Saturday, March 7, 2015

3D printed 2-string violin-like instrument

When it comes to sonic experiences however, Florida-based MONAD Studio wants to turn everything you know about instruments and sound environments up on it’s head.  
Founded in 2002 by design principals Eric Goldemberg and Veronica Zalcberg - both of whom studied architecture in Buenos Aires, Argentina and New York, USA - MONAD is a design research practice that focuses on “spatial perception related to rhythmic effect” with a focus on everything from urban plans and buildings to landscapes and product designs.   
Although the design team have focused on a wide variety of projects, it is perhaps their designs that center around sound that have garnered the most attention - particularly due to to their generative design methods that resemble what some might consider an futuristic spaceship aesthetic.  Of course, these wouldn’t be possible without additive manufacturing techniques.
The studio’s two-string Piezoelectric Violin (one of five instruments designed by the pair along with musician Scott F. Hall) would likely not be interpreted as a violin unless somebody saw one of the press photos, which features a musician playing the form like a traditional violin.  The design more closely resembles a scale model of a spaceship - however it is perfectly capable of playing a tune thanks to a piezoelectric sensor, which is used commonly used as a “pickup” on musical instruments to amplify sound.
The violin, which will be on display at the Javits Center in New York on April 16th and 17th, is a part of an installation titled ‘MULTI’, which aims to interweave the sonic artifacts within a backdrop activated by piezo mics that metamorphose into a complex meta-instrument in the tradition of a one-man band.

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