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ELEMENT 3: Timbre
'Timbre is the quality of a sound that enables us to distinguish the sound
from another of the same pitch. If we look once again at the waveform
produced by our bell, it's easy to see that the shape of the waveform is
determined
by the compressions
and rarefactions of air produced
by the
bell's vibration.
'Now look at the particles shown on the right.
'As you can see, the source of the sound is such that the particles are com-
pressed to a certain pressure for a fixed period of time and then rarefied
for an equal period.
If. we view this graphically, the resulting waveform is "square". This is,
of course, what is known as a "square wave".
Remember though, that the square wave still travels at the same speed
sour
sine wave, 50, if iis of the same wavelength, our ears will interpret
its pitch as being the same. But because the air particles are vibrating in
different way, we will hear the sound as an entirely different "timbre".
Very basically, we can divide waveforms into three types, shown below.
[Waverome] — [ve]
(fwmne)
Xr
Sine wave
Soft
PSKPAgp Sawtooth wave Bright
"SEES
Siuare wave simple
'The VZ-10M offers a total of 8 different waveforms. You'll become ex-
tremely familiar with the characteristics of each as you use the VZ-10M.
Fundamental Waves and Harmonics - Shaping the Timbre
Now that you have a basic idea of what sound is and how itis generated,
you would probably like to know how you can determine the shape of
'a wave (= timbre) in order
to create the kind of sound you want.
First, take a look at this diagram.
'This figure illustrates the process of combining two sine waves in order
to form a saw-tooth wave. B is the basic sine wave, while C is a wave
which is oscillating at twice the frequency of B (making it one octave higher
in pitch), and at only half the amplitude (volume) of B.
'When we combine B and C, the result is waveform A. A is still not a per-
fect saw-tooth wave, but it will gradually approach a perfect saw-tooth
shape as additional sine waves at 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, etc. the level of the fun-
damental wave are added.
-95-
One Cycle
Increase in Air Paice Density
Decrease
in Air Particle Density
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