September 2022
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One of the key tasks in accomplishing further step changes in aural immersion involves replacing sample-based strategies with interactive, procedural source models based on numerical simulation of vibrating structures. Musical instruments are ideal case studies for such research due to the tight coupling between the musician's actions and the resulting sound. Accordingly, virtual-acoustic instruments can be conceptualised as instruments in which the sound production mechanism has been replaced with a real-time computer-based simulation, while preserving as much as feasible the instrument's natural affordances and `acousticality'. Such seamless virtualisation of the acoustic functioning offers extended ways to reconfigure, design, and develop instruments as well as new ways for studying the associated musician-instrument interaction. This talk will outline the concept of virtual-acoustic instruments, explain the diverse challenges that need to be overcome to realise them, and highlight some of the proposed solutions, early examples, and current challenges.