[sdiy] They aren't sawtooths, they're ramps

[cheater cheater]

> (ramp up and down)
> There is no difference as long
> as we're dealing with linear or symmetrically nonlinear systems.

Bingo! Power supply issues. Or as I would say, 'music made with power supplies'.

> I doubt the difference is really audible.

Not if listened to directly, no.

If you listen through stuff that is very dependent on the level of the
signal, such as hard clippers or - better yet - wraparound, then there
is definitely going to be a difference. Or FM could work out
differently. Or ring modulators could again work out differently. Same
with comparator based PW shapers/suboscillators. Linear stages in
synths are generally speaking boring.

D.

On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 12:27, Antti Huovilainen <ajhuovil at cc.hut.fi> wrote:
> On Mon, 2 Nov 2009, Electronic Battle wrote:
>
>>> Sawtooth - sharp transition  from low to high then falls linearly back to
>>> low. repeat.
>>> Ramp - linear rise from low to high, sharp transition high to low.
>>> repeat.
>
> Having done a fair bit of signal processing, I've never seen sawtooth/ramp
> being treated as separate cases. "Ramp" is usually followed by clarification
> of whether an up- or downgoing ramp is used. There is no difference as long
> as we're dealing with linear or symmetrically nonlinear systems.
>
> As for exponential ramp, I've never seen that used without specifically
> mentioning the ramp is exponential. The reset point makes a huge difference
> afterall, so generic exponential ramp is almost meaningless.
>
>> It would be interesting to note the harmonic structure of either. I don't
>> know enough about Fourier to be able to analyse it myself; however, it is
>> still the case that they wil be different but whether the *audible*
>> difference is noteworthy remains to be seen!
>
> I doubt the difference is really audible. The spectrum falls at roughly
> 6dB/oct for both and neither has prominent spectral peaks or dips. Ear just
> isn't very sensitive to small smooth changes in spectrum.
> I'll try to get around to doing an analysis in matlab later today.
>
> Antti
>
> "No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
>  -- Lt. Cmdr. Ivanova
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