MEASUREMENT OF THE EFFECT ON VIOLINS OF AGEING AND PLAYING
This is a report on the first three years of a long-term experiment designed to measure how two very similar violins change with time. After being constructed ‘in parallel,’ one is stored under controlled conditions in a museum and is played infrequently, while the other is played regularly by a professional musician. Vibro-acoustic measurements were performed on the instruments and parts thereof during and after construction. Playing and listening tests by a panel of experienced violinists were conducted at completion, after three years with no adjustment, and then after minor adjustments were made to the played violin only. Panels of players and listeners rated the two violins at all stages, and all results are consistent with the null hypothesis: at present there is no significant preference for either instrument over a range of categories.
Perceptual evaluation of violins: a quantitative analysis of preference judgments by experienced players.
The overall goal of the research presented here is to better understand how players evaluate violins within the wider context of finding relationships between measurable vibrational properties of instruments and their perceived qualities. In this study, the reliability of skilled musicians to evaluate the qualities of a violin was examined. In a first experiment, violinists were allowed to freely play a set of different violins and were then asked to rank the instruments by preference. Results showed that players were self-consistent, but a large amount of inter-individual variability was present. A second experiment was then conducted to investigate the origin of inter-individual differences in the preference for violins and to measure the extent to which different attributes of the instrument influence preference. Again, results showed large inter-individual variations in the preference for violins, as well as in assessing various characteristics of the instruments. Despite the significant lack of agreement in preference and the variability in how different criteria are evaluated between individuals, violin players tend to agree on the relevance of sound "richness" and, to a lesser extent, "dynamic range" for determining preference.
Complex Systems Architecture Framework: Extension to Multi-objective Optimization
This paper shows the utility to follow an architecture framework in order to design complex systems with a holistic approach. Multi-objective Optimization techniques extend and complete the architecture framework to support trade-off analysis and decision making in the Systems Engineering design process. The merging and combination of these two approaches, decision making and systems engineering, contribute to the efficient design of systems by helping to meet needs and constraints stemming mainly from the system analysis.