How the Virtual Violin Fingerboard & Acoustic Body Formant Synthesizer Work
Playing a violin in a web browser requires solving two acoustic challenges: modeling the continuous friction of a horsehair bow drawn across tuned strings (Helmholtz stick-slip motion) and recreating the warm woody resonance of a carved spruce top plate and maple back. Interactive Virtual Violin Online synthesizes every note mathematically in real time using dual detuned harmonic oscillators, an expressive 5.8 Hz wrist-vibrato LFO, and a 3-band acoustic body formant filter bank.
How to Play Bowed (Arco) & Plucked (Pizzicato) Violin Notes
- Sustained Bowing (Touch, Mouse & Glissando): Press and hold any note pad on the ebony fingerboard. As long as you hold your finger or mouse button down, the virtual bow draws across the string with natural vibrato. Slide horizontally along any string to perform smooth violin portamento slides, or drag vertically across strings to bow arpeggios.
- 4-Row Computer Keyboard Layout: The four rows of your computer keyboard mirror the four strings of the violin from highest to lowest:
- E5 String (Highest): Number row
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = - A4 String: Top letter row
Q W E R T Y U I O P [ ] - D4 String: Home letter row
A S D F G H J K L ; ' - G3 String (Lowest): Bottom letter row
Z X C V B N M , . /
- E5 String (Highest): Number row
- First-Position Finger Tape Guides: Columns
+2(1st Finger Whole Step),+4(High 2nd Finger),+5(3rd Finger Perfect Fourth), and+7(4th Finger Perfect Fifth) are marked with golden luthier finger tapes so beginners and students can visualize exact violin hand placement. - Fullscreen Landscape & Portrait Modes: Click Fullscreen Landscape or Fullscreen Portrait at the top right to collapse all sliders and expand the violin fingerboard across 100% of your screen.
Violin String Physics, Tuning & Formant Equations
A concert violin is tuned in pure fifths (3:2 frequency ratio in just intonation, or 7 semitones in 12-tone equal temperament). When a finger stops a string of vibrating length $L$ at semitone index $s$, the active vibrating length shortens to $L \cdot 2^{-s/12}$ and the fundamental pitch rises according to:
2. Mersenne's Law of String Tension: f_open = (1 / 2L) × sqrt(Tension / Linear_Density)
3. Acoustic Violin Body Formants: H_body(f) = Peak_Air(280 Hz) + Peak_Bridge(1150 Hz) + Peak_Brilliance(2800 Hz)
Complete Violin First-Position Note & Frequency Reference Chart
| Violin String | Open String (0) | 1st Finger (+2) | Low 2nd (+3) | High 2nd (+4) | 3rd Finger (+5) | 4th Finger (+7) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E5 String (1st) | E5 (659.25 Hz) | F#5 (739.99 Hz) | G5 (783.99 Hz) | G#5 (830.61 Hz) | A5 (880.00 Hz) | B5 (987.77 Hz) |
| A4 String (2nd) | A4 (440.00 Hz) | B4 (493.88 Hz) | C5 (523.25 Hz) | C#5 (554.37 Hz) | D5 (587.33 Hz) | E5 (659.25 Hz) |
| D4 String (3rd) | D4 (293.66 Hz) | E4 (329.63 Hz) | F4 (349.23 Hz) | F#4 (369.99 Hz) | G4 (392.00 Hz) | A4 (440.00 Hz) |
| G3 String (4th) | G3 (196.00 Hz) | A3 (220.00 Hz) | Bb3 (233.08 Hz) | B3 (246.94 Hz) | C4 (261.63 Hz) | D4 (293.66 Hz) |
Worked Example: Playing Bach's Cello/Violin Bariolage Prelude in G Major
Click Play Bach Prelude (Example) in the toolbar above to watch and hear how string-crossing bariolage works on the fingerboard:
- The pattern alternates across three adjacent strings: Open G3 (196.00 Hz) → Open D4 (293.66 Hz) → 1st Finger B4 on the A-String (493.88 Hz), before shifting to C5 (523.25 Hz) and C#5 (554.37 Hz).
- Notice how the 4th-finger A4 on the D-String (+7 semitones = 440.00 Hz) matches the exact pitch of the Open A4 String (0 semitones = 440.00 Hz), allowing violinists to verify intonation against resonant open strings.