[sdiy] Moogey jitter

[scottnoanh at peoplepc.com]

"But there is virtually no audible difference."

I've stayed out of any 'Moog Magic' debate because I have never in my life
ever touched a Moog, heard one 'live' or have even seen one in person. I in
no way consider my ears to be golden.  However, this sample proves to me, at
least in comparison to a rock-solid 'perfect' digitally generated waveform,
there is a *definite* audible difference.  Not to say one is better than the
other (hard to tell from a static note), but as an example that there is
virtually no audible difference....well, for me this sample argues against
that point.

Having listened to it, it seemed to me that it started with the 'the
perfect' waveform, then switched over to the imperfect, then back and forth
a few times. I listened to it several times just to make sure I wasn't
imagining the difference, then I opened it up in Audacity.  Observing it in
Audacity, it looks like the first crossover to 'imperfect' is somewhere
close to 1.98 seconds into the sample.  I note not only cycle-tocycle
waveform variation in the imperfect waveform, but general amplitude
variation as well (though not so much cycle-to-cycle).  Those spikes on the
positive and negative peaks of the 'imperfect' waveform - what's going on
with that?  Notice these spikes vary in relative amplitude from the peaks
from cycle to cycle.  I don't know how significant they are - the difference
I hear does seem to stem from cyclic harmonic variation, as well as
amplitude variation. That's how I perceive it, anyway.

In any event, I can imagine if one stacked two or three of the perfect
waveforms up against two or three of the imperfect waveforms, and each of
the imperfect waveforms varied in the same manner, but not synchronously,
the difference would be greatly magnified.

Magic?  Dunno.  Better - entirely subjective.  Different - definitely, at
least in this example, and to me.