1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to sound synthesis.
2. Introduction
Frequency Modulation Synthesis and Phase Modulation Synthesis—both commonly referred to as “FM Synthesis”—are well known and widely used. John Chowning first described the technique in his article “The Synthesis of Complex Audio Spectra by the Means of Frequency Modulation” in 1973. In one form, this type of modulation synthesis consists of two sine oscillators—one is called a “Carrier” and one a “Modulator”. An output signal of the modulator changes the phase or frequency of the carrier, and the carrier's output signal is used as an audio signal.
The spectral content of such an FM configuration is controlled by the carrier frequency, the modulator frequency and the modulation intensity or amplitude. If carrier and modulator frequency are both integer multiplies of a common fundamental frequency, then the spectrum will be purely harmonic. Otherwise the spectrum will also have inharmonic content. Inharmonicity refers to an amount of inharmonic content in a spectrum.
The ratio between carrier and modulator frequency has a strong impact on the frequency range that is most prominent. Continuously changing the modulator frequency by sweeping a formant through frequencies leads to wide areas of inharmonic sounds and only small regions of mostly harmonic results because, under current technology, the modulator/carrier frequency ratio and amount of inharmonic content in a spectrum are linked.
This disclosed technology presents a method and system for modifying a conventional FM algorithm in a way that allows independent control of formant position and inharmonicity. In one aspect, this allows continuous shifting of a formant across a spectrum without leading to inharmonic spectral content. In a second aspect, this also makes it possible to generate sound with a defined inharmonicity and still move a formant position without changing that inharmonicity or to continuously change the amount of inharmonicity without significantly changing the formant position.
The disclosed technology uses multiple modulators, instead of just one, that are applied to the carrier's signal by a weighted sum of their outputs. In one aspect, the weighted sum is calculated by applying a window function to the multiple modulators. In one example, when inharmonicity is set to zero, these modulators are tuned to adjacent multiples of the carrier frequency. The window function can pronounce contributions of the modulators around a desired formant position. To introduce inharmonicity, the modulators can be detuned simultaneously by a predetermined amount, typically within a fraction of the carrier frequency.
The disclosed technology can be combined with further extensions to an FM cell, e.g. having multiple modulation paths, using a mixture of carrier and modulator as audio output, and using more complex waveforms for a carrier and/or a modulator (e.g. using asymmetrically modified variations of a sine wave).
Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosed principles. The features and advantages of the disclosure can be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or can be learned by the practice of the principles set forth herein.
In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description of the principles briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principles herein are described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below. While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
The present disclosure addresses the need in the art for independent control of formant position and inharmonicity in sound synthesis. A brief introductory description of a basic general-purpose system or computing device is shown in
With reference to
The system bus 110 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basic input/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 140 or the like, may provide the basic routine that helps to transfer information between elements within the computing device 100, such as during start-up. The computing device 100 further includes storage devices 160 such as a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive or the like. The storage device 160 can include software modules 162, 164, 166 for controlling the processor 120. Other hardware or software modules are contemplated. The storage device 160 is connected to the system bus 110 by a drive interface. The drives and the associated computer readable storage media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computing device 100. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs a particular function includes the software component stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardware components, such as the processor 120, bus 110, display 170, and so forth, to carry out the function. The basic components are known to those of skill in the art and appropriate variations are contemplated depending on the type of device, such as whether the device 100 is a small, handheld computing device, a desktop computer, or a computer server.
Although the exemplary embodiment described herein employs the hard disk 160, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer readable media which can store data that are accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories (RAMs) 150, read only memory (ROM) 140, a cable or wireless signal containing a bit stream and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media expressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.
To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an input device 190 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An output device 170 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art, such as a speaker for generating sound. In some instances, multimodal systems enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicate with the computing device 100. The communications interface 180 generally governs and manages the user input and system output. There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily be substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.
For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment is presented as including individual functional blocks including functional blocks labeled as a “processor” or processor 120. The functions these blocks represent may be provided through the use of either shared or dedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable of executing software and hardware, such as a processor 120, that is purpose-built to operate as an equivalent to software executing on a general purpose processor. For example the functions of one or more processors presented in
The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented as: (1) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or procedures running on a programmable circuit within a general use computer, (2) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or procedures running on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3) interconnected machine modules or program engines within the programmable circuits. The system 100 shown in
The output of a basic FM synthesis configuration with one carrier and one modulator is:
sin(2πfct+I sin(2πfmt))
In this output formula, fc denotes carrier frequency, fm denotes modulator frequency and I denotes the so-called modulation Index—the depth of the phase modulation. Furthermore, “t” denotes time, that in a digital implementation is typically expressed as an integer sample position.
In the following examples of
In one example, an output signal with three sine components for the modulator can be calculated with the following values:
ih (Inharmonicity, typically between 0.0 (harmonic) and 1;
F (format position, defines position of most pronounced part in the spectrum);
Fr=floor(F+0.5) (formant position rounded);
Ff=F−Fr (fractional part of formant position); and
W( ) (weighting function or window function, e.g. raised cosine window with width of 3*fc).
The following formula provides one example method for generating a weighted sum output for multiple modulators:
sin(2πfct+I(W(Ff−1)sin(2π(ih+Ff−1)fct))+(W(Ff)sin(2π(ih+Ff)fct))+(W(Ff+1)sin(2π(ih+Ff+1)fct)))
As in the classical FM case, fc denotes carrier frequency, I modulation index and “t” time. The window function W is a raised cosine window in this example, but any other windowing functions can be substituted.
In signal processing, a window function (also known as weighting function) is a mathematical function that is zero-valued outside of some chosen interval. When another function or one or more signals (data) is multiplied by a window function, the product is also zero-valued outside the interval: all that is left is the part where they overlap (the “view through the window). Spectral analysis and filter design can be accomplished using window functions.
For example,
For example,
The disclosure now turns to the exemplary method embodiment 800 shown in
In one example, each modulator is tuned to an adjacent multiple of the carrier signal's frequency. In a further example, each modulator is detuned by a predetermined amount to introduce a predetermined amount of inharmonicity.
Generating the weighted sum output (802) can include applying a window function to the multiple modulators, the window function configured to pronounce contributions of the modulators around a desired formant position. Examples of window functions include a raised cosine window, rectangular window, and triangular window.
Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may also include tangible and/or non-transitory computer-readable storage media for carrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such non-transitory computer-readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer, including the functional design of any special purpose processor as discussed above. By way of example, and not limitation, such non-transitory computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chip design. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or combination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views the connection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.
Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Computer-executable instructions also include program modules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or network environments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, objects, and the functions inherent in the design of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, and program modules represent examples of the program code means for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions described in such steps.
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computer system configurations, including personal computers, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by local and remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwired links, wireless links, or by a combination thereof) through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
The various embodiments described above are provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. For example, any window function can be utilized to determine a weighted sum output for multiple modulators. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize various modifications and changes that may be made to the principles described herein without following the example embodiments and applications illustrated and described herein, and without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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4406204 | Katoh | Sep 1983 | A |
4421003 | Kondo | Dec 1983 | A |
7767902 | Ludwig | Aug 2010 | B2 |
20060032364 | Ludwig | Feb 2006 | A1 |
Entry |
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John M. Chowning, “The Synthesis of Complex Audio Spectra by Means of Frequency Modulation,” Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, Sep. 1973, vol. 21, No. 7, pp. 526-534 (Available online at http://users.ece.gatech.edu/˜mcclella/2025/labs-s05/Chowning.pdf, last visited Feb. 25, 2011). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20120226370 A1 | Sep 2012 | US |