Waveforms - CAKEWALK SONAR User Manual

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played. Rather, all these vibrations are added together to form a complex or composite sound that our
ear perceives as a single tone.
Fundamental
frequency (1f)
100% amplitude
2x fundamental (2f)
50% amplitude
3x fundamental (3f)
33% amplitude
4x fundamental (4f)
25% amplitude
5x fundamental (5f)
20% amplitude
This composite waveform still doesn't account for the uniqueness of the sound of different instruments.
For example, stringed instruments usually have a resonator. In the case of the guitar, the resonator is
the big block of hollow wood to which the string is attached (the guitar body). This has a major impact
on the sound we perceive when a guitar is played because it enhances or amplifies some of the
vibrations produced by the string and diminishes or attenuates others. The ultimate effect of all the
vibrations occurring simultaneously, being altered by the resonator, adds up to the sound we know as
guitar.

Waveforms

A sound wave can be represented in many different ways: as a mathematical formula, as a series of
numbers, or graphically as a waveform. A waveform displays the size, or amplitude, of the vibration
as a function of time. For example, the waveform of the sound of the plucked guitar string might look
like this:
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