User Manual

Crumar Seven User s Manual '
CHAPTER 3. WHAT IS PHYSICAL MODELING, EXACTLY?
If you look into the literature available on the internet, one of the most accurate definitions of “Physical Modeling”, when applied to
sound generation, is: “ Physical modeling synthesis refers to sound synthesis methods in which the waveform of the sound to be
generated is computed using a mathematical model, a set of equations and algorithms to simulate a physical source of sound ”. And
that's exactly what the Seven does, all the time, while you play it.
Let's take the “Tine Piano” (a.k.a. the Fender Rhodes Piano ) as an example. In the real electro-mechanical instrument, each key, when
struck, pushes a rubber hammer against a steel bar, making it vibrate. At the same time, while the hammer goes up, a damper goes
down, thus allowing the steel bar to vibrate freely, until the key is released and the bar is stopped by the damper going up to its rest
position. The vibration is transferred to a magnetic pick-up by means of the changes in a magnetic field, producing a very small electric
signal that is later amplified by an external amplifier. All this multiplied the number of keys the piano has.
Well, physical modeling, rather than just playing back a pre-recorded sound, tries to reproduce – in real-time, i.e. while you are playing
the piano – each and every element of the mechanical piano by means of complex mathematical computations that only a very fast
and powerful microprocessor could do. The result is that the sound interacts with the player, feels alive, feels natural, grows as the
musician expresses himself. This is what musicians expect when they play a mechanical (or acoustic) instrument, but with digital
instruments some of this interaction got lost somewhere in time, probably towards the beginning of the 80's when digital keyboards
pretended to replace the heavy and bulky boards of the past decade. We simply accepted a compromise: a lighter board, easier to haul
around, with a barely acceptable sound. But times are changing once again.
Crumar Seven User's Manual - Page 8