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Impact

NEMUS – Numerical Restoration of Historical Musical Instruments is an ERC-funded project (Starting Grant no. 950084, panel SH5 – Cultures and Cultural Production) hosted at the University of Bologna and led by Michele Ducceschi (July 2021 – June 2026). Over five years, the project’s work — from mathematical models and free software tools to concerts, museum installations and a faithful replica of a 1547 harpsichord — has been picked up by the international music-technology press, cultural magazines, event programmes and academic venues. MODUS, the synthesizer built on the project’s nonlinear modal synthesis research, won the Innovation Award at the Computer Music Awards 2023. This page collects that coverage.

From the comment threads — a selection

“Awesome little plugin. Thank you!”

@shinyisshiny7780 — YouTube

“Straordinario progetto di ricerca!”
“An extraordinary research project!”

Andrea Gerlando Terrana — Facebook

“Whoa, I’ve completely missed that. What a gorgeous reverb, thank you!”

nanostream — KVR Audio forum, on Bunkervik

“This is really nice, and a freebie at that! Thank you so much.”

JerGoertz — KVR Audio forum, on Bunkervik

“Spettacolo! Pensavo di trovare queste librerie solo su Hauptwerk e invece…”
“Amazing! I thought libraries like this only existed on Hauptwerk…”

Luca Bottini — Facebook, on the Trasuntino library

“Una storia meravigliosa! Complimenti!”
“A wonderful story! Congratulations!”

Filippo Maria Caggiani — Facebook

“Che lavoro spettacolare, grandi!!”
“What spectacular work — well done!”

Mike Vitulli — Facebook

“Splendida iniziativa realizzare un controller midi per clavicembalo!”
“A splendid idea, building a MIDI controller for the harpsichord!”

Davide Severi — Facebook, on the augmented keyboard

“Bellissimo progetto, congratulazioni a tutti!”
“Beautiful project, congratulations to everyone!”

Maurizio Di Berardino — Facebook

In the cultural press

  • The Edge Magazine — Bionic Renaissance: Voices of the Past Whisper into the Future (15 May 2026, EN) In-depth feature on the Rinascimento Bionico concert by Gadi Sassoon and Maria Luisa Baldassari at Museo San Colombano, Bologna, presenting NEMUS’s digital restoration of the 1547 Alessandro Trasuntino harpsichord and its physical replica built by master luthier Roberto Livi.
  • Il Resto del Carlino — San Colombano, il museo che risuona di antico (2025, IT) On the museum’s renewal, including the augmented keyboard (tastiera aumentata) developed with the University of Bologna’s Department of Engineering, letting visitors play the sounds of historical instruments.
  • Il Bo Live – University of Padova magazine — Modelli matematici e computer per far rivivere il suono di antichi strumenti musicali (December 2022, IT) Interview with Michele Ducceschi on building virtual copies of instruments through physics-based mathematical modelling, and on the collaboration with the Tagliavini Collection.

In the music-technology press

Bunkervik Spatial Reverb (free plugin, June 2026)

A free spatial reverb built with Missing Ear (Matteo Gualeni) and Physical Audio, modelling the acoustics of the Bunkervik, a 1940s air-raid shelter beneath Brescia now used as an arts space.

Trasuntino Kontakt library (free sample library, July 2026)

A free Kontakt instrument sampled from the exact replica of the 1547 Alessandro Trasuntino harpsichord — the oldest known Italian harpsichord with two eight-foot registers, held unplayed in the Tagliavini Collection. The copy was built by Roberto Livi and recorded by Simone Coen (February 2026).

MODUS (Physical Audio, July 2023) — built on NEMUS research

MODUS, Physical Audio’s physical-modelling synthesizer of interconnected strings, plates, springs and rattles, is built on the nonlinear modal synthesis methods published by the NEMUS team in 2023. It won the Innovation Award at the Computer Music Awards 2023.

Tetrad (Physical Audio, June 2025) — developed with Gadi Sassoon and the NEMUS team

Tetrad, a hybrid physical-modelling/granular synth built around four modelled slashed plates, is the digital twin of Gadi Sassoon’s sculpture-based synth installation heard on Modes of Vibration, and grew out of experiments with the NEMUS team.

Concerts, events and museum programming

Institutional and European Union coverage

Academic footprint (selected)

  • The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America — special issue Modeling of Musical Instruments (2021), including work by Ducceschi and collaborators.
  • Frontiers in Signal Processing — Editorial: Sound synthesis through physical modeling by Hélie, van Walstijn & Ducceschi (2025), closing a research topic co-edited within the NEMUS framework.
  • NIME 2025 — Augmentation of a Historical Harpsichord Keyboard Replica for Haptic-Enabled Interaction in Museum Exhibitions (Hamilton, Ducceschi, Livi, Vicens & McPherson) — the augmented keyboard now installed at Museo San Colombano.
  • NIME 2024 — A self-sensing haptic actuator for tactile interaction with physical modelling synthesis (Davison, Webb, Ducceschi & McPherson).
  • Acta Acustica (2024) — NEMUS-affiliated studies on affordable wide-band measurement ecosystems for musical acoustics and on the acoustics of the Renaissance Odeo Cornaro in Padua.
  • DAFx-24 — Real-time guitar synthesis (Bilbao, Russo, Webb & Ducceschi).

The full list of publications is available on the Publications page.

Ripple effects: artists and industry

  • Gadi Sassoon — the composer’s Modes of Vibration (2025) and related tools were developed with support from NEMUS and Physical Audio, as noted on his official site and his MUTEK Montréal artist profile.
  • Matteo Gualeni (Missing Ear) — his album Hotel Infinito (C.O.S.A. Studio Recordings, 2026) treats the Bunkervik tunnel as an instrument, in parallel with the NEMUS acoustic modelling that produced the free reverb plugin.
  • Physical Audio — the UK developer’s research pages document the ongoing collaboration, from the NESS project at Edinburgh through to the NEMUS-era plugins and roundtables.
  • YouTube roundtable — Physical Modelling, Historical Keyboards and Granular Synths: Exploring the NEMUS project — a filmed conversation between Michele Ducceschi, Stefan Bilbao, Craig Webb and Gadi Sassoon on a decade of physical-modelling research.

Five years of NEMUS — the record, in numbers

The final report of the project, condensed into a visual deck: 49 publications (34 conference papers, 11 journal articles, 3 PhD dissertations, 1 book chapter — one paper every month, for five years), 5 software releases (3 commercial plugins built on NEMUS technology — MODUS, winner of the Computer Music Innovation Award 2023, Preparation 2 and Tetrad — and 2 free releases, Bunkervik Spatial Reverb and the 1547 Trasuntino Kontakt library), 3 PhDs, and 1 augmented keyboard in the permanent display at Museo San Colombano — playable by all. Six products in total.

Five years of NEMUS — Final Report 2021–2026, cover

49 publications: 34 conference papers, 11 journal articles, 3 PhD dissertations, 1 book chapter

Publications by year: 5 (2021), 7 (2022), 10 (2023), 9 (2024), 8 (2025), 10 (2026) — one paper every month, for five years

Where we published: DAFx leads with 11 papers, followed by Forum Acusticum, POMA, NIME, INTER-NOISE, IFAC, Acta Acustica and other venues

Outputs by type and topic: physical modelling & simulation, numerical methods, room acoustics, instrument characterisation, interfaces & haptics, open science & conservation

Beyond papers: 3 commercial plugins (MODUS, Preparation 2, Tetrad), 2 free releases (Bunkervik Spatial Reverb, 1547 Trasuntino Kontakt Library), 1 museum interface at San Colombano

Telling the story: 1 full documentary, 1 two-hour podcast, 7 team reels, 1 performance video, magazine features, 1 closing concert

A final count: 49 publications, 6 products, 3 PhDs, 1 keyboard for all — Make. Restore. Play. Be open about it.

This page is updated periodically. If you have written about NEMUS and don’t see your piece here, get in touch.