Analyzing the Tactile Response of a Mechanical Pipe Organ Instrument

This project focused on analyzing the haptic feedback produced by a mechanical pipe organ. As the musician plays, a force is generated during key fall that is perceived as resistance to the playing motion, and is caused by the mechanical systems involved within the instrument. Since every organ is unique, especially when comparing electronic keyboards to mechanical organs, each instrument can feel vastly different from one another. The motivation behind this project was to study what causes the feedback forces in the mechanical instruments, with the goal of eventually developing a product that would simulate the feeling of a certain organ in an electronic keyboard. A measurement device was designed, built, and tested for the purpose of collecting data that would show patterns in the force curves based on different conditions. This device was programmed to press a key a predetermined velocity and continuously record the force and position of the key. Conditions that were varied include the velocity of the movement, the number of stops pulled (the number of pipes open at once), the use of couplers (playing two keyboards at once), the use of the air blowers, and the difference between distinct keys. Using the data collected, conclusions were made about which organ conditions affected the force curves the most and in what ways. It was found that the number of stops had virtually no effect on the force curves, while each of the other parameters had a unique effect. In the future, this measurement process could be refined and used on a larger scale to test any keyboard instrument, and someday be used to replicate the feeling of a certain instrument in an electronic keyboard.