOFSTRUCTURAL ACOUSTICSANDVIBRATIONS. [3].Synthesizer.Wikipedia.[Online][Cited:0212,2012.]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_synthesis. [4].Puckette,Miller.TheTheoryandTechniqueofElectronic.December2006. [5].Render,Michael.TheElectronicDrumExperts.[Online] http://www.theelectronicdrumexperts.com/vintage_electronic_drums_3.htm. [6].Wavedrum.net.[Online]http://www.wavedrum.net/index.html. [7].L.Trautmann,S.Petrausch,R.Rabenstein.PHYSICALMODELINGOFDRUMSBYTRANSFERFUNCTION METHODS. [8].Bilbao,Stefan.AMODULARPERCUSSIONSYNTHESISENVIRONMENT.September2009. [9].Millman,David.Modelingadrum.August2008. [10].Rabenstein,AlexanderMllerandRudolf.PHYSICALMODELINGFORSPATIALSOUNDSYNTHESIS. [11].LutzTrautmann,RudolfRabenstein.DigitalSoundSynthesisbyPhysicalModelling.June2001. [12].StefanPetrausch,RudolfRabenstein.SOUNDSYNTHESISBYPHYSICALMODELING.September2003. [13].KORG.[Online]http://www.korg.com/wavedrum. [14].KORGSELECTSANALOGDEVICESSHARCPROCESSORFORITSWAVEDRUMMINIPERCUSSION SYNTHESIZER.AnalogDevices.[Online]0711,2011.[Cited:0221,2012.] http://www.analog.com/en/pressrelease/11_07_11_KORG_Selects_ADIs_SHARC_Processor/press.html. [15].Rochesso,David.IntroductionToSoundProcessing. [16].Bilbao,Stefan.NumericalSoundSynthesis.s.l.:JohnWileyandSonsLtd. [17].Kinsler,Lawrence,etal.FundamentalsofAcoustics. [18].TMS320C5535.TexasInstruments.[Online][Cited:0219,2012.] http://www.ti.com/product/tms320c5535#technicaldocuments. [19]dsPIC30F4011.Microchip.[Online][Cited:0221,2012.] http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en010337. [20.]Stamler,PaulJ.TheDoomoftheDumbek.Recording,themagazinefortherecordingmusician. [Online][Cited:212,2012.]http://www.recordingmag.com/resources/resourceDetail/236.html.

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