Acoustics of the banjo: measurements and sound synthesis

Acta Acustica

Politzer David¹  Woodhouse Jim²  Mansour Hossein³ 

[1] 452-48 Caltech;Cambridge University Engineering Department;Dassault Systèmes – SIMULIA;

关键词: banjo;    acoustics;    vibration;    synthesis;   

DOI  :  10.1051/aacus/2021009

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Measurements of vibrational response of an American 5-string banjo and of the sounds of played notes on the instrument are presented, and contrasted with corresponding results for a steel-string guitar. A synthesis model, fine-tuned using information from the measurements, has been used to investigate what acoustical features are necessary to produce recognisable banjo-like sound, and to explore the perceptual salience of a wide range of design modifications. Recognisable banjo sound seems to depend on the pattern of decay rates of “string modes”, the loudness magnitude and profile, and a transient contribution to each played note from the “body modes”. A formant-like feature, peaking around 500–800 Hz on the banjo tested, is found to play a key role. At higher frequencies the dynamic behaviour of the bridge produces additional formant-like features, reminiscent of the “bridge hill” of the violin, and these also produce clear perceptual effects.

【 授权许可】

Unknown