HANDSKETCH: BI-MANUAL CONTROL OF VOICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS AND LONG TERM PRACTICE ISSUES

In this paper, we describe the development of a new musical instru- ment, called the HandSketch. This new instrument is developed in respect with the Convergent Luthery Model (10). It means that this instrument has to be practicable right from the beginning of the prototyping, in order to allow the progressive embodiment of the object. This specificity leads us to focus our control paradigm on the writing. The HandSketch is a digital instrument made for the bi-manual control of voice quality dimensions: pitch, instensity, glottal flow parameters (6). It is made of purshasable devices: a pen tablet and force sensing resistors (FSRs). More precisely it is built around a Wacom TM graphic tablet (31), played vertically along the up- per part of the body. The HandSketch uses a particular polar transformation of the control space in order to fit the requirements of ther prefered hand. A sensing strategy inspired by woodwind and string instruments is adapted to FSRs for the use of the non- prefered hand. It is important to highlight that the instrument evolved in nine consecutive versions - being now called HS1.8 - and thus reached a more stable shape and behavior. The most recent playing situation is illustrated in Figure 1.

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