I haven't seen this little bt of info posted about freq shifters yet...that
one of the key things that a frequency shifter does is to change the timbre
of a signal by changing the relative frequencies of their harmonics...
say you have a 500 Hz fundamental frequency saw wave...it has harmonics at
1000 Hz, 1500 Hz, 2000 Hz, and so on...if you merely shifted its pitch by
500 Hz by transposing as in a sampler, the wave would go to 1000Hz, and its
harmonics would be at 2000 Hz, 3000 Hz, 4000 Hz and so on. Note how the
distance between harmonics has doubled.
But a frequency shifter would keep the harmonics 500 Hz apart, so the wave
frequency shifted by 500 Hz would be 1000 Hz, and its harmonics would be at
1500 Hz, 2000 Hz, 2500 Hz, and so on. As you might imagine, this frequency
shifted wave, while having the same 1000 Hz fundamental frequency as the
transposed wave, would have a very different timbre.
To summarize:
Initial wave:
500 Hz fundamental, harmonics at 1000 Hz, 1500 Hz, 2000 Hz
Transpose by 500 Hz:
1000 Hz fundamental, harmonics at 2000 Hz, 3000 Hz, 4000 Hz
Freq shift by 500 Hz:
1000 Hz fundamental, harmonics at 1500 Hz, 2000 Hz, 2500 Hz
Kyle Jarger
jkjelec@...
JKJ Electronics
Visit our MIDI/CV converters website http://www.tiac.net/users/jkjelec
one of the key things that a frequency shifter does is to change the timbre
of a signal by changing the relative frequencies of their harmonics...
say you have a 500 Hz fundamental frequency saw wave...it has harmonics at
1000 Hz, 1500 Hz, 2000 Hz, and so on...if you merely shifted its pitch by
500 Hz by transposing as in a sampler, the wave would go to 1000Hz, and its
harmonics would be at 2000 Hz, 3000 Hz, 4000 Hz and so on. Note how the
distance between harmonics has doubled.
But a frequency shifter would keep the harmonics 500 Hz apart, so the wave
frequency shifted by 500 Hz would be 1000 Hz, and its harmonics would be at
1500 Hz, 2000 Hz, 2500 Hz, and so on. As you might imagine, this frequency
shifted wave, while having the same 1000 Hz fundamental frequency as the
transposed wave, would have a very different timbre.
To summarize:
Initial wave:
500 Hz fundamental, harmonics at 1000 Hz, 1500 Hz, 2000 Hz
Transpose by 500 Hz:
1000 Hz fundamental, harmonics at 2000 Hz, 3000 Hz, 4000 Hz
Freq shift by 500 Hz:
1000 Hz fundamental, harmonics at 1500 Hz, 2000 Hz, 2500 Hz
Kyle Jarger
jkjelec@...
JKJ Electronics
Visit our MIDI/CV converters website http://www.tiac.net/users/jkjelec