Re: [Phys-l] harmonics

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 04/15/2008 03:20 PM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:

> .... Does anyone have or know of a good
> website/reference/table/book that shows all the instruments, which
> harmonics are present, and their relative magnitude?

Certainly not "all" the instruments.

Far and away the best physics-of-music site I know is the
Music Acoustics program at UNSW.
  http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/

They advertise pages on Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Brass, Didjeridu,
Guitar, Violin, and Voice.

If you really need data for oboe / timpani / piano or something like 
that, you might beseech them to measure it;  they obviously know how.

I really like that site;  they do an exceptional job of making things
accessible to non-experts without sacrificing technical correctness.

On 04/15/2008 03:31 PM, Michael Edmiston wrote:
> > In most instruments the relative harmonic content is not constant.  It 
> > depends on how loud the instrument is played, and it depends on where you 
> > are in the frequency range (how high or low on the scale).  On a stringed 
> > instrument, if you can vary the position where you pluck or ......

> > .... envelope ....


That's true.

That's why there are multi-dimensional plots that show the spectral
content as a function of time.  There are many different techniques
for this, including wavelet transformations.

A not-very-clear example is
  http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/sound.spectrum.html

Such things are central to typical speech-processing efforts.  
  http://cnx.org/content/m0089/latest/spectrum8.png