eMIDAS · Expanding Musical Interactions with a Digital Ambimodal Synthesiser

Musical keyboards are not just sound producers but environments whose exploration requires touch and tone to be integrated. The harpsichord, often caricatured as lacking nuance, in fact embodies subtle haptic-aural interactions, whose historical dimension – elusive due to the loss of perishable materials and oral traditions – is revived and renewed by today’s performers. eMIDAS (expanding Musical Interactions with a Digital Ambimodal Synthesiser) seeks to preserve and extend this intangible heritage by creating the first digital harpsichord coupling haptic feedback and sound synthesis.The project has three aims: (1) design a digital twin of the harpsichord by integrating a haptic keyboard with physical-model sound synthesis; (2) introduce “virtual voicing”, enabling performers to adjust touch-tone features in real time; and (3) develop methods to assess the credibility of digital twins through performer-centred evaluation. Building on pioneering work in touch synthesis and the ERC-funded NEMUS project, eMIDAS goes beyond the state of the art by creating the first ambimodal synthesiser, allowing keyboard players to transcend the current touch-sound intertwinement afforded by the existing instruments.The research combines musical acoustics, engineering, performance studies, and organology, supported by training and supervision at the University of Bologna and a secondment at the University of Pavia within the ERC Synergy project REM@KE. Partnership with the Bologna Conservatory will ensure professional harpsichordists and students inform prototype development and explore its potential.eMIDAS will strengthen the fellow’s interdisciplinary profile at the crossroads of engineering and humanities, advancing expertise in physical modelling and cognitive research. Its impacts range from scholarly and artistic research to education, heritage, and the European creative industries, where ambimodal synthesis may become a driver of innovation.