Re: Mechanism behind trumpet playing robot?

default · 2007-12-23T18:52:39+00:00

The air doesn't make the sound, the trumpet player's lips have tovibrate, similar to a reed instrument - the trumpet tunes thevibrating column of air and couples it, via the horn, to theenvironment. Lips/breath are excitation, length of pipe is the tunedcircuit, horn is the impedance matching element. Now getting a robot to do it? A trumpet player starts the note bypressurizing the mouth, tensing the lips, then suddenly removing thetongue to start the note - similar to spitting material off the tip ofone's tongue.Without those elements it is bound to sound different even if a robotis producing the sound by blowing air into the instrument. - the cheapeasy way would be to add a reed to the mouthpiece and that would makeit sound more like an alto sax? I do know for a fact that there's a church in NYC that has a few dozentrumpet - bugle pipes (one for each note) on the pipe organ and itdoes sound like a trumpet so there must be an organ maker that knowshow to do it. Strictly speaking, it wouldn't be a trumpet any more ifit had a reed in it.Lip tension and pressure will get four notes per valve or combinationof valves - 4 solid notes; with good players able to hit severalhigher notes per valving. A bugle is basically a four noteinstrument, a valve bugle is an eight note instrument.--