[sdiy] Basic waveform question

[jbv]

David,

Perception of sound is a very complex topic and I'm far from being an expert,
but there are a few things that I know : perception is not so much related to
the shape of the waveform, but rather to its harmonic content...
Furthermore, there are plenty of acoustic "oddities", for instance : if a
waveform
is lacking its fundamental, but if the 1st and 2nd harmonics have a certain
amplitude
ratio, then the ear will "hear" a "ghost" fundamental that isn't in the
signal...
Last but not least, continuous fixed tones can be perceived as similar over
long
periods of time, as the human ear is built to catch differences rather than
similar aspects
of sounds...
I guess experts could provide tons of such clues... So the conclusion might be
:
don't expect too much similarity between what you hear and what you see on the
scope...

JB

> I've tacked a little wave morphing circuit onto a VCO which can
> independently adjust the of ramp and square waves from -1 to +1 and add
> either or both to varying amounts of sine or triangle waves.  The resulting
> waveforms look very different on the scope when positive or negative amounts
> of ramp or square are added, but I'm not sure that they sound different.
> Are they supposed to?
>
> David G. Dixon
> Professor
> Department of Materials Engineering
> University of British Columbia
> 309-6350 Stores Road
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> Canada
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