How it works
The clarinet’s lower bell is fastened inside a wooden box housing a transducer. The diameter of the bell is perfectly adjacent to that of the transducer, so that digitally generated sound is channelled directly into the instrument’s tube rather than projected into open air. The tube then functions as a resonating and filtering chamber for that sound — the same chamber that normally shapes the sound of the reed.
Control of the digital layer happens through a series of triggers mounted along the body of the clarinet, positioned to feel familiar to a clarinettist’s hands. They activate and combine to launch samples, run synthesis processes in Max/MSP, and modify parameters such as pitch in real time. The performer does not move between the instrument and a secondary controller: everything happens within the same grip.
The instrument as filter
Once digital sound enters the tube, it becomes subject to the same acoustic conditions as the reed’s sound. Opening or closing tone holes, changing fingering combinations, modifying breath pressure — all of these alter the spectrum and projection of the digital material in real time, in the same way they would shape an ordinary note. The instrument does not simply play back a sample; it transforms it continuously depending on its momentary physical configuration.
When all tone holes are closed, sound emerges primarily at the mouthpiece, which sits inside the performer’s oral cavity. The mouth becomes a secondary resonating chamber: by varying its internal shape, the performer can further filter and colour the sound from within.