Abstract
Timbre – sound “colour” – is an abstract, delicate property of sound, especially in a high-value context such as musical instruments. It is a perceptual construct so intangible that it cannot be considered a quantity. Since sound nevertheless reaches our ears as a complete physical reality, we hypothesize that this inherent abstraction of its timbre is primarily due to the lack of a meaningful, musically relevant, and robust quantification that would do justice to the subtlety of human auditory perception. It is therefore not surprising that not a single aspect of timbre is to be found in the specifications of musical instruments. We introduce harmonic timbre coordinates, concrete and robust numbers that quantify a partial aspect of timbre of an instrument’s sound – its harmonic structure – with a precision that allows relevance in the musical context. These numbers could, for example, help a buyer find an instrument whose sound is closer to his or her preferences. Or they could enable precise tracking of harmonic changes in sound, and more.
Funder
European Commission Horizon2020 Widespread-Teaming program
Republic of Slovenia
Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS
Subject
Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Speech and Hearing,Computer Science Applications,Acoustics and Ultrasonics