ICKAN: A deep musical instrument classification model incorporating Kolmogorov-Arnold network

Abstract Musical instrument classification, as a fundamental task in music information retrieval (MIR), has broad applications in music analysis, education, and content management. However, existing research primarily focuses on short monophonic samples for classification, which fails to capture the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jiaxiang Zheng, Moxi Cao, Chongbin Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09493-y
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849402887183007744
author Jiaxiang Zheng
Moxi Cao
Chongbin Zhang
author_facet Jiaxiang Zheng
Moxi Cao
Chongbin Zhang
author_sort Jiaxiang Zheng
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Musical instrument classification, as a fundamental task in music information retrieval (MIR), has broad applications in music analysis, education, and content management. However, existing research primarily focuses on short monophonic samples for classification, which fails to capture the timbral variation characteristics in real performance scenarios. Meanwhile, traditional deep learning models still have limitations in extracting complex timbral features. To address these challenges, this paper proposes ICKAN, a deep instrument classification model that incorporates the Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN), and constructs a large-scale dataset containing 30,824 complete musical phrases. Experimental results demonstrate that ICKAN achieves a classification accuracy of 95.74% in a 20-class instrument classification task with 10-second audio segments, significantly outperforming current methods. This research introduces learnable nonlinear activation functions and comprehensive musical segments, offering new insights into improving the accuracy and practicality of instrument classification and contributing valuable references for the advancement of music information retrieval technology. The code and dataset are available at https://github.com/NMLAB8/ICKAN .
format Article
id doaj-art-3019ba9190c745a992388fcf5b92e1db
institution Kabale University
issn 2045-2322
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Reports
spelling doaj-art-3019ba9190c745a992388fcf5b92e1db2025-08-20T03:37:24ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111910.1038/s41598-025-09493-yICKAN: A deep musical instrument classification model incorporating Kolmogorov-Arnold networkJiaxiang Zheng0Moxi Cao1Chongbin Zhang2Kangwon National UniversityKangwon National UniversityDepartment, Nanjing University of the ArtsAbstract Musical instrument classification, as a fundamental task in music information retrieval (MIR), has broad applications in music analysis, education, and content management. However, existing research primarily focuses on short monophonic samples for classification, which fails to capture the timbral variation characteristics in real performance scenarios. Meanwhile, traditional deep learning models still have limitations in extracting complex timbral features. To address these challenges, this paper proposes ICKAN, a deep instrument classification model that incorporates the Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN), and constructs a large-scale dataset containing 30,824 complete musical phrases. Experimental results demonstrate that ICKAN achieves a classification accuracy of 95.74% in a 20-class instrument classification task with 10-second audio segments, significantly outperforming current methods. This research introduces learnable nonlinear activation functions and comprehensive musical segments, offering new insights into improving the accuracy and practicality of instrument classification and contributing valuable references for the advancement of music information retrieval technology. The code and dataset are available at https://github.com/NMLAB8/ICKAN .https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09493-yMusical instrument classificationMusic information retrievalKolmogorov-Arnold networkDeep learningAudio feature extraction
spellingShingle Jiaxiang Zheng
Moxi Cao
Chongbin Zhang
ICKAN: A deep musical instrument classification model incorporating Kolmogorov-Arnold network
Scientific Reports
Musical instrument classification
Music information retrieval
Kolmogorov-Arnold network
Deep learning
Audio feature extraction
title ICKAN: A deep musical instrument classification model incorporating Kolmogorov-Arnold network
title_full ICKAN: A deep musical instrument classification model incorporating Kolmogorov-Arnold network
title_fullStr ICKAN: A deep musical instrument classification model incorporating Kolmogorov-Arnold network
title_full_unstemmed ICKAN: A deep musical instrument classification model incorporating Kolmogorov-Arnold network
title_short ICKAN: A deep musical instrument classification model incorporating Kolmogorov-Arnold network
title_sort ickan a deep musical instrument classification model incorporating kolmogorov arnold network
topic Musical instrument classification
Music information retrieval
Kolmogorov-Arnold network
Deep learning
Audio feature extraction
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09493-y
work_keys_str_mv AT jiaxiangzheng ickanadeepmusicalinstrumentclassificationmodelincorporatingkolmogorovarnoldnetwork
AT moxicao ickanadeepmusicalinstrumentclassificationmodelincorporatingkolmogorovarnoldnetwork
AT chongbinzhang ickanadeepmusicalinstrumentclassificationmodelincorporatingkolmogorovarnoldnetwork