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<H1><A NAME="SECTION00910000000000000000"></A>
<A NAME="sect5-spectra"></A>
<BR>
Taxonomy of spectra
</H1>
<P>
Figure <A HREF="#fig05.01">5.1</A> introduces a way of visualizing the
<A NAME="5595"></A><I>spectrum</I> of an audio signal. The spectrum describes, roughly speaking,
how the signal's power is distributed into frequencies. (Much more precise
definitions can be given than those that we'll develop here, but they would
require more mathematical background.)
<P>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig05.01"></A><A NAME="5599"></A>
<TABLE>
<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 5.1:</STRONG>
A taxonomy of timbres. The spectral envelope describes the shape of
the spectrum. The sound may be discretely or continuously distributed in
frequency; if discretely, it may be harmonic or inharmonic.</CAPTION>
<TR><TD><IMG
WIDTH="411" HEIGHT="399" BORDER="0"
SRC="img402.png"
ALT="\begin{figure}\psfig{file=figs/fig05.01.ps}\end{figure}"></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</DIV>
<P>
Part (a) of the figure shows the spectrum of a
<A NAME="5602"></A><I>harmonic signal</I>,
which is a periodic signal whose fundamental frequency is in the range of
perceptible pitches, roughly between 50 and 4000 Hertz.
The Fourier series (Page <A HREF="node14.html#eq-fourierseries"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]"
SRC="file:/usr/local/share/lib/latex2html/icons/crossref.png"></A>) gives a description of
a periodic signal as a sum of sinusoids. The frequencies of the sinusoids
are in the ratio <IMG
WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img403.png"
ALT="$0:1:2:\cdots$">. (The constant term in the Fourier series
may be thought of as a sinusoid,
<BR><P></P>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
<!-- MATH
\begin{displaymath}
{a_0} = {a_0}\cos(0 \cdot \omega n),
\end{displaymath}
-->
<IMG
WIDTH="131" HEIGHT="28" BORDER="0"
SRC="img404.png"
ALT="\begin{displaymath}
{a_0} = {a_0}\cos(0 \cdot \omega n),
\end{displaymath}">
</DIV>
<BR CLEAR="ALL">
<P></P>
whose frequency is zero.)
<P>
In a harmonic signal, the power shown in the spectrum is
concentrated on a discrete subset of the frequency axis (a discrete
set consists of isolated points, only finitely many in any bounded interval).
We call
this a
<A NAME="5607"></A><I>discrete</I> spectrum.
Furthermore, the frequencies where the signal's power lies are in the
<IMG
WIDTH="75" HEIGHT="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img405.png"
ALT="$0:1:2\cdots$"> ratio that arises from a periodic signal. (It's not
necessary for <I>all</I> of the harmonic frequencies to be present; some
harmonics may have zero amplitude.)
For a harmonic signal, the graph of the spectrum shows the amplitudes of the
<A NAME="5610"></A>partials of the signals.
Knowing the amplitudes and phases of all the partials fully determines
the original signal.
<P>
Part (b) of the figure shows a spectrum which is also discrete, so that the
signal can again be considered as a sum of a series of
partials. In this case, however, there is no fundamental frequency, i.e., no
audible common submultiple of all the partials. This is called an
<A NAME="5611"></A>
<I>inharmonic</I> signal. (The terms <IMG
WIDTH="72" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img406.png"
ALT="$harmonic$"> and
<IMG
WIDTH="87" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img407.png"
ALT="$inharmonic$"> may be used to describe both the signals and their spectra.)
<P>
When dealing with discrete spectra, we report a partial's amplitude in a
slightly non-intuitive way. Each component sinusoid,
<BR><P></P>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
<!-- MATH
\begin{displaymath}
a \cos (\omega n + \phi)
\end{displaymath}
-->
<IMG
WIDTH="91" HEIGHT="28" BORDER="0"
SRC="img408.png"
ALT="\begin{displaymath}
a \cos (\omega n + \phi)
\end{displaymath}">
</DIV>
<BR CLEAR="ALL">
<P></P>
only counts as having amplitude <IMG
WIDTH="27" HEIGHT="32" ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0"
SRC="img409.png"
ALT="$a/2$"> as long as the angular frequency <IMG
WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img27.png"
ALT="$\omega $">
is nonzero. But for a
component of zero frequency, for which
<!-- MATH
$\omega = \phi = 0$
-->
<IMG
WIDTH="73" HEIGHT="30" ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0"
SRC="img410.png"
ALT="$\omega = \phi = 0$">, the amplitude is given as <IMG
WIDTH="11" HEIGHT="13" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
SRC="img4.png"
ALT="$a$">--without dividing by two.
(Components of zero frequency are often called
<I>DC</I><A NAME="5614"></A>
components; ``DC" is historically an acronym for ``direct current").
These conventions for amplitudes in spectra will simplify the mathematics later
in this chapter; a deeper reason for them will become apparent in
Chapter <A HREF="node104.html#chapter-delay">7</A>.
<P>
Part (c) of the figure shows a third possibility:
the spectrum might not be concentrated into a discrete set of frequencies, but
instead might be spread out among all possible frequencies. This can be called a
<A NAME="5616"></A><I>continuous</I>, or
<A NAME="5618"></A><I>noisy</I> spectrum.
Spectra don't necessarily fall into either the discrete or continuous categories;
real sounds, in particular, are usually somewhere in between.
<P>
Each of the three parts of the figure shows a continuous curve called the
<A NAME="5620"></A><I>spectral envelope</I>. In general, sounds don't have a single,
well-defined
spectral envelope; there may be many ways to draw a smooth-looking curve
through a spectrum. On the other hand, a spectral envelope may be specified
intentionally; in that case, it is usually
clear how to make a spectrum conform to it. For
a discrete spectrum, for example, we could
simply read off, from the spectral envelope, the desired amplitude of each
partial and make it so.
<P>
A sound's pitch can sometimes be inferred from its spectrum. For discrete
spectra, the pitch is primarily encoded in the frequencies of the partials.
Harmonic signals have a pitch determined by their fundamental frequency; for
inharmonic ones, the pitch may be clear, ambiguous, or absent altogether,
according to complex and incompletely understood rules. A noisy spectrum may
also have a perceptible pitch if the spectral envelope contains one or more
narrow peaks. In general, a sound's loudness and timbre depend more on its
spectral envelope than on the frequencies in the spectrum, although the
distinction between continuous and discrete spectra may also be heard as a
difference in timbre.
<P>
Timbre, as well as pitch, may evolve over the life of a sound. We have been
speaking of spectra here as static entities, not considering whether they
change in time or not. If a signal's pitch and timbre are changing over time,
we can think of the spectrum as a time-varying description of
the signal's momentary behavior.
<P>
This way of viewing sounds is greatly oversimplified. The true behavior of
audible pitch and timbre has many aspects which can't be explained in terms of
this model. For instance, the timbral quality called ``roughness" is sometimes
thought of as being reflected in rapid changes in the spectral envelope over
time. The simplified description developed here is useful nonetheless in
discussions about how to construct discrete or continuous spectra for a wide
variety of musical purposes, as we will begin to show in the rest of this
chapter.
<P>
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<ADDRESS>
Miller Puckette
2006-12-30
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