Making an(y) unique instrumental sound by playing around harmonics

When an instrument is played, it does not just produce the frequency is played (the fundamental) but also the sequence of frequencies as the series of integers multiple of a fundamental. Each instrument differs from the other mainly in the volume of the individual harmonics. If I can manually fine-tune the volume of every single harmonic, in theory, I can mimic every single instrument or create any new timbre.

This pure data patch I made l randomly generates different ratios of harmonics, thus, randomly creating timbre. However, the harmonic series is infinite, in this patch, only eight have been generated.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Window Functions in Fourier Transform: Understanding the Role of Observation Time in Pitch Analysis

In the world of music analysis and signal processing, the Fourier transform is a powerful tool for understanding the frequency content of a sound. One of the key components of the Fourier transform is the window function, which controls how long the computer "looks" at the signal in order to determine the frequencies present. In a perfect world, a longer observation time would provide better accuracy in identifying the frequencies present in a sound. However, in the real world, musical notes from instruments are not infinitely long and their sustain is not always perfectly flat and clear. As a result, the pitch of a note can fluctuate, which can lead to a noisy spectrum when analyzing the sound. To address this problem, different window functions have been developed to control the observation time and minimize the impact of pitch fluctuations on the analysis. In music analysis, this principle can be applied to the frequency and time domain of a sound. A commonly used window f...
Read more

Timbre and the suitable tuning and temperament

Image
 People prefer piano to use equal temperament and string instruments to use just intonation. It can be understood that the mechanics of the instruments: the piano is hard to adjust during a performance and strings are good at their agility. It can have the same conclusion when we examine the timbre of the instruments. Here is the harmonic series comparison between a piano and a violin playing on the same note A2. In the piano, the harmonic strength is strong on the first 3 harmonics but decays rapidly after 1kHz; the violin carries a more spread of harmonic strength. It maintains strength even over 1kHz until 4kHz. In other words, the strings instruments have louder upper harmonic partials compared to the piano. In real practice, the string instruments are often played with vibrato, which generates even more complex harmonics compare to a piano. I use Pure Data to generate the purer sound for clearer comparison and easier to switch between different temperaments and tuning as well ...
Read more

26-TET and mixolydian mode - sound ancient with modern method

Image
 Mixolydian mode is often referred to as a medieval church mode and can be traced to ancient Greece. For composing, to bring out the taste of the mode, the melody should accent the flat-seven note in the mode. Thus, the tunning of the note flat-seven is critical. I have discussed the 53-TET is great for perfect 5th. This 26 TET is great for minor 7th. Harmonic series again, the just intonation of minor 7th is way flatter than the 12-TET that we normally use, -31 cent, about a quarter semitone. Finding an alternative temperament is needed. In the harmonic series, the 7th harmonics is the minor 7th interval to the fundamental. The 4th and 7th are the interval of minor 7th in the same octave. The ratio of 7:4 sounds harmonious in just intonation, as the ratio is from the harmonic series. There are also other ratios of minor 7th in the harmonic series, e.g. 9:5, 16:9, etc. Harmonic series in C Borrowing the same method by Pytheogoen, but we stack in 7:4 minor 7th interval instead. Aft...
Read more