After concluding my studies at the Institute for electronic music (IEM), where I wrote my bachelor thesis about a possible application of a glove as a musical interface, I decided to continue my research in the field of music machines and their capabilities.
Since the Sound Design department of the “FH Joanneum” has been invited to participate to the event “Salzkammergut 2024” to produce a physical music machine employing the traditional instruments from that region, I focused my work on the analysis and research of the “Hackbrett” as a topic of this semester. I aim to discover the peculiarities of this percussive-melodic instrument to produce a prototype able to reproduce human behavior while playing it.
Using small electronic components such as DC motors and solenoids, this project attempts to reproduce the technique and aesthetics of this instrument. The final product will be a music machine equipped with different servo motors and two solenoids for each string.
Under the supervision of Professor Winfried Ritsch, I conducted some research regarding its tradition and its role in the Austrian culture, to propose a simplified system that should represent the core of the instrument that I’m going to build next semester: the “One Wire Hackbrett”.
