3D Printing of Musical Instruments: Images, Technologies, Whitepaper & Recording

3D Printed Sax and Trumpet

I recently posted a recording on SoundCloud (see below) which was inspired by my research into 3D printing of musical instruments.  

3D Printed Flute

MIT Media Lab

A visit to MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts was a trigger to allow me to investigate the possibilities of incorporating such instruments into a recent commission.

3D Ideated Valve Instrument

3D Printed Violin

Paper Written by Arvid Jense (Link Below)

I am attaching a link to a PDF from Arvid Jense at the University of Twente which provides an excellent overview to this nascent, radical technology.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/569292/Possibilities%20for%203d%20Printing%20Musical%20Instruments%20-%20Arvid%20Jense%2012-12-2012.pdf


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Milford Graves

My Recording on SoundCloud:  “Equivalent Ideation & Lost Gill-Slits” (2013) using 3D Printed Instruments

Bil Smith Composer

For Two String Quartets and Two Jazz Quintets featuring:

Quatuor Diotima (::discourse::) Radikant; Oliver Lake (Saxophones); Roscoe Mitchell (Woodwinds. 3D Ideated Instruments); Bil Smith (3D Pocket Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Percussion); William Parker (Bass); Amina Claudine Myers (Piano); Milford Graves (Drums, Percussion, 3D Ideated Instruments)

T’Ang Quartette; Evan Parker (Saxophones); Manfred Schoof (Trumpet); Maarten van Regteren Altena (Bass); Alt Koom (Percussion)
Han Bennink (Drums, Percussion)

Recording: Funkhaus Nalepastrasse, Berlin. March 12, 2013

The genesis of this composition emanates from my early music experiences as a free jazz trumpet player. Ornette Coleman’s Double Quartet and the seminal recording “Free Jazz”; Horatiu Radulescu’s musical treatise “Sound Plasma” and artist Mark Rothko all have a profound influence in the evolution of this work.

Listen On Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/bil-smith/slits