The Sensor Augmented Bass clarinet Research (SABRe) extends a bass clarinet with electronic sensors in order to capture the player‘s gestures. It is being developed with an instrument maker to fulfill professional quality standards and will be documented in order to allow its reproduction, thus trying to make a first entrance into the instrument market.
Augmented instruments are acoustic instruments, which have been extended by the addition of several sensors, thus allowing the performer to control external electronic devices. Inspired by instrument-like controllers such as the keyboard, in the last three decades they have been investigated and proposed some interesting results.
The Sensor Augmented Bass clarinet Research (SABRe) extends a bass clarinet with electronic sensors in order to capture the player‘s gestures (Fig. 1). It is being developed with an instrument maker to fulfill professional quality standards and will be documented in order to allow its reproduction, thus trying to make a first entrance into the instrument market.
An independant sub-task of SABRe focuses on a clarinet mouthpiece (airMEMS), which can be used simultaneously as an acoustic mouthpiece as well as a wind controller, sending information about the air pressure in the player‘s mouth. First airMEMS prototypes are currently available in combination with SABRe instruments and will be also used in standalone mode in a near future.
The Sensor Augmented Bass Clarinet Research (SABRe) project uses the already existing know-how to produce a standardized device, which can be reproduced several times, used by anybody in many possible configurations and eventually be extended to other similar instruments.
Sensors
Four sensors families are available on SABRe:
- Thumb switches
Three push-buttons are placed under the left hand thumb (Fig. 2) and can be used for any kind of event triggering (program changes, tape control, lighting, etc.).
- Key sensors
Each key has a permanent magnet which produces a magnetic field, captured by a Hall Effect sensor placed underneath (Fig. 3). Thus it is possible to collect at real-time the position of each key and calculate e.g. its pressing speed or the clarinet fingerings.
- IMU
The Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) measures acceleration and rotation in all three directions of space (Fig. 4) and embed also a compass. Thus it is possible to obtain dynamic (acceleration) and static (position) information about the instrument, as well as its location.
- airMEMS
A small industrial air pressure sensor captures the pressure in the player‘s mouth through a flexible hose (Fig. 5). This static pressure information can be used as a control parameter or for monitoring purposes.
Communication
SABRe sends collected data to a receiver on a dedicated radio channel, then through USB to a small computer program called sabreServer, where they are monitored, parsed and calibrated. From there, they can be read by any application or device understanding the OpenSoundControl protocoll.
Composers Residencies
International renown composers have been invited to a residence at ICST and commanded to write a piece for the instrument:
Katharina Rosenberger (Los Angeles, CA, USA), Hans Tutschku (Cambridge, MA, USA), Alex Buess (Basel, Switzerland), Jacopo Baboni Schilingi (Paris, France), Marko Ciciliani (Wien, Austria), Marco Stroppa (Stuttgart, Germany), Martin Schlumpf (Zurich, Switzerland)