Hear ancient instrument online

A project to recreate the sound of musical instruments of the past using computer modelling programs has trumpeted its first success.

The Astra (Ancient instruments Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application) project has managed to recreate the sound of a harp-like Epigonion musical instrument from Ancient Greece.

Though extreme amounts of computing power were required – it took about four hours for a high-powered computer to correctly reproduce a sound lasting only 30 seconds - scientists managed to synthesise a performance between four Epigonion instruments.

"This is an exciting project for us and for musicians and historians around the world. For the first time we can actually hear the musical sounds of the past, using modelling techniques rather than guesswork," said Professor De Mattia, co-ordinator of the Astra project.

"Recreating the sound of the Epigonion instrument and the compilation of this musical piece is a great achievement and is the first step towards our goal of constructing a full orchestra in the future,"

Samples of the performance can be heard on the Astra project's website.

www.astraproject.org/examples/dufay.mp3