The Instrumentarium
Every instrument gets a graph connecting Hornbostel-Sachs taxonomy to acoustic physics: body geometry → resonant modes, string length → pitch, material composition → damping Q factor, and excitation method → timbre. Morphologium asks why an instrument is shaped this way; Sonologium asks what that geometry makes possible acoustically.
The Instrumentarium
The 'Betts' Stradivari Violin
Cremona, Italy (Antonio Stradivari) (1704)
Hourglass waist with C-bouts for bow clearance, arched top plate, f-holes radiating air velocity
Continuous stick-slip friction via rosined horsehair bow generating Helmholtz corner wave
Picea abies (Italian alpine spruce) top plate, Acer pseudoplatanus (flamed Balkan maple) back/ribs (Q = 68)
G3 (196 Hz) to E7 (2637 Hz)
- Helmholtz A0 air resonance (~280 Hz)
- B1- lower plate bending mode (~440 Hz)
- B1+ upper plate bending mode (~550 Hz)
“Morphologium analyzes the catenary plate arching curves and C-bout structural stress distribution. Sonologium reveals how that specific curvature shifts plate eigenmodes away from wolf-tone dissonance into singing acoustic radiation.”