The field of audio and music engineering extends far beyond the traditional music recording industry. Career paths for program graduates span hundreds of companies representing industries such as: computer hardware and software manufacturing, audio software development, music and audio recording and production, core audio and signal processing technologies and component manufacturing, musical instruments and audio equipment manufacturing, augmented and virtual reality, architectural acoustics, industrial noise monitoring and control, consumer product design, and research and development in acoustics. The projects completed in the two-semester senior design class highlight the diverse skills and experiences of our students in the areas of electronics, signal processing and acoustics.
Contact Information:
Michael Heilemann – Assistant Professor
mheilema@ur.rochester.edu
611 Computer Studies Building
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14620
Sarah Smith – Assistant Professor
sarahsmith@rochester.edu
617 Computer Studies Building
University of RochesterRochester, NY 14620
AME Design Projects
- Real-time Echo Cancelation Device for Flat Panel Smart SpeakerBackground When we play music to and record speech from a flat panel speaker at the same time, the recorded speech will have music interference. The music interference will hurt performance in speech recognition, which is essential to smart speakers. To solve this problem, we propose an end-to-end echo cancellation device to remove the music […]
- Acoustic Guitar Transducer Effects
We aimed to create a device that allows acoustic guitarists to produce real-time audio effects, such as reverb and delay, by resonating the body of their guitar with a transducer. Our device would improve upon existing market products by offering higher-qaulity audio processing, more effects and more user-friendly hardware components. - Talkbox and Vocoder Pedal
This project combines two instrument and vocal effects, Talkbox and Vocoder, in one guitar pedal unit, making it easy to use and switch between either effect. - Real-time Echo Cancelation Device for Flat Panel Smart Speaker
Team Mentors Professor Michael Heilemann, Professor Daniel Phinney, Professor Sarah Smith, Tre DiPassio TL;DR We designed a system that includes both hardware and software components to extract speech audio from a mixture of speech and music in real-time. First, Let’s Hear the Results This is the “ideal” scenario, the ground-truth signal: Word Error Rate (WER): […] - Electronic Wind InstrumentTeam Mentor Michael Heilemann, Dan Phinney, Sarah Smith, Tre DiPassio Abstract An Electronic Wind Instrument, or EWI, is a type of wind controller that takes in breath input and outputs audio via both Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) and synthesized audio presets. Some commercial products on the market have designs that can have uncomfortable key […]
Archive
- Gavett Studio Acoustic Treatment
The Gavett Hall Recording Studio’s signature reverb is well known amongst AME students. Although this reverb is embraced by many, some wish for more control in post production. The aim of this project was to create a modular solution capable of treating the sound with the option of leaving it intact. - Flat Panel Smart Speaker
One or two sentence description of your project. - Flat Panel Guitar Amplifier
One or two sentence description of your project. - An Expressive MIDI Synthesizer
One or two sentence description of your project. - Audio InterfaceWe have built an audio interface entirely from scratch. We designed the interface to be efficient, easy-to-use, and beneficial specifically for the user’s creative workflow.
- Improving Audio Quality of Online Conference Application
We are not okay with the compromised sound in online conference apps, and we investigated ways to improve. - Hearing Augmentation Device
Our group designed an audio headset with user-adjustable 360 beamforming, EQ, and gain control. The signal processing runs on Analog Devices’ EVAL-ADAU1452REVBZ using the Sigma Studio software. The headset uses ADMP401 MEMS microphones which are mounted on SparkFun’s MEMS Microphone Breakout boards – INMP401. - Virtual Wavetable Synthesizer
This product is intended to be used by music producers/recording engineers as a simple instrument within a digital audio workstation. It entails programming a virtual instrument (synthesizer) in the C++ based programming environment, JUCE by utilizing wavetable synthesis. The synthesizer is meant to provide the user a basic virtual instrument with the ability to upload custom wavetables, and which includes integrated effects which can be modulated & controlled dynamically in real time. - Wavetable Synthesizer
Digital wavetable synthesizer; allows for 2-second user recordings to be used as custom oscillator sources. All DSP run on a SHARC chip, external controls via an Arduino. - Digital Effects Pedal with Wireless Controller
We created a digital audio effects pedal using a Raspberry Pi; the pedal can accept XLR and 1/4 inch input so it is ideal for horn players and guitarists alike. The effects can be controlled by the knobs and buttons on the pedal as well as by the knobs and buttons on a separate Bluetooth controller, which was coded on an Arduino. - Pianosaic: AR musical experience
Pianosaic is an augmented reality experience in which players get to create musical environments with a larger than life piano. Players are immersed in accurately spatialized audio. Players are able to use the keys of the piano around to create an individualize experience. Players are able to create a full production utilizing accompanying instruments in the game.