Why
does a bassoon sound like an "oh" or a trumpet like an "ä"?
Formants are
pitch-independent, fixed maxima in the spectrum of a sound that characteristically
shape the timbre of an instrument or voice.
For example,
instruments with a maximum between 300 and 500 Hz sound like "oh"
(as in the word "old", e.g. bassoon or horn). Usually two formants
are sufficient to describe a vowel-like, characteristic timbre of an
instrument.
With the help
of two axes for the first and second formant, one can draw up a formant
field or formant map where the musical instruments of the orchestra
can be placed on characteristic positions, especially in the low and
middle register.
Timbres with
similar formant positions usually sound similar and blend
well together when played together.
Timbres with different formant positions usually sound dissimilar
and separate well when played together.
Select individual
musical instruments or their registers and/or their dynamic
levels in the menu on the right side and look/listen at which vowel
proximity the sounds are located in each case. If you move the
mouse over the individual points, you can hear the timbres behind them.
When you click the mouse, the formant values are displayed as annotation.
For each register/dynamic
level, the respective mean value (as ellipse center) and the standard
deviation (as ellipse diameter) can also be displayed ("mean /
SD"). Sounds in overlapping ellipses sound similar,
sounds in ellipses further apart sound dissimilar.
In the last two
lines you find the possibility to clear the annotations ("clear
notes"), to clear all points ("clear all")
or to connect the points of an instrument or a register to an area
("fill points").
Below that you
can choose whether the formants and the corresponding timbres should come
from the Vienna Symphonic Library ("VSL") or from
the Spitfire Audio Library ("SPA") or from both libraries
("ALL").
