Driving Chaos: Virtual Analog Modelling of a Chaotic Circuit with Wave Digital Filters
What happens when analog circuits behave unpredictably, or even chaotically? This talk dives into the fascinating world of non-linear dynamical systems and their applications in audio circuit modelling. You'll be introduced to key concepts like chaos, bifurcations, and attractors through intuitive explanations and classic examples such as the Lorenz attractor and the Chua circuit—the simplest known circuit to exhibit chaotic behaviour.
We'll then explore how to apply Wave Digital Filters (WDFs)—a technique for virtual analog modelling of analog circuits—to the real-time simulation of the Chua circuit, and make it a valuable tool for creating unique sonic textures and virtual analog effects.
No background in chaos theory or advanced maths is required, just curiosity and an interest in audio DSP modelling. Whether you're into experimental sound design or exploring modelling techniques, this session offers a practical starting point to the chaotic side of audio circuits.
Francisco Bernardo
Research Associate
Imperial College London
Hi, I'm Francisco Bernardo, and I'm interested in computational audio and music systems, acoustics, and human-computer interaction design:
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I am a Research Associate in Digital Musical Instrument Design at the Augmented Instrument Lab, part of the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London.
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Previously, I worked at the Multi-Sensory-Devices Lab at University College London, where I developed acoustic metamaterials and ultrasonic phased arrays for futuristic haptic interfaces.
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At the Experimental Music Technologies Lab at University of Sussex, I developed Web-based audio engines and a compiler for livecoding environments for music and machine learning.
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My PhD in Computer Science from Goldsmiths, University of London, focused on the design of interactive machine learning toolkits for music technologists and audio developers.