Towards a real-time implementation of a physical modeling based percussion synthesizer

This paper presents work carried out with the objective of designing a novel percussion synthesizer based on a physical model of a plate-based percussion instrument. The algorithm has been implemented in realtime for the first time, on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chip allowing a number of parameters such as excitation value, stroke location and plate stiffness, to be changed in real-time. This presents the player with a number of new modes of playability but requires the definition and design of a flexible interface; this gives the extensive access to the sound world of the synthesis model. Details of the hardware implementation architecture are put forward as well as fixed point/floating point computation aspects that impact the instrument's playability.