Notescape is a modern version of the
tanpura.
The tanpura exposes the structure of notes through a continual variation in its timber.
A changing timber basically helps our ear pay attention to individual harmonic components
of the resonant sound. A stagnant timber integrates the harmonic components into a single
tone, while a rapidly varying timber amounts to noise. The right variation in timber
reveals its own structure, and the tanpura sound is designed to do that.
With the advent of electronics, digital signal processing and software technology,
people have attempted to mimic the tanpura sound through electronics with varying success.
Notescape is a modern version of the tanpura sound with the same goal and principle behind
the traditional tanpura but with different dynamics for exposing the note structure.
The traditional tanpura is designed to help us hear the individual components of its rich tone,
and is the best accoustic instrument known for the purpose. But we are not limited by accoustic
technology any more. Digital signal processing opens up a whole new world in sound production.
Can we better the tanpura sound using DSP? It is certainly worth a try.
Notescape is one such attempt.
Watch
YouTube video,
run the
online app
or download Notescape and run on your desktop to explore its sound and hear all the notes
forming a rich timber yet retaining their distinct identities.
Run
notescape,
