ECE 4760: Final Project

Virtual Saxophone

A portable alto saxophone with synthesized voice output

Chris Piccoli (ctp33@cornell.edu)

Suryansh Agarwal (sa488@cornell.edu)

"An interactive virtual alto saxophone that uses direct digital synthesis, pushbuttons, and a microphone to play music."

project soundbyte

Our ECE 4760 final project was to create a virtual saxophone that uses Direct Digitial Synthesis (DDS) to synthesize the output notes. Pushbuttons are connected to a PVC pipe to mimic the saxophone's mechanical structure, and a microphone that detects noise is used to determine whether or not the user is blowing into the device.

We decided to do this project because we enjoyed the ECE 4760 Lab on DDS and wanted to explore it further. In addition, we were intrigued by some of the previous ECE 4760 projects that created virtual instruments, and decided to create a saxophone because we have previous experience playing this instrument. This project was very enjoyable because it combined the knowledge gained in previous labs with our musical interests.