Sound and Timbre

Here, I focus on how we can analyse, visualize and synthesize sound, or more specifically the timbre of instruments. Pitch and Timbre Perception Our perception of music is based on the grouping of frequencies in time and space. That is why a set of frequencies can be heard as a specific tone with an associated pitch, loudness and timbre. Such grouping is done by relating frequencies that have their origin close in spatial location, have similar onset time, and move in the same direction. The problem, however, is that there are no computational tools that can do this in an immediate and straight forward way like the human brain. ...

November 20, 2002 · 13 min · 2670 words · ARJ