Utilizing the Design Freedoms of Rapid Manufacturing to Optimise Structural and Acoustal Interactions of 'Brass' Musical Instruments

The feasibility of the production of end use ‘brass’ musical instruments using Rapid Manufacturing (RM) is discussed with an emphasis on optimising the structural resonance through stiffening structures. The method is based upon a coupling between the air-column and structure when their resonant frequencies approach each other, which accentuates the players’ lip to wall coupling effect. The degree of wall vibration and the frequencies at which it occurs can be controlled by variation of the structure’s stiffness and the design freedoms allowed by RM enable greater control of this. Initial results of the structures and their performance are presented.