Perception of attributes in real and synthetic string instrument sounds

Abstract

This thesis explores the perceptual features of natural and synthetic string instrument sounds. The contributions are in formal listening experiments on a variety of features in musical sounds that have not been studied in detail previously. The effects of inharmonicity on timbre and pitch have been measured. The results indicate that the implementation of inharmonicity is not always necessary. The timbre effect is more salient in natural instruments, but for high tones a pitch difference may also be detected. Guidelines were given for compensation of the pitch effect. A perceptual study of the decaying parameters showed that large deviations from the reference value are tolerated perceptually. The studies on the audibility of initial pitch glides and dual-polarization effects provides practical knowledge that helps in the implementation of these features in digital sound synthesis. Related to expression rather than basic string behavior, the study on perception-based control of the vibrato parameters has a sligthly different background. However, all of the studied features are more or less player-controlled by different ways of plucking the string or pressing the key.

The main objective of the thesis is to find answers to current problems in digital sound synthesis, such as parameter quantization. Another aim is to gain more general understanding of how we perceive musical sounds.