In thinking of DH projects as “instruments,” it was a pleasant surprise to see a presentation that envisioned DH tools as literal digital musical instruments that can be manually created through Dr. Berdahl’s “Synth-a-modeler” tool. Unlike existing synthesizer software, Edgar Berdahl’s toolset is more focused on the creation of musical instruments and the physical quality of their sounds.
The idea is that through a digital interface, one can create musical instruments through manipulating a simulacra of their physical components and recreate these sounds physically through 3D printing. Dr. Berdahl argues this process boasts interdisciplinary uses, mentioning specifically its uses in archaeology and physics. He also reiterated this project’s open-ended design philosophy, capable of being used to create experimental music or usable as a pedagogical device in the classroom.
There are a few issues with Dr. Berdahl’s project that deserve to be raised. 1.) The project seems to lack an apparently consistent language of databasing tools created in this software. While the tuning capabilities of the interface is very-well arranged by physical properties, the metadata does not seem to be a visible factor this early in the project’s development. This is a setback, but could become problematic in the future.
2.) The physical nature of the project’s interface is not fully “worked out.” Dr. Berdhal showed a few examples of physical peripherals that would work with the program, but did not discuss in detail alternatives to the “sliding device” he had on him. Further, it was unclear beyond the possibility of 3D printing peripherals could become available in the future.
These issues aside, Dr. Berdahl ended his lecture with a very important question, that I feel encapsulates a vital issue in Digital Humanities projects: “How do you create interdisciplinary knowledge that is interesting for all fields involved?” Such a question’s answer, I feel, depends on the question being asked and how pertinent it can be made to each fields through the communication of all fields involved with one another. However, this can only dent the surface of such an important question.
I echo you and Edgar in underscoring the importance and the difficulty of building interdisciplinary projects that advance knowledge for all of the fields — or at least of the scholars — involved.
It’d be great if our class could have gone to visit Dr. Berdahl in situ, to play some of the instruments he’s making and to see the peripherals that he is using to play the instruments at the moment (e.g., sliders).
One note: the issue of standardization is one that Dr. Berdahl raised himself, too, in terms of the variety of systems for creating virtual instruments.