Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688

www.elsevier.com/locate/sigpro

Digital sound synthesis of string instruments with the functional

transformation method
Rudolf Rabenstein∗ , Lutz Trautmann
University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Multimedia Communications and Signal Processing, Cauerstr. 7, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany

Received 12 September 2002; received in revised form 31 October 2002

Abstract

The theory of multidimensional continuous and discrete systems is applied to derive a parametric description of musical
sounds from a physical model of real or virtual string instruments. The mathematical representation of this model is given
by a partial di,erential equation for a vibrating string. Suitable functional transformations with respect to time and space
turn this partial di,erential equation into a multidimensional transfer function. It is the starting point for the derivation of a
discrete-time system by classical analog to discrete transformations. The coe0cients of this discrete model depend explicitly
on the geometric properties and material constants of the underlying physical model. This ensures a meaningful behaviour of
the discrete system under varying conditions and allows for an intuitive control by the user. Furthermore, the performance of
real-time implementations is discussed. Finally, several extensions of this synthesis method for computer music applications
are presented.
? 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Digital sound synthesis; Digital musical instruments; Multidimensional systems; Real-time implementation

1. Introduction mixing, and e,ects processing into a single desktop

With the emergence of digital musical instruments
in the 1980’s, the application of digital sound synthe-
sis has been con;ned at ;rst to stand alone solutions
with dedicated hardware. The next major application
were sound cards for personal computers with built-in
synthesizers for the play-back of musical instru-
ment digital interface (MIDI) ;les. Modern Pentium
class processors allow the integration of all studio
functions, like recording, real-time sound synthesis,
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rabe@lnt.de (R. Rabenstein), traut@lnt.de
(L. Trautmann).
URLs: http://www.LNT.de/∼rabe, http://www.LNT.de/∼traut
PC. Today, the MPEG-4 video and audio coding stan-
dard encompasses also a set of tools called structured
audio, which are suitable for the creation, transmission
and rendering of synthetic music for virtual environ-
ments [16]. Thus digital sound synthesis is making its
way from dedicated applications to the mainstream of
multimedia signal processing.
The synthesis methods used in digital musical in-
struments can be classi;ed into signal based meth-
ods and physical modelling methods. Signal based
methods attempt to create the waveform or the spec-
trum of the desired sound. Physical modelling meth-
ods model the underlying physical e,ect of mechanical
vibrations. Signal based methods have already been
used in analog synthesizers. Their digital counterparts

0165-1684/03/$ - see front matter ? 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0165-1684(03)00083-5
1674 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
usually exhibit a modest computational complexity.
Physical modelling methods, on the other hand, re-
quire a powerful processor and thus have been applied
only recently.
For a thorough discussion of sound based synthesis
methods see e.g. [4,7,13]. Here, a short characteriza-
tion of some key methods is su0cient. The wavetable
synthesis is capable of producing the most natural
sounds. It requires a large database of recorded sin-
gle notes from existing musical instruments. These
sounds are reproduced on demand, e.g. triggered by a
keyboard. The memory requirements for the recorded
sounds are met by hard disks in the Gigabyte range.
On the one hand, wavetable synthesis reproduces nat-
ural sounds with superb quality, on the other hand,
there is little room for sound modi;cations by the user
without impairing the sound quality.
Spectral synthesis comprises a number of meth-
ods to model the spectrum of harmonic and noise-like
sounds. Usually, various oscillators in parallel pro-
duce a spectrally rich sound spectrum, which is modi-
;ed by subsequent time-varying ampli;ers and ;lters.
Here the user has a number of parameters to control,
like frequency and signal shape of the oscillators, gain
factors, and ;lter characteristics. The variability of the
sound increases further, if the oscillators are coupled
(frequency modulation (FM) synthesis). Here, only a
handful of parameters (oscillator frequencies and gain
factors) are su0cient to produce a wide range of di,er-
ent sounds. However, the availability of powerful con-
trol parameters is blessing and curse at the same time:
They allow easy modi;cation of the sound spectrum,
but they make it also hard to decide which parameter
to vary to achieve a certain e,ect. This is especially
true for FM synthesis, where there are highly nonlin-
ear relationships between parameter values and cor-
responding sound variations. As a consequence, few
musicians try to experiment with parameter settings
and use the manufacturers presets instead.
Physical modelling synthesis methods di,er from
the sound based synthesis methods described above
since they simulate the physical system which pro-
duces the acoustical wave forms. The most popu-
lar method so far is the digital waveguide (DWG)
method. It is based on the analogy between wave prop-
agation mechanisms in acoustical and electrical me-
dia. This analogy is expressed mathematically by the
wave equation, which is a simpli;ed description of
waves in solids and Juids. The solution of the wave
equation in one spatial dimension can be represented
by a pair of travelling waves (D’Alembert solution).
A discrete-time model for the simulation of this
behaviour consists of a bidirectional delay line with
coupling coe0cients between the taps to approximate
loss and dispersion, the digital waveguide [4, Chapter
10; 13, Chapter 7; 20]. In practical implementations,
this structure is reduced to a feedback loop containing
a delay line and digital ;lters [15,30,31]. The DWG
method is a true physical modelling algorithm since
it is based on the travelling wave model for wave
propagation. However, this model is too simple for
a rigorous derivation of the coe0cients of the loop
;lters. Again, human intuition and cleverly designed
presets have to make up for a mathematically sound
derivation of the discrete model.
It appears, that physical modelling is a powerful ap-
proach, however, the underlying model still has to be
re;ned to represent the physical reality more closely.
This paper presents such a model and shows how to
produce the waveform of the respective sound. The
starting point for these considerations is a physical
model of the sound production mechanism. We will
use a vibrating string as an example, but the method
applies also to spatially two- and three-dimensional
elastical structures and to oscillations in Juids, as long
as there exists a mathematical description of the phys-
ical process in form of a partial di,erential equation
(PDE). The parameters in this PDE and its initial
and boundary conditions constitute the physical model
presented in Section 2. Next, methods from multidi-
mensional system theory (see Section 3) are applied
to convert the physical model into a continuous-time
transfer function description (Section 4). Section 5
shows the conversion to a discrete-time transfer func-
tion by classical analog-to-discrete transformations.
Next, the realization by a multidimensional digital ;l-
ter is developed in Section 6. An application example
is presented in Section 7 and various extensions are
discussed in Section 8. Finally, Section 9 applies this
sound synthesis method to computer music.
2. Physical model
In this section we discuss the physical model of
a transversal vibrating string used throughout the
 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688 1675

paper. The presentation is restricted to one dimension initial deJection pro;le y(x; 0) and the initial veloc-
in space. This is su0cient for modeling vibrating ity ẏ(x; 0) at t = 0. The dot denotes time derivation
strings and also for most wind instruments. Further- ẏ(x; t) = @y=@t. For simplicity, we consider homoge-
more, a number of justi;able simpli;cations are made. neous initial conditions
The string is assumed to be elastic, homogeneous and

y(x; 0)
isotropic. The deJection is small enough to change fi {y} = = 0: (2)
neither the cross section nor the tension on the string ẏ(x; 0)
so that the string behaves linearly. Furthermore, the
smoothness of its surface shall not permit stress con- 2.3. Boundary conditions
centration. The physical model can be derived from
the basic laws of elasticity. It is formulated as a PDE The vibration modes of a string are not only deter-
for the deJection of the vibrating string. No deriva- mined by the PDE but also by the boundary condi-
tions are given for the following PDE, since it is well tions at the ends x = 0 and x = l. To solve (1) we need
documented in the literature [1,29]. four boundary conditions because in (1) the highest
order of spatial derivatives is four. In most musical
2.1. Partial di8erential equation instruments the string is ;xed at the ends, so that the
deJection y and the skewness y

at these points are
We consider a string with length l, cross-section zero [14]
area A and the moment of inertia I . The string material

y(x; t)
is characterized by its density  and its Young’s mod- fb {y} = = 0; x = 0; l
ulus E. TS is the tension applied to the string and d1 is y

(x; t)
a frequency independent and d3 is a frequency depen-
dent decay variable. The space and time coordinates with y

= @2 y=@x2 : (3)
are x and t. The deJection of the string is denoted by
y(x; t) and the excitation by a force density (force per 2.4. Operator notation
length) fe (x; t). With these designations, the model is
given by To simplify the notation and to show the applicabil-
2
@y 4
@ y @ y 2
@y @ y 3 ity to other types of physical problems, we introduce
A + EI 4 − TS 2 + d1 + d3 an operator notation. At ;rst, the coe0cients aij de-
@t 2 @x @x @t @t@x2
note the constants for the di,erential operator for the
=fe (x; t); 0 ¡ x ¡ l: (1) ith time and the jth space derivative:
This PDE reduces to the wave equation (A@2 y=@t 2 − TS EI d1
a02 = − ; a04 = ; a10 = ;
TS @2 y=@x2 = 0) if the string has zero sti,ness (E = 0) A A A
and no losses (d1 = 0; d3 = 0). In this simpli;ed case,
the solution of (1) could be expressed as a pair of trav- d3 1
a12 = ; b0 = : (4)
elling waves. However, a nonzero value of the sti,- A A
ness introduces a fourth-order term EI@4 y=@x4 which Next, we introduce the operators D; L, and W for time,
causes dispersion. Thus the travelling wave solution space, and mixed derivatives, respectively
is no more applicable. The decay variables d1 and d3
are derived from a model that includes not only the D{y(x; t)} = yO + a10 ẏ; (5)
losses in the air but also those in the string material
and the coupling to the resonance body [1]. L{y(x; t)} = a04 y(4) + a02 y

; (6)

2.2. Initial conditions W {y(x; t)} = WD {WL {y(x; t)}} = a12 ẏ

; (7)

Two initial conditions are required, since (1) con-

tains a second-order time derivative. They specify the WD {y(x; t)} = a12 ẏ; WL {y(x; t)} = y

: (8)
1676 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
With these operators and the initial and boundary con-
ditions (2) and (3), the complete initial-boundary-value
problem is given by
D{y(x; t)} + L{y(x; t)} + W {y(x; t)} = b0 fe (x; t);
0 ¡ x ¡ l;
fi {y(x; 0)} = 0; 0 ¡ x ¡ l;
fb {y(x; t)} = 0; x = 0; l:
To solve this PDE (9) with initial (10) and bound-
ary conditions (11) we introduce a multidimensional
transfer function model in the next section.
3. Functional transformation method
The general procedure for obtaining a discrete-time
model for the vibrating string described by the PDE
(9) is closely related to the discretization of electrical
network models or other physical phenomena which
are described by ordinary di,erential equations. At
;rst, a suitable transformation is applied to the di,er-
ential equation such that the continuous-time system
is represented by a transfer function. Then this trans-
fer function model is turned into a discrete-time model
by a suitable analog-to-discrete transformation.
For a multidimensional system as given by (9)–
(11), two di,erent kinds of transformations are re-
quired: a transformation with respect to time, which
solves the initial-value problem and a transformation
with respect to space, which solves the boundary-value
problem. This approach is called the functional trans-
formation method (FTM) and has been described in
[11,26], so that a short overview is su0cient here.
Fig. 1 shows the general procedure for solving
initial-boundary-value problems by the FTM. The
Fig. 1. General procedure for solving initial-boundary-value prob-
lems given in form of a PDE with initial (IC) and boundary
conditions (BC) by the FTM.
starting point is the description of a physical problem
in form of a PDE with initial (IC) and boundary con-
ditions (BC). Application of the Laplace transforma-
tion (L) removes the time derivatives and considers
the initial conditions. The result is a boundary-value
(9) problem for the space variable given by an ordinary
di,erential equation (ODE) and a boundary condi-
tion. In a similar way, a transformation with respect
(10) to space (T) removes the spatial derivatives and con-
siders the boundary conditions. The result is an alge-
(11) braic equation in terms of T{L{y}}, i.e. the tempo-
ral and spatial transform of the solution of (9)–(11).
Rearrangement of this algebraic equation results in a
multidimensional transfer function model (MD TFM)
for the original problem.
To obtain a discrete solution in terms of a discrete
MD transfer function model (d MD TFM), classical
analog-to-discrete transformations can be applied. The
inverse transformations with respect to the space vari-
able (T−1 ) and to the discrete time variable (inverse
z-transformation, Z−1 ) results in a discrete system
which is suitable for computer implementation (dis-
crete solution). The following sections describe this
procedure for the transversal vibrations of a string.
4. Continuous-time, continuous-space transfer
function model
This section shows how to obtain a continuous-time,
continuous-space transfer function model from the
initial-boundary-value problem (9)–(11). Section 4.1
shows the application of the Laplace transformation
to turn the PDE (9) into an ODE (see block ODE BC
in Fig. 1). The derivation of the MD transfer function
model by a suitable spatial transformation (see block
MD TFM in Fig. 1) is shown in Section 4.2.
4.1. Laplace transformation
For a constant value of the spatial variable x, the
PDE (1) is a second-order di,erential equation with
respect to time with two initial conditions in (2). Sim-
ilar as in the theory of electrical networks, Laplace
transformation has a twofold e,ect: it turns the time
derivatives into multiplications with the complex fre-
quency variable and it includes the initial conditions
as additional terms.
 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
Application of the one-sided Laplace transforma-
tion
 ∞
L{y(x; t)} = Y (x; s) = y(x; t)e−st dt (12)
0
to the initial-boundary-value problem (9)–(11) results
in the ODE for the space variable
dD (s)Y (x; s) + L{Y (x; s)} + wD (s)WL {Y (x; s)}
=b0 Fe (x; s); 0 ¡ x ¡ l;
fb {Y (x; s)} = 0; x = 0; l:
The time derivatives in the operators D and WD are
now replaced by the polynomials dD (s) and wD (s)
dD (s) = s2 + a10 s; wD (s) = a12 s:
Since the initial values are zero, there are no additional
terms to consider. The ODE (13) and the boundary
conditions (14) constitute the block “ODE BC” in
Fig. 1.
4.2. Sturm–Liouville transformation
It would be desirable to apply a functional transfor-
mation to the boundary-value problem (13), (14) that
has similar properties with respect to the space vari-
able as the Laplace transformation has for the time
variable. To be speci;c, the desired spatial transforma-
tion should remove the spatial derivatives described
by the spatial operators L and WL and it should con-
sider the boundary values properly. However, there
is no unique transformation which suits all possible
cases as the Laplace transformation does for the time
variable. Rather, it is necessary to construct such a
transformation for each given problem.
The construction of spatial transformations with the
desired properties is discussed in detail in [11,26],
such that it is su0cient to state the main results here.
It can be shown that the transformation kernel of the
spatial transformation is obtained as the eigenfunction
of a special type of boundary-value problem, which
is closely related to (13), (14). Boundary-value prob-
lems of this type are known as Sturm–Liouville prob-
lems. Hence the transformation derived on this basis is
called a Sturm–Liouville transformation (SLT) [3].
At ;rst, some general properties of Sturm–Liouville
problems are quoted from [2,9,11,26]. Then the SLT
for the string model considered here is investigated.
1677
4.2.1. General properties
The transformation kernel of the spatial transforma-
tion depends on the spatial derivation operators L and
WL of the boundary-value problem and on its bound-
ary operator fb (see (13), (14)). These two operators
can be concatenated into one operator LW
LW {Y (x; s)} = L{Y (x; s)} + wD (s)WL {Y (x; s)}:
(16)
(13)
Note, that due to the mixed derivative in (1), LW
(14) depends also on the complex temporal frequency vari-
able s. However, this time dependence does not in-
Juence its spatial properties. We can thus apply the
following properties of spatial operators as compiled
(15) e.g. in [2,9,11]:
• LW is a self-adjoint operator.
• Its properties can be expressed in terms of the
eigenvalues 4 (s) and eigen-functions K̂((s); x)
of the following eigenvalue problem:
LW {K̂((s); x)} = 4 (s)K̂((s); x);
0 ¡ x ¡ l; (17)
fb {K̂((s); s)} = 0; x = 0; l: (18)
Note that this eigenvalue problem has the same
spatial operator and the same boundary con-
ditions as the boundary-value problem (14).
Homogeneous boundary-value problems of
second-order are called Sturm–Liouville prob-
lems in [2,9]. Here, we use this term also for
similar eigenvalue problems with a fourth-order
spatial operator.
• The eigenvalues of (17), (18) are discrete and
simple. Thus eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are
indexed by an integer variable  ∈ Z
(s) =  (s); K̂( (s); x) = K(; s; x): (19)
In physical terms, the eigenvalue index  repre-
sents the discrete frequency variable with respect
to the space coordinate x.
• The eigenfunctions of self-adjoint operators are
orthogonal with respect to
 
l 0 for = ;
K(; s; x)K( ; s; x) d x = (20)
0 N for = :
1678 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
These properties give rise to the following de;nition
of the SLT and its inverse
 l
T{Y (x; s)} = YS (; s) = Y (x; s)K(; s; x) d x;
0 tion theorems hold (proof see Appendix A)
(21)
T−1 {YS (; s)} = Y (x; s)
 1
= YS (; s)K(; s; x): (22)
N 

The limits of integration coincide with the de;nition
range of the boundary-value problem (13), (14), that is
with the length of the string. The transformation kernel
consists of the eigenfunctions of the associated Sturm–
Liouville problem (17), (18). Since the eigenfunctions
are orthogonal, the inverse transformation is given in
terms of an orthogonal series expansion.
The most important property of the SLT is its dif-
ferentiation theorem with respect to the spatial oper-
ator LW . For homogeneous boundary conditions as in
(13), (14), it is given by
T{LW {Y (x; s)}} = 4 (s)YS (; s): (23)
By virtue of this di,erentiation theorem, the ap-
plication of the SLT to the boundary-value prob-
lem (13), (14) replaces the spatial operator by the
right-hand-side term in (23). The derivation of this
theorem is based on the Lagrange identity for the spa-
tial operator and involves Green’s integral theorem
[11]. To be self-contained, the validity of the above
properties for the string model under consideration is
shown in the next section.
4.2.2. Application to the string model
In this section, we will restate the general properties
from above with respect to the string model given by
the initial-boundary-value problem (9)–(11) or by the
boundary-value problem (13), (14). The key point is
to show that there exist eigenfunctions for which the
di,erentiation theorem (23) holds.
In this case, the eigenfunctions of the operator LW
do not depend on s. They are given by
 x
K(; x) = sin " : (24)
l a transfer function description of the string model orig-
To show that K(; x) satis;es the Sturm–Liouville
problem (17), (18) we note at ;rst that K(; x)
obviously satis;es the homogeneous boundary condi-
tions (18).
Next, we observe that for homogeneous boundary
conditions according to (2) the following di,erentia-
 " 2
T{Y

(x; s)} = −  YS (; s) = −#2 YS (; s);
l
(25)
 " 4
T{Y (4) (x; s)} =  YS (; s) = #4 YS (; s); (26)
l
where # = "=l. With these relations and with (6),
(8), (15) and (16),
T{LW {Y (x; s)}}
= [a04 #4 − (a02 + a12 s)#2 ]YS (; s): (27)
Thus for the SLT with the transformation kernel (24)
the validity of the di,erentiation theorem (23) is
shown. The eigenvalues are given by
4 (s) = a04 #4 − (a02 + a12 s)#2
= a04 #4 − (a02 + wD (s))#2 : (28)
Note, that in this case, the eigenvalues 4 (s) depend
on the temporal frequency variable s, while the cor-
responding eigenfunctions K(; x) do not, if they are
written as a function of  rather than  (s) (compare
(19)).
Using this result, we can apply the SLT to the
boundary-value problem (13), (14) and obtain
dD (s)YS (; s) + 4 (s)YS (; s) = b0 FS e (; s) (29)
with FS e (; s) = T{Fe (x; s)}.
Obviously, the spatial transformation T given
by the SLT with the transformation kernel (24)
has the desired property to turn the boundary-value
problem (13), (14) into an algebraic equation. This
well-known e,ect of the Laplace transformation for
ODEs is achieved here also for a PDE by combined
application of the Laplace transformation for the time
variable and the SLT for the space variable. Eq. (29)
constitutes the block “algebraic equation” in Fig. 1.
From the algebraic equation (29) it is easy to obtain
inally described by the initial-boundary-value problem
(9)–(11). Solving for YS (; s) by reordering of terms
 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688 1679

yields the MD transfer function constant gain factor b0 . These coe0cients are given
YS (; s) b0 by the parameters of the physical model (1) through
GS e (; s) = = the relations (4) and (32),(33). Thus the MD trans-
S
F e (; s) dD (s) + 4 (s) fer function GS e (; s) is an exact representation of the
b0 physical problem in the spatial and temporal frequency
= : (30) domain. It constitutes the block “MD TFM” in Fig. 1.
S s)
P(;
An analysis of the denominator polynomial P(;S s)
shows the simple structure of this frequency domain 5. Discrete-time transfer function model
description
The continuous-time, continuous-space transfer
S s) = dD (s) + 4 (s)
P(; function model derived in the previous section is
most suitable for discretization by the standard
= s2 + (a10 − a12 #2 )s + a04 #4 − a02 #2
analog-to-discrete transformations, e.g. impulse-,
= s2 + c1 ()s + c0 () step-, ramp-invariant and bilinear transformation
[6,17,18]. We demonstrate the procedure for the
∗
= (s − s∞ )(s − s∞ ): (31) impulse-invariant transformation.
For each value of ; GS e (; s) describes a second-
Corresponding to the second-order time deriva-
order, continuous-time system. The corresponding
tive in (1), the transfer function (30) represents a
discrete-time system is found by inverse Laplace
second-order system for each value of . The denom-
transformation, discretization of the resulting im-
inator coe0cients c1 () and c0 () in (31) are given
pulse response by sampling in the time domain, and
by
z-transformation of the discrete impulse response.
d1 d3 2 This process can be written concisely as
c1 () = a10 − a12 #2 = − # ; (32)
A A 
GS de (; z) = Z{L−1 {GS e (; s)}|t=kT }; (36)
EI 4 TS 2
c0 () = a04 #4 − a02 #2 = # + # : (33) where L−1 denotes inverse Laplace transformation
A  A 
of GS e (; s) with respect to s; t = kT denotes sampling
Alternatively, the denominator polynomial can be de- of the continuous time variable t at multiples of the
scribed by the real and imaginary part of its complex sampling interval T , and Z denotes z-transformation
conjugate pole pair s∞ = ' + j! , where of the resulting discrete impulse response.
1 1 The impulse-invariant transformation is known to
' = − c1 () = (d3 #2 − d1 ); (34)
2 2A deliver good discretization properties for band-limited
 systems and band-limited input signals [18]. This pre-
2 EI d23
! = − #4 requisite is not met for physical systems according to
A (2A)2 
(1), since the derivation of the transfer function model
  2 (30) yields in general an in;nite number of denomina-
TS d 1 d3 2 d1
+ + # − : (35) tor coe0cients c0 () and c1 () for  ∈ N. However,
A 2(A)2  2A
for sound synthesis applications it is not necessary to
In summary, the continuous-time, continuous-space reproduce all spatial frequencies. A limitation to the
transfer function model of the initial-boundary-value audible range is su0cient as long as the sampling fre-
problem (9)–(11) is given by GS e (; s) according to quency is chosen according to the sampling theorem.
(30). The derivation of this MD transfer function Since the temporal frequency for the di,erent spec-
model is based on suitable functional transformations tral components is given by the imaginary part of
for the time and space variable and does not involve the poles of GS e (; s) (i.e. by ! according to (35)),
any approximations. The MD transfer function is the required number M of spectral components is
determined by two denominator coe0cients c0 () determined by the following consideration: Choose
and c1 () for each discrete spatial frequency and a M as the highest number which satis;es !M 6 "=T .
1680 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
Neglecting all components with higher frequencies
produces a deviation from the true solution which
cannot be perceived by the human hearing system.
Furthermore, including such high frequency compo-
nents would violate the sampling theorem and result in
hearable low frequency aliasing components. For a
sampling interval T corresponding to the usual audio
sampling frequencies, e.g. fs =1=T =32; 44:1; 48 kHz,
a number of M ≈ 100 spectral components is su0-
cient. With these considerations, the impulse-invariant
transformation can be applied with good approxima-
tion quality throughout the range of audible frequen-
cies.
Performing the transformations and the discretiza-
tion in (36) on the continuous-time transfer function
GS e (; s) results in a second-order discrete-time transfer
function GS de (; z) (superscript d denotes discrete-time
transfer functions and coe0cients)
bd1 ()z
GS de (; z) = (37)
z 2 + c1d ()z + c0d ()
with the coe0cients
sin(! T )
bd1 () = Tb0 ; (38)
(! T )
c1d () = −2 exp(' T ) cos(! T ); (39)
c0d () = exp(2' T ): (40)
The coe0cients of the discrete-time system are given
in terms of the poles of the continuous-time system.
Thus, also the discrete-time system is completely de-
termined by the physical parameters of the original
system (1). The only approximation involved is the
discretization by the impulse-invariant transformation,
which can be designed to produce no audible artefacts.
The discrete-time transfer function GS de (; z) is the
relation between the transformations of the sampled
excitation signal fed (x; kT ) and the corresponding dis-
crete output signal yd (x; k)
YS d (; z)
GS de (; z) = d (41)
FS e (; z)
with YS d (; z) = Z{T{yd (x; k)}} and FS de (; z) =
Z{T{fed (x; kT )}}.
GS de (; z) describes the discrete-time MD transfer
function model which is represented by the block “d
MD TFM” in Fig. 1.
6. Realization by a digital &lter structure
This section derives the structure of a digital ;lter
for the realization of the transfer function GS de (; z). To
this end, the spatial transformation T and the temporal
transformation Z have to be inverted, to arrive at an
output signal in the discrete time and space domain.
Inverse SLT of YS d (; z) yields
Y d (x; z) = T−1 {YS d (; z)}
= T−1 {GS de (; z)FS de (; z)}: (42)
At this point, we introduce a simpli;cation, which
is justi;ed in almost all playing modes of real string
instruments (e.g. plucking, hammering, striking, or
bow excitation). The excitation force fe (x; t) is char-
acterized by its time pro;le and by its spatial distri-
bution. In a single excitation (e.g. playing a single
note), the spatial distribution does not change with
the time pro;le of the excitation force. This means
that fe (x; t) can be separated into a product of a
purely space dependent and a purely time dependent
function
fe (x; t) = fe1 (x)fe2 (t): (43)
Of course, the spatial distribution fe1 (x) may vary
from note to note, but rarely during the course of
the time pro;le fe2 (t). Thus also FS de (; z) may be
separated into
FS de (; z) = fS e1 ()Fe2
d
(z) (44)
with fS e1 ()=T{fe1 (x)} and Fe2 d
(z)=Z{fe2 (kT )}.
As an example consider the case where the force
fe2 (t) acts only at one point of the string, e.g. the ex-
citation by a piano hammer. Then the spatial distribu-
tion may be ideally described by the impulse function
+0 (x) as fe1 (x) = f+0 (x − xe ).
Here, xe is the location of the excitation with
0 ¡ xe ¡ l. Then the SLT of the spatial distribution
is fS e1 () = T{f+0 (x − xe )} = fK(; xe ).
For separable excitation functions according to
(43), the representation (42) turns into
Y d (x; z) = H d (x; z)Fe2
d
(z); (45)
 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688 1681

with The structure of this digital ;lter realization is shown

in Fig. 2.
H d (x; z) = T−1 {GS de (; z)fS e1 ()}
M
 1 Sd
= G (; z)fS e1 ()K(; x): (46) 7. Application example
N e
=1

Note that (45) is valid for any value of the continuous
space variable x. No spatial discretization has been
involved so far. This has not been necessary due to
the discrete spectral representation by the SLT. Con-
sequently, (45) can be evaluated correctly for as many
or as few arbitrary points along the string as required.
For example, if the deJection at the position xa of the
pick up of an electric guitar is sought, then (45) has
to be evaluated only at this single point x = xa . This is
an advantage over conventional methods for the dis-
cretization of PDEs, which require the simultaneous
computation at many closely spaced points to achieve
a certain accuracy.
In this case the spatial discretization consists of the
evaluation of (45) at one point x = xa
As an application example, we consider the vibra-
tion of a string with circular cross section. The param-
eter values given in Table 1 are typical for a guitar
nylon B string, except for the damping coe0cients.
They have been increased to display the damping and
dispersion e,ects in Figs. 3–5 more clearly.
These parameters uniquely determine the behaviour
of the string model according to the PDE (1). As
shown in Section 3, the poles of the continuous trans-
fer function GS e (; s) depend on the physical param-
eters from Table 1. The corresponding explicit equa-
tions are given in (34), (35). To illustrate the rela-
tions between physical properties and transfer func-
tion, three di,erent cases are discussed. The resulting
pole locations are shown in Fig. 3.

Y d (xa ; z) = H d (xa ; z)Fe2

d
(z): (47)
Thus the behaviour of the string is characterized by a
one-dimensional (1-D) transfer function H d (xa ; z). It
is represented by the block “d 1-D TFM” in Fig. 1.
The discrete solution follows ;nally by inverse
z-transformation as a convolution of the sampled
d
time pro;le of the excitation fe2 (kT ) and the impulse
response hd (xa ; k) = Z−1 {H d (xa ; z)} given by
yd (xa ; k) = hd (xa ; k) ∗ fe2
d
(kT ): (48)
This convolution can be e0ciently realized by a suit-
able digital ;lter. Inspection of (46) and (37) shows
that its structure consists of a parallel arrangement of Fig. 2. Parallel arrangement of second-order digital ;lters.
second-order recursive ;lters [19]. Each second-order
;lter computes the oscillation of a single eigenfre-
quency of the string as determined by the complex
Table 1
pole pair of the ;lter. The contributions of all eigen-
Physical parameters of a nylon guitar B string
frequencies are weighted with the spectral spatial ex-
citation distribution fS e1 () and the respective eigen-  Density 1140 kg= m3
functions of the SLT, K(; xa ), at the pick up point E Young’s modulus 5:4 GPa
l Length 0:65 m
x = xa . Together with the normalization factor N of
A Cross-section area 0:5188 mm2
the inverse SLT, all these spectral contributions can I Moment of inertia 0:171 mm4
be combined into a single gain factor for each branch d1 Freq. indep. damping 8 × 10−5 kg=(ms)
1 S d3 Freq. dep. damping −1:4 × 10−5 kg m= s
a(; xa ) = f e1 ()K(; xa ): (49) TS Tension 60:97 N
N
1682 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
Fig. 3. Location of the poles s∞ of the transfer function GS e (; s).
Fig. 4. Location of the poles z∞ of the transfer function GS de (; z).
Fig. 5. Waveform of a nylon guitar B string.
• Zero damping, zero sti,ness:
At ;rst, we simplify the parameters from Table 1
by neglecting damping and sti,ness (d1 =0; d3 =
0; E = 0). This assumption reduces the PDE (1)
to the wave equation. From (34), (35) follows
' = 0 and
" TS
! =  :
l A
The corresponding poles are equidistantly spaced
on the imaginary axis. Thus the higher harmonics
are exact multiples of the fundamental frequency
i.e. ! = !1 .
• Nonzero damping, zero sti,ness:
Now, we include the damping parameters from
Table 1, but neglect the sti,ness (E = 0). The
result is obviously an increased damping of the
higher harmonics. The e,ect of damping on !
is only very slightly and cannot be noticed in
Fig 3. Damping changes the timbre of the sound,
since the higher harmonics decay faster than the
lower ones.
• Nonzero damping, nonzero sti,ness:
Here, all parameters from Table 1 are used. As
expected from (34), the string’s sti,ness has no
e,ect on ' . However, the harmonics are no
longer equidistant as their spacing increases with
increasing frequency. If this e,ect is only small,
the resulting inharmonicity produces slow beats
between the di,erent harmonics, which create a
more lively expression of the sound than a purely
harmonic spectrum.
For the last of the above cases, the poles of the
discrete-time transfer function GS de (; z) are shown in
Fig. 4. The properties just discussed for the contin-
uous system are preserved by the impulse-invariant
transformation. The e,ects of increased damping
and increased spacing with increasing frequency are
clearly visible. The number of poles is limited to the
audible frequency range.
Finally the resulting wave form yd (xa ; k) is shown
in Fig. 5. Its fundamental frequency is equal to 247 Hz
(musical note B). In the beginning, there is a spectrally
rich signal, but then the higher harmonics decay more
rapidly than the lower ones. Note, that the e,ect of
damping has been exaggerated in comparison to real
strings. It should be emphasized that this waveform
is produced directly from the physical model with the
parameters from Table 1.
No analysis of recorded sounds and no ;tting of
parameters has been required.
 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
8. Extensions
The derivation of a discrete system from a physical
model as shown in the previous sections relied on a
number of simpli;cations. At ;rst, only homogenous
initial and boundary conditions have been considered.
Next, the model for the string as well as for the exci-
tation were assumed to be strictly linear. Finally, al-
though the physical model in (1) correctly describes
tension, sti,ness, and di,erent kinds of damping, it is
not the most general one. These restrictions have been
introduced to keep the presentation concise. Rather
than showing the full capability of the functional trans-
formation method we will comment brieJy on various
extensions.
8.1. Inhomogeneous initial and boundary conditions
The initial-boundary-value problem (9)–(11) de-
scribes a string which is at rest for t = 0 and with ;xed
ends. A more general description is
D{y(x; t)} + L{y(x; t)} + W {y(x; t)} = b0 fe (x; t);
0 ¡ x ¡ l; (50)
fi {y(x; 0)} = yi (x); 0 ¡ x ¡ l; (51)
fb {y(0; t)} = .b0 (t); x = 0; (52)
fb {y(l; t)} = .bl (t); x = l: (53)
The vector yi (x) describes a nonzero pro;le of
the deJection and its ;rst derivative at t = 0. The
time-dependent signals .b0 (t) and .bl (t) describe
energy sources at the boundaries.
A transfer function model of the inhomogeneous
initial-boundary-value problem (50)–(53) comprises
not only a transfer function for the excitation but also
further transfer functions for the initial values yi (x)
and for the boundary values .b0 (t) and .bl (t), re-
spectively. Their derivation as well as the construc-
tion of the corresponding digital systems follows the
same rules as shown for the excitation in Sections 3–6
[11,26].
8.2. Nonlinear excitation
A truly realistic rendering of musical sounds re-
quires also the modeling of nonlinear e,ects [8,15].
1683
These have been neglected so far, since we have as-
sumed that the excitation is independent of the current
deJection. This is a correct assumption for plucked or
struck strings, but it does not hold in more complex
excitation modes. For example, the interplay between
a piano hammer and the string depends on both the
oscillation of the string and the motion of the hammer.
Moreover, a correct representation of the hammer
felt requires a nonlinear spring model. An even more
complex excitation mode is the stick-slip friction be-
tween a bow and a string. Again the nonlinear relation
between both the current deJection of the string and
the bow velocity have to be taken into account for
the determination of the correct excitation function
[24]. A similar approach can also be applied to model
a slap bass [12]. The collision of the string with the
frets is modeled by a virtual force which depends on
the deJection of the string relative to the fret position
[27].
8.3. Nonlinear PDE
The models from Section 8.2 involve the determi-
nation of the excitation force in dependence on the
current string deJection. The oscillation of the string
is still described by a linear PDE. But this assumption
is questionable for string instruments with low tension
and relatively high string deJections. Obviously, the
tension of the string increases with increasing deJec-
tion since the total length of the string increases com-
pared to the rest position. This means that the tension
depends on the current deJection, i.e. TS = TS (y). In
this case, the PDE itself becomes nonlinear, since one
of its coe0cients depends on the current value of the
solution.
A careful investigation of this type of nonlinearity
shows that the nonlinear string tension TS (y) varies
with time but not with space. So the SLT can be ap-
plied as in the linear case. Application of the Laplace
transformation leads to an implicit equation. Its time
discretization results again in a parallel arrangement
of second-oder systems with some additional opera-
tions to account for the nonlinear tension. However,
the general structure is preserved and the computa-
tional overhead for the additional operations is modest
[25].
1684 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
8.4. Higher-order partial di8erential equation
The physical model of a string in (1) describes ac-
curately the oscillation of long and thin strings under a
certain tension. It holds true for a wide range of real or
virtual string instruments, where physical e,ects like
torsional oscillations or shear forces can be neglected.
However, it may be desirable to include these e,ects
too, e.g. to model tubular bells, metal or wooden bars,
or even other types of vibrating bodies not found in
real world musical instruments. While it is obvious,
that a sine function is an eigenfunction of a string (see
(24)), it is not at all clear how these eigenfunctions
look like when further physical e,ects are considered.
In this case, the powers of the Sturm–Louville ap-
proach (see Section 4.2.1) can be fully exploited to
derive the eigenfunctions of the spatial operator LW
and thus to de;ne the proper form of the SLT. This
process has been demonstrated for the Timoshenko
equation from elasticity theory [22].
8.5. 2D or 3D spatial domains
So far only vibrating bodies with one spatial dimen-
sion have been considered. However, the functional
transformation method is also suitable to reproduce
oscillations of Jat or bulky bodies. In this case, the
spatial domain of the Sturm–Liouville problem (17),
(18) is two- or three-dimensional. The key element of
the SLT, i.e. the derivation of the corresponding di,er-
entiation theorem then requires more involved mathe-
matical tools. For example, the di,erentiation by parts
in Appendix A would have to be replaced by Green’s
integral theorem [10]. An example for a circular drum
from [23] is shown in Fig. 6. As it is well known
among drummers, exciting the drum in the center or
close to the boundary produces very di,erent sounds.
Fig. 6. Vibrations of a circular drum with excitation in the center (left) and close to the boundary (right).
This e,ect is reJected by the results of the physical
model as can be seen in Fig. 6.
8.6. Full instrument model
The string model described above can serve as
the core of physical modelling sound synthesis algo-
rithms. But apart from a vibrating string, there are
also other components to consider. A complete model
for a real or virtual musical instrument comprises one
or more human controlled excitation models, several
strings, a soundboard and a resonant body. Excita-
tion models for plucked, struck, hammered, or bowed
strings have been brieJy addressed in Section 8.2.
A physical model of a resonant body requires a
three-dimensional simulation of acoustic wave propa-
gation within the body. Although there exist e0cient
methods for this purpose (including the FTM), the nu-
merical expense would be excessive compared to the
simulation of a number of strings. Considering that
the resonant body acts as a temporal ;lter, it is a prac-
ticable alternative to convolve the sound output of the
string model with the impulse response of the body.
This impulse response may be determined by measure-
ments from real instruments or by an oUine numerical
simulation from models of a virtual resonant body.
For purely linear string models, the convolution of
the string simulation with the body impulse response
of the soundboard can be obtained at no extra compu-
tational cost. By interchanging the order of string syn-
thesis and convolution, the string model can be excited
by a precomputed convolution of the excitation signal
with the body response (see e.g. commuted synthesis
in DWG [5,21]).
At this point, the physical model’s level of detail has
to be considered carefully. In most string instruments
 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
(violin, guitar, and similar instruments) the coupling
between string and resonant body depends on the
string’s deJection at the position of the bridge. A
correct physical model requires boundary conditions
of the third kind with the bridge impedance as pa-
rameter. Consequently, the eigenfunctions for this
problem have a di,erent form than those considered
above [28]. However, listening tests have shown that
the less detailed model with boundary conditions ac-
cording to (3) in combination with a convolved body
response also produces very acceptable results.
8.7. Musical instrument morphing
The previous considerations assumed that the phys-
ical properties of the instrument models do not vary
with time. This is a reasonable constraint for many real
instruments, e.g. the piano. However, for a virtual in-
strument, also the model parameters are at the disposal
of the player. The functional transformation method
described above permits also sound variations of the
following kind: During operation of an instrument, its
physical parameters are slowly varied from one set of
parameters to another. As a consequence, the timbre
of the instrument varies gradually, e.g. from a guitar
string to a xylophone. Of course also rare combina-
tions of material parameters are possible that cannot
appear in real instruments. This well directed varia-
tion of the sound characteristic of a virtual instrument
is called instrument morphing. It requires a close con-
trol of the physical parameters of the model as it is
provided by the functional transformation method.
9. Application to computer music
After discussing the theory and implementation of
digital sound synthesis by the functional transforma-
tion method, we describe brieJy a computer music ap-
plication. As discussed in Section 8.6, a digital model
of a musical instrument requires to model excitation,
strings, and resonant body. To actually play such an
instrument, some additional features are required.
At ;rst, the excitation of the model has to be con-
trolled by human input. Typically a MIDI keyboard
is used, but also other types of MIDI controllers or
human gesture devices are suitable for this purpose.
1685
The standard way of setting the physical parameters
is via a graphical user interface. But it is also possible
to set certain parameters (e.g. the string tension or
Young’s modulus) by the MIDI controller. Thus also
the physical properties of the instrument are at the
artist’s immediate disposal.
When the model parameters are varied on the Jy,
then also the calculation of the ;lter coe0cients has
to be performed from note to note or at an even faster
rate. These calculations must not interrupt the Jow of
output samples of the instrument model.
However, it is not enough to provide the player of
such an instrument with full control over pitch, volume
and all kinds of parameters. An indispensable require-
ment is real-time capability in a two-fold way: First,
the instrument model has to perform all operations at
a rate fast enough to generate an audio stream at a
studio quality sampling frequency. Second, all human
input induced parameter changes have to be reJected
in the output signal without any noticeable latency.
Finally, musical instruments are meant to be played
together with other voices. To this end, synchroniza-
tion with other devices (sequencer, pre-recorded MIDI
data, drum machine, mixer, hard disk recording, e.g.)
is required.
In summary, the following components have to op-
erate simultaneously in real-time:
• full instrument model,
• input from human control interface (e.g. MIDI),
• graphical user interface,
• calculation of ;lter coe0cient variations,
• generation of audio output stream,
• synchronization with other digital instruments.
To show the suitability of the FTM for real-world
computer music applications, a demonstrator with the
above named features has been built. The hardware
consists of a standard PC and a MIDI keyboard. The
PC is equipped with a commercial sound card with
on-board DSPs running at 60 MHz and a software
environment which provides basic recording studio
functionality.
The string model itself is implemented in the assem-
bler language of the DSPs on the sound card. A real-
ization of the guitar string from Table 1 by the digital
structure from Fig. 2 with 59 harmonics requires 125
FLOPS per output sample. This amounts to roughly 6
1686 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
MFLOPS per string for a sampling rate of 44:1 kHz.
The lower the fundamental frequency of the string, the
higher is the number of harmonics to be considered.
Furthermore, the implementation of nonlinear e,ects
according to Sections 8.2 and 8.3 causes a moder-
ate overhead for the nonlinear model and for stabil-
ity monitoring. As a bottomline, one DSP can handle
two string models. Thus, the implementation of stan-
dard polyphonic 4-string or 6-string instrument mod-
els is easily accomplished on an o,-the-shelf sound
card with 6 DSPs.
The implementation of the string model directly on
the sound card has several advantages. Of course, the
on-board DSPs provide the computing power for the
parallel arrangement of second-order systems from
Fig. 2. Second, the latency for the sample throughput
depends only on the sound card arrangement and not
on the imponderabilities of the PC operating system.
The same argument applies also to the synchroniza-
tion of the output stream, since its generation does not
have to share resources with other functions.
This implementation proves that the FTM does not
only provide a theoretical framework for the derivation
of discrete simulation models from multidimensional
systems. It is also capable of ful;lling complex signal
processing tasks under real-time constraints. Finally,
the presented method satis;es technical requirements
as well as the demands of performing musicians.
10. Conclusions
At ;rst sight, it may seem that the generation of
music-like sounds on a computer requires a lot of
over-simpli;cations and approximations from phys-
ical reality. However, we have shown that it is
possible to link such diverse worlds as the descrip-
tion of vibrating structures in terms of mathematical
physics and the digital generation of sound samples
by a mathematically and physically rigorous pro-
cedure. The theoretical foundation of this approach
are functional transformations with respect to time
and space. The application of suitable di,erentiation
theorems led to a description of physical e,ects by
multidimensional transfer functions. From here, stan-
dard analog-to-discrete transformations provided a
discrete-time description, which could be turned into
a discrete-time, discrete-space model. Its realization
by standard digital systems did not involve any pa-
rameter ;tting or approximations other than those
inevitably induced by time-discretization. The pa-
rameters of the digital model depend explicitly on a
small number of parameters describing the geometry
and material properties of the physical problem. This
direct dependency on the physical reality ensures full
control over the digital system by a few meaningful
parameters.
The advantage of this sound synthesis method
lies not only in the derivation of realistic models of
real-world instruments. Furthermore, it allows to de-
velop virtual instruments which previously unheard
acoustic properties. The only restriction is that the un-
derlying model is physically correct in the sense that
it does not violate the laws of physics. Any other lim-
itations such as size, choice of material, cost of man-
ufacturing, complexity, or playability are abolished.
Physical modelling sound synthesis is already realiz-
able on today’s PC equipment and is about to become
an integral part of multimedia signal processing.
Appendix A. Proof of di,erentiation theorems of
the SLT
Here we proof the di,erentiation theorems (25)
and (26) for spatial functions Y (x) which satisfy the
boundary conditions (3). The dependence of Y (x) on
the temporal frequency variable s has been dropped
for notational simplicity.
Repeated integration by parts gives
 l
T{Y

(x)} = Y

(x)K(; x) d x
0
= [Y
(x)K(; x) − Y (x)K
(; x)]|l0
 l
+ Y (x)K

(; x) d x:
0
Since Y (x) as well as K(; x) satisfy the homogeneous
boundary conditions (3), the term in brackets is zero.
Furthermore,
 " 2
K

(; x) = −  K(; x)
l
and thus the integral term turns into the de;nition of
the SLT. This proves that
 " 2
T{Y

(x)} = −  T{Y (x)}:
l
 R. Rabenstein, L. Trautmann / Signal Processing 83 (2003) 1673 – 1688
In the same way follows (some arguments are omitted
for brevity)
 l
T{Y (4) (x)} = Y (4) (x)K(; x) d x
0 function models, IEEE Trans. Circuits Systems I 49 (6)
= [Y


K − Y

K
+ Y
K

− YK


]|l0
 l
+ Y (x)K (4) (; x) d x:
0
By the same arguments as above the term in brackets
is zero and with
 " 4
K (4) (; x) =  K(; x);
l excitation of single reed woodwind instruments, in:
it follows that
 " 4
T{Y (4) (x)} =  T{Y (x)}:
l
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