An Easily Removable, wireless Optical Sensing System (EROSS) for the Trumpet

This paper presents a minimally-invasive, wireless optical sensor system for use with any conventional piston valve acoustic trumpet. It is designed to be easy to install and remove by any trumpeter. Our goal is to offer the extended control afforded by hyperinstruments without the hard to reverse or irreversible invasive modifications that are typically used for adding digital sensing capabilities. We utilize optical sensors to track the continuous position displacement values of the three trumpet valves. These values are transmitted wirelessly and can be used by an external controller. The hardware has been designed to be reconfigurable by having the housing 3D printed so that the dimensions can be adjusted for any particular trumpet model. The result is a low cost, low power, easily replicable sensor solution that offers any trumpeter the ability to augment their own existing trumpet without compromising the instrument’s structure or playing technique. The extended digital control afforded by our system is interweaved with the natural playing gestures of an acoustic trumpet. We believe that this seamless integration is critical for enabling effective and musical human computer interaction.