Since the earliest times, humans have sought the ability to produce rhythms and tones using devices external to the human body. As technology developed, so too did the desire for this sound production to become automated. Initially peaking around the Industrial Revolution, traditional automated musical production devices went into a steep decline with the arrival of the phonograph. However, factors such as the ubiquitous acceptance of the microcontroller led to a resurgent interest in this field. This paper investigates the design considerations and development of the stringed chordophone and specifically the guitar. The challenge is to produce a mechatronic device capable of speedy and reliable note selection, string actuation, string damping and expressiveness. In the same manner that there is not one best way to play a guitar and no best guitar design, so too is there no “best” chordophone design. Rather, the competing factors of speed, precision, reliability, portability, expressiveness and timbral variation can be given different weightings and result in different designs. Therefore, rather than presenting a single chordophone development, this paper provides a multitude of design options providing an interested reader with the background and suggestions to create their own bespoke design. This paper concludes with the presentation of the authors’ final design as an integration of the presented ideas and design techniques. We demonstrate that this chordophone introduces expressivity at a level not achieved before, is modular yet portable, is mechanically quiet and can play at a speed beyond that of even the best human player.

中文翻译：

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设计机电乐器：吉他

从最早的时候开始，人类就一直在寻求使用人体外部设备产生节奏和音调的能力。随着技术的发展，这种声音制作变得自动化的愿望也在不断发展。最初在工业革命前后达到顶峰，随着留声机的出现，传统的自动化音乐制作设备急剧下降。然而，诸如微控制器的普遍接受等因素导致对该领域重新产生兴趣。本文研究了弦琴特别是吉他的设计考虑和发展。挑战在于生产一种能够快速可靠地选择音符、弦致动、弦阻尼和表现力的机电设备。就像没有一种最好的吉他弹奏方式，也没有最好的吉他设计一样，也没有“最好的”和弦琴设计。相反，速度、精度、可靠性、便携性、表现力和音色变化等竞争因素可以被赋予不同的权重并导致不同的设计。因此，本文不是介绍单一的和弦琴开发，而是提供了多种设计选项，为感兴趣的读者提供了创建他们自己的定制设计的背景和建议。本文最后介绍了作者的最终设计，作为所提出的想法和设计技术的整合。我们证明了这款和弦琴以前所未有的水平引入了表现力，模块化且便携，