The Spring 2020 issue of Acoustics Today includes a feature article by Belmont Physics Professor Dr. Scott Hawley, written at the request of the editor, on the topic of synthesizing musical instrument sounds using physics and machine learning.
Hawley and co-authors Vasileios Chatziioannou (University of Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria) and Andrew Morrison (Joliet Junior College, Illinois) summarize their article by saying, “Physics-based modeling provides insight into sound production processes, whereas machine learning generates increasingly realistic imitations from recordings alone.”
In the course of preparing the manuscript, Hawley noticed an opportunity for improvement in computer code by Google’s musical instrument synthesis model, resulting in Hawley’s edited version being included in their “Tensorflow” code repository, used by tens of thousands of developers worldwide.
The open-access link for the article is https://tinyurl.com/hawley-at2020 and features multimedia links for audio files and interactive demonstrations.
