[sdiy] saw vs ramp, audible?

[rburnett at richieburnett.co.uk]

> Slightly more serious: What do we think is an easy enough way to play 
> around with this?

Generate a sawtooth waveform (with a period that is an integer number of 
samples) in your favourite Digital Audio editing package (Goldwave, 
Audacity, etc.) then make a copy to another file and invert it.  Then 
get a friend to play them out at random whilst you sit very still with 
your eyes closed listening carefully.

Just remember that these mathematically perfect sawtooth and ramp 
waveforms still have to be played through your Sound Card, Amplifier, 
Speakers/Headphones, and the mechanics of your Human Ears.  All of which 
may or may not add phase shifts, non-linearity, filtering, etc.  And if 
you move your head even the slightest bit relative to speakers in 
anything other than an anechoic room you're going to hear a significant 
change in the timbre due to the multipath reflections with something as 
broadband as a sawtooth tone.

Also, as someone else said, watch out...  Listening repeatedly to raw 
sawtooths at loud volumes really messes with your hearing!

-Richie,