Block-Based Physical Modeling for Digital Sound Synthesis

Block-based physical modeling is a methodology for modeling physical systems with different subsystems. It is an important concept for the physical modeling of real or virtual musical instruments where different components may be modeled according to different paradigms. Connecting systems of diverse nature in the discrete-time domain requires a common interconnection strategy. This contribution presents suitable interconnection strategies that incorporate a wide range of modeling blocks and considers the automatic implementation of blockbased structures. Software environments are presented, which allow to build complex sound synthesis systems without burdening the user with problems of block compatibility. Physical modeling for digital sound synthesis evolved around 1990 [1]–[4] and has since then produced a variety of modeling [Building multicomponent structures] paradigms for all kinds of sound production mechanisms [5]–[9]. Despite or because of this progress, modeling of real or virtual musical instruments seems to be a more complex task than ever. Since musical instruments consist of different components with different physical nature, there is no best method for physical modeling. However, choosing a different model for each component leads to a mixture of different numerical methods that have to be carefully interfaced for a meaningful and reliable real-time operation and control. A strategy well known from the simulation of dynamical systems is to separate the tasks of component modeling and model interaction. Modeling a component of a physical system means to identify the relevant quantities (force, deflection, pressure, velocity, etc.), to set up a mathematical description based on the basic laws of physics and to find a suitable discretization fo