Doepfer

I'd link this stuff, but it's easier if you google "violin formants" 
and there's a good bit of stuff there. No database out there that I 
know of (I know because I searched for this type of stuff in the 
past) but you can find info on individual instruments for a start... 
violins and guitars and so on.

Formants and properties of acoustic systems makes me think of how in 
analog synthesis one of the sounds that screams "analog synth" is 
the low pass filter sound - and this I think relates to Brian Eno's 
interest in synths and bodily functions - have you ever heard your 
stomach grumbling and thought that it sounds like a analog synth 
sound? I certainly have - hearing the stomach's sounds being 
filtered through the abdomen is like a sound being filtered through 
a low pass filter.

Not to digress too much, but just something I think of when it comes 
to analog synth "artificial" sound vs. "real" acoustic sound. One of 
the aspects of raw acoustic sounds that makes them what they are is 
the amount of high frequency content, and synthesizing acoustic type 
sounds in analog seems hard to me because the waveforms don't have 
that real high frequency content in the harmonics. I'm just thinking 
of what you have to start with as raw material before it hits the 
formant filtering.

Don't get me wrong, it's interesting and worthwhile to understand 
how to synthesize acoustically based sounds - I'm certainly 
interested in it, but I like analog synths for the nice "fake" 
sounds that they make. :)

--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com, "stuadh" <stuadh@...> wrote:
>
> General information is fine.  I'm just after a start point from 
which to experiment.  I got 
> the idea from the Sound on Sound, Synth Secrets series, Formant 
Sysnthesis http://
> www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar01/articles/synthsec.asp.  Given that 
there is something 
> about the grouping of violin formants that makes the instrument 
sound violiny, I reckon 
> having a database of different sonic reference points must be 
useful.  Has anyone any 
> experience in this?  I have found several online articles 
describing how we use formants to 
> identify sounds, but none show which frequencies relate to which 
sounds (except a bit the 
> Synth Secrets giving vowel formants).
> 
> Yours Aye
> 
> Stuadh
> 
> --- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com, "untiedstates" 
<untiedstates@> wrote:
> >
> > Whatever you might find would likely only be general 
information, 
> > because formants are the characteristic resonances of individual 
> > instruments or systems.. in other words, from violin to violin 
the 
> > formants would be different, just as from one person's voice to 
> > another person's voice the formants would be different. 
> > 
> > You could find frequency ranges for different instruments, but 
each 
> > instrument's formants are like its fingerprint, unique to that 
> > particular instrument.
> > 
> > --- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com, "stuadh" <stuadh@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > >   Does anyone have a list of the formants present in acoustic 
> > instruments and other non-
> > > musical sounds?  I am looking to expand my sound design 
knowledge 
> > and having a ready 
> > > guide would be very useful.
> > > 
> > > Yours Aye
> > > 
> > > Stuadh
> > >
> >
>