Differences in violin sounds caused by changes on arching profiles

Abstract

An experimentally calibrated numerical model was employed to examine the vibroacoustic impact of the arching profile in a violin soundbox, a study unattainable through experimental means alone. The finite element method successfully modeled the soundbox using the material properties of an actual violin, albeit with a simplified representation of the coupling with the air in the cavity and the forces from the strings. Achieving agreement with the real counterpart necessitated careful adjustment of the modal damping in the simulation. Damped models of violins are infrequently encountered. The impulse response of the soundbox model was obtained through the calculation of thousands of substeps induced by forced vibration. To streamline the time-domain analysis, the superimposed method was implemented instead of the more commonly used full option, resulting in a significant reduction in computational time. Additionally, synthetic musical notes, accounting for how the force of the strings is transmitted through the bridge, were employed as input to the soundbox model. Subsequently, the impulse responses were convolved with the synthetic notes to generate sounds. Through these procedures, the violin’s performance was assessed as the height of the arching profile of the plates was adjusted. The results demonstrated that higher arching profiles led to a general increase in the resonant frequencies of the violin, perceptible in the sound generated by the model.