From an organ to other sounding objects
Three research cases test different relationships between material structure, control and sound.
FORM / FUNCTION / SOUND
A sounding object,
many ways of knowing.
The Cuntz positive organ, 1610
The Cuntz positive organ in the Musical Instrument Museum of Leipzig University is the principal instrument case in the doctoral research. An organ makes the connections between keys, stops, pipework and acoustic response especially tangible.
Cuntz · Unresolved interpretation#
Which Cuntz are we describing?
A state describes an instrument at a particular phase; a configuration describes how its components are arranged and function together. Context limits where a statement applies.
Work through the example 3 STEPS
The thesis distinguishes the physical description of four registers and 180 pipes from an analyzed digital configuration with five register labels and 225 recordings. The published VAO also inventories 225 pipe entities.
Keep the descriptions attributed
Record the historical description, digital analysis configuration and published inventory with their respective sources. Their numbers concern different documented accounts.
Ask the state and counting question
Determine which phase, configuration and counting convention each account describes before comparing totals. A virtual register label is not by itself an additional original physical register.
Retain the unresolved mapping
The thesis identifies a missing mapping, particularly for Regal 8′. Keep that unresolved relation visible. A structured manifest records its inventory but does not independently settle the historical discrepancy.
BASIS FOR THIS EXAMPLE
- Cuntz Positiv · VAO 0.5.0-rc.2 ↗
Published manifest: identities, measurement observations, realization digests, profiles and rights. Exact examples checked against this release.
- Dominik Ukolov · Musikinstrumente im virtuellen Raum (2026)
Submitted dissertation, 11 September 2026; §§8.2.2.1 and 8.4.1, printed pp. 264–265 and 275–276. The historical description and digital inventory require a resolved mapping; the manuscript is not redistributed here.
- MODAVIS Ontology Network 0.1.0 ↗
Identity, state, configuration, evidence, assertions, context and provenance. Teaching examples explain its distinctions without inventing new normative properties.
This example does not assert that the organ underwent a particular rebuild or that an extra original register existed.
The useful distinction. A well-formed record can preserve disagreement accurately while the historical interpretation remains open.
Ariston, 1882
The Ariston mechanical musical instrument introduces perforated discs and free reeds. It shifts the focus from a performer’s continuous control to a mechanical information carrier and its execution.
The Landshut Propstglocke, 1767
The bell provides a contrasting physical system for modal analysis and urban auralization. It tests how the approach transfers beyond keyboard instruments.
What changes between the cases
| Case | Control and evidence | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Cuntz positive organ | Keyboard and stop selection; instrument configuration, pipe measurements and recordings. | Which documented configuration does the playable representation enact? |
| Ariston | Perforated disc, mechanical reading and free-reed sound production. | How does the interpretation of the information carrier relate to musical events? |
| Propstglocke | Geometry, excitation, modal behaviour and propagation context. | Which observations constrain the synthesis and the listening environment? |
These comparisons separate a reusable documentation contract from the physics of each instrument. Identifiers, provenance, rights and exact files transfer across cases. A model for pipe resonance does not transfer unchanged to a free reed or a bell, and a keyboard interaction does not explain a mechanically read disc. Each case therefore needs its own account of geometry, excitation, control and validation.
The wider organ reference set
The deposited reference objects also include the Silbermann Brüstungspositiv of 1722 and the Welte cinema organ of 1928. Together with the Cuntz instrument, these contribute measured pipes to the VAO-Pipe evaluation. That evaluation concerns passive pressure-acoustic eigenmodes of reconstructed pipe geometry. It should be read alongside the object packages, without treating it as a complete simulation of the instruments’ wind supply, speech or performance.
Explore vaoXRA browser-based route into virtual acoustic experiences.
Virtual Acoustic Objects on ZenodoA collection of VAO-related research resources.
Compare the evidence behind the experiences
The Cuntz case joins a sampled digital configuration to a historical organ, with an unresolved register-mapping issue that matters for interpretation. Ariston adds a physical control medium: a hole-recognition result must be separated from the quality of the synthesized performance. The Propstglocke adds a mechanical and propagation model whose material and environmental assumptions shape the sound. These differences explain why a transferable package format still needs object-specific research methods.
Sources & further reading
- Dominik Ukolov · Musikinstrumente im virtuellen Raum (2026)
Dissertation submitted to Universität Leipzig, 11 September 2026. Chapters 1–6 and 8; Appendix I.4 for the software and resource inventory. See the dedicated research guides for claim-specific section references. Page numbers refer to the printed manuscript pagination. The manuscript is not distributed by this website.
- VAO Standard 0.5.0
The versioned specification and reference tools.
- Cuntz reference object
- Silbermann reference object
- Welte reference object
- VAO-Pipe evaluation
- Dominik Ukolov · Musikinstrumente im virtuellen Raum (2026)
Dissertation submitted to Universität Leipzig, 11 September 2026. §8.2.2.1 and §§8.4.1–8.4.3. Page numbers refer to the printed manuscript pagination. The manuscript is not distributed by this website.
Page editions 2026-09-r6 ↓
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