Tritare

A tritare is a guitar (invented in 2003 by Samuel Gaudet and Claude Gauthier of the University of Moncton) of a family of stringed instruments which use Y-shaped strings, instead of the usual string-shaped strings; Y-shaped strings can produce sounds which are harmonic integer multiples, but also nonharmonic sounds more akin to those produced by percussion instruments. The Y-strings create, when tuned correctly, Chladni-patterns. Gaudet contends this allows for greater possibility ref|sn1 (although the value of this greater possibility is questioned ref|sn2). The current model uses 6 strings.

References

* [http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060603/fob7.asp "String Trio: Novel instrument strums like guitar, rings like bell"] ; "Science News", Week of June 3, 2006; Vol. 169, No. 22 , p. 342
** "Depending on how each note on a tritare is played, the sound can include a few or many nonharmonic ingredients, Gaudet says. So, he adds, the instrument offers 'a richer sound than does a classical stringed instrument.'"
** "The branched string is really a simple analogue of the more complex structures found in things like plates and curved shells--bars, cymbals, bells, and gongs... [but] to my ears [the tritare] just sounded like a badly out-of-tune instrument."

External links

* [http://www.acoustics.org/press/151st/Leger.html "A New Family of Stringed Musical Instruments"]
* [http://www.tritare.com/ tritare.com]