These impossible instruments could change the future of music

What Sassoon had heard were the early results of a curious project at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where Ducceschi was a researcher at the time. The Next Generation Sound Synthesis, or NESS, team had pulled together mathematicians, physicists, and computer scientists to produce the most lifelike digital music ever created, by running hyper-realistic simulations of trumpets, guitars, violins, and more on a supercomputer. Sassoon, who works with both orchestral and digital music, "trying to smash the two together," was hooked. He became a resident composer with NESS, traveling back and forth between Milan and Edinburgh for the next few years. It was a steep learning curve.