Scientific Sound Analysis

[StrtdTooLate]

By profession I am an Engineer and Computer Programmer. Out of curiosity, I created a program that analyzes the sound when playing long tones. It tells you how much of the sound came from the fundamental tone and how much came from overtones and what frequency they are. It does it graphically, but also with numbers. Would a program like this have any commercial value? Should I pursue it?

[pknight]

I would be surprised if such a device does not already exist. Of course, I have been surprised before, so you might want to Google relevant terms to see.

[Gange]

Of course they exist, but it could be quite fun to have one at home. However much information of the tone will be lost in the computer hardware and the microphone. Given that you haven't put _lots_ of $ there... :-)
I was working with such a device when doing my final project in high school (many years ago). I was examining differences in the frequency spectra of the saxophone family (sop - bari). I also tried some different alto mouthpieces. It was quite interesting.

We are currently using such devices to eliminate echo in telephone systems, decreasing noise in airplanes/helicopters (from propellers), ventilation systems etc. See what frequencies a tone/noise (periodic signal) consists of and try to dampen them or amplify them depending on the application. Cool stuff though, and lots of mathematics... :-)

[Dentarthurdent]

I was in a pretty hi-tech studio a couple of months back. The engineer had a kind of 'sound spectrum analyser' device displayed on a computer screen. When I went into the control room to listen to the playback of my solo he showed me the analysis of my tone (tenor) which seemed like a layer cake made up of loads of different harmonics and showing the various strength of each - fascinating. I put some soprano on a different track and it was intersting to see the differences in the sound spectrum. I guess that something similar does therefore already exist but I'm not sure what the commercial application of it is...

[mark_m]

Could be a nice tool for analyzing mouthpiece design, seeing exactly what small internal changes do...

[Paul Coats]

There are analyzers that can hook up to your computer, used for speaker work, that are easily available now.

[Roger McWilliams]

It is informative and fun to do spectral analysis work on musical instruments. There is a considerable amount of professional and amateur software available for data collection and analysis. An example of using such software in experimental measurements on saxophones is my work on saxophone mouthpiece material availble at http://hal9000.ps.uci.edu under the "Presentations" section. So, this is an exciting area to work on; enjoy your work!

[StrtdTooLate]

Roger, I read your paper and found it very informative. I have a couple of graphs I would like you to look at. My email address is etech@infoave.net. Please send me yours if you would be willing to look at two JPEG graphs.