The more complex the playing technique of an acoustic instrument the more difficult it is to create a virtual pendant. Felt Violin is a prototype of product which tries to challenge the norms of structuralist approaches to virtual instruments, which claim to fully represent its acoustic counterpart. Instead Felt Violin tries to achieve real expressivity within a defined aesthetic and cultural context: a neo-classical and avantgarde and nordic style. It is a virtual instrument, based on a theoretical deliberation, which includes a discussion of realism and the consideration of expressive cues and techniques of a violin.
Within two iterations of a prototyping cycle Felt Violin, was created in collaboration with a professional violinist, who was funded for this project by the government-aided foundation "Neustart Kultur".
The outcome is a modern virtual intrument with an intimate, and melancholic sound and emotional depth which was influenced by the aesthetics of the neo-classical and avant-garde movement.
Even though Felt Violin was deemed by an expert as having industry-standard quality, the next step is finding investors to optimize and extent the product.
A Realistic Virtual Instrument?
When is a virtual instrument perceived as being realistic or expressive?
Is it an imitation of the "real" physical instrument?
Based on the theory of perceputal realism, an object doesn't even need reference material in the phyiscal world. It only needs to establish realistic conditions to be perceived as such. Basically the whole world of science fiction is based on that idea.
For a virtual instrument that means, it doesn't need to imitate a real instrument, it just needs to behave and sound according to our expectations - meaning it needs to use expressive cues which are common for that type of instrument. For a virtual violin that means it needs to have characteristics such as: Legato transitions, portamenti, variable vibrato types and so on. The aesthetics of these characteristics are influenced by the cultural context - a violinist will play a song by Olafur Arnalds differently than a song by John Williams.
So creating a virtual instrument means knowing the expressive tools and making stylistic decisions about their use
