Virtual Violin
Press and hold any position for a bowed, sustained note, or use your keyboard. Standard tuning, 12 positions per string, and you can play several strings at once for double stops.
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How to play the virtual violin
- Press and hold a position on a string for a bowed note, or use your keyboard.
- Hold positions on two strings at once for double stops.
- Turn vibrato on or off.
About this tool
Standard violin tuning (low to high: G D A E). Each note is synthesised the way bowed strings usually are: a source (the string) through a filter (the body). The string waveform copies Helmholtz motion, the stick-and-slip of a bow that gives a bowed string its bright, sawtooth-like tone, with small random wobbles in pitch and bow pressure so it never sounds machine-steady. That tone is then run through a synthesised violin-body response, which has the air resonance near 275 Hz, the main wood resonances around 450–550 Hz and the bright "bridge hill" around 2–3 kHz. Most of a violin's character comes from these resonances. On top of that there's a short catch of bow noise at the start of each note, a thread of bow hiss, vibrato that eases in after the note starts, and a little room reverb.
Like a real violin, each string plays one note at a time: pressing a new position on the same string moves your "finger" there. Pressing positions on two strings at once gives a double stop. A real violin has no frets, so this 12-position layout is a simplification for playability.
Nothing here is recorded or uploaded — sound is generated and played entirely in your browser.
Questions about the virtual violin
How is a violin tuned?
G, D, A, E, from lowest to highest, a fifth apart. The A string is tuned to 440 Hz.
Why do I have to hold the note?
Like a real bow, the note sounds for as long as you hold it, with a sustained bowed tone.
How is the sound made?
A synthesised bowed string through a model of a violin body’s resonances, with small natural wobbles in pitch and pressure.
Can I play two notes at once?
Yes. Hold positions on two strings for double stops.