Analysis of Musical Instrument Tones

A technique is presented for the analysis of musical instrument tones. The end result is a mathematical representation for the tone being investigated. Since no assumptions are made about the frequencies of the partial tones, inharmonic frequencies can be detected and accounted for in the representation. An analog‐digital converter was used to present the signals to the ILLIAC II digital computer for analysis. Five tones were analyzed, resynthesized, and subjected to listening tests. The trumpet tone was characterized by a frequency change which, if omitted during synthesis, made the tone sound mechanical. The saxophone tone had a short‐duration, inharmonic component which gave it the “bite” characteristic of a jazz tone. The other tones analyzed were produced by a violin, bassoon, and clarinet; and each, when resynthesized, still retained the tonal quality of the original; as examples, the wind tones sounded breathy and the violin sounded bowed. It was thus concluded that this analysis technique can be s...