Refinements to the analysis and synthesis of musical tones using the Karhunen-Loève transform

Date

1992

Authors

Weeks, William Brent

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Abstract

A procedure for the analysis and synthesis of musical tones using the Karhunen-Loève Transform is reviewed. Analysis of a well-correlated set of musical instrument tones yields a small number (typically less than or equal to four) of wavetable oscillators which can be used for re-synthesis of the analyzed tones. Some refinements to the analysis procedure are introduced. Results of applying the refined analysis procedure to tracking variations in individual instrument timbres are presented. Some instruments exhibit large timbral variations over their performance range and are not tracked well by a single set of at most four wavetable oscillators. Quality re-synthesis has been achieved for most instruments analyzed; however, a number of consistent deficiencies are audible in the synthesized tones. In particular, many synthesized tones exhibit a buzz during their decay, and noise-like components of tones are not synthesized well. Improvements to address these deficiencies as well as certain limitations in the analysis procedure are suggested. Finally, a synthesizer structure incorporating some of these improvements is proposed.

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UN SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

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