Violin Inharmonicity Analysis
Violin Inharmonicity Analysis
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Abstract: This paper presents the algorithm for estimation of inharmonicity of the
string musical instruments. The second part of this paper presents the results of the
application of this algorithm in estimation of inharmonicity of the copy of Antonius
Stradivarious violin built in the transition period from the 19th to the 20th century. The
analysis was made for two ways of string arousal: a) by using a bow and b) by using
the piccicato technique. After that inharmonicityof the instrument was analysed in the
third octave when played by using the pizzicato technique. The results are given in
tables and graphics. In the end the comparative analysis of results was made.
1. INTRODUCTION
The string instruments produce a tone, i.e. they generate an acoustic wave by oscilating
the string. Oscilation of a string is well explained in physics and acoustics, substantiated by
a corresponding mechanical and acoustical model and described by adequate equations.
After the mechanical arousal (the string is put out of balance (or set into vibration) by
picking, striking or by a fiddle-bow) the string begins to oscillate tending to subside and
come back into the equilibrium. The string is vibrating with the basic or fundamental
frequency that depends on the dimensions of the string (length and diameter), the material it
is made of and the tensile strength. Along with the fundamental frequency, because of the
cimplex oscilating of the string (appearing of waves on 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, ...of the string length)
there are acoustic components of the waves on the frequencies that represent the integer
multipliers of the fundamental frequency. In the techniques these spectral components are
called charmonics. The theory of music describes the complex structure of the string
oscilating and the generated tone by means of aliquotes (lat. aliquoties - several times),
where the aliquotes represent charmonic components of the generated tone. The detailed
mathematical analysis shows that within one tone there are thanks to the aliquotes all tones
Zoran N. Milivojević, is with the College of Applied Technical Sciences Niš, Serbia (phone: 381-63-8609206;
e-mail: [Link]@[Link] )
Zoran Veličković, is with the College of Applied Technical Sciences Niš, Serbia
([Link]@[Link]).
Dragiša Balanesković, is with Faculty of Art Niš, Kneginje Ljubice 10, Niš, Serbia.
Z. Milivojević, Z. Veličković, D. Balanesković: Inharmoniciti of the copy of 95
Antonius Stradivarius violin
included (the aliwuotes of various tomes overlap mutually). Different numbers of the
present aliquotes and their different relative intensity within the total sounding determine
the timbre of the sound [1]. Aliquotes are also called partial tones, i.e. the partials.
The detailed analysis of the oscilation of the string shows that because of the parameters
of the string and the tensile strength the frequencies of the harmonics are not with the
integer multiplier, i.e. there is inharmonicity. Inharmonicity of the oscilation of the string
can be described by the coefficient of inharmonicity. Appearing of inharmonicity inevitably
leads to the disturbing of aliquocy. Since there is inharmonicity in some instruments, the
partials can be with frequencies that are: a) integer multipliers of the fundamental frequency
(harmonics) and b) non-integer multipliers (inharmonics) [2]. A tone produced on an
inharmonic instrument is not necessarily unpleasant. In [3] there is a statement that softly
inharmonic tone possesses certain warmth
The quality of the string musical instruments can be, in addition to other parameters,
expressed by means of the degree of inharmonicity, too. The strings are trightened by the
great force so that their elasticity is decreased. The result of this is that the frequecy
positions of the partials are on the positions of non-integer multipliers of the fundamental
frequency. Consequently, the instrument with such strings is not harmonical. Along with
the rigidity of the string, another factor for increasing inharmonicity is the character of the
acoustic impedance of the resonating plate of the piano or the resonating body of the guitar,
violine etc [3]. Inharmonics are outstanding at tones with lower frequencies. On higher
frequencies it is harder to detect inharmonicity. The reason for a good detecting at tones
with lower frequency lies in the fact that a great number of partials is within the range in
which man can hear well. At tones with higher frequencies only a few first partials which
do not express great inharmonicity are found in this region. On the base of the analysis of
inharmonicity it is possible to make conclusions about the kind of the instrument that
produces a tone. In [4] an algorithm for the automatic classigication of tones of the pioano
and the guitar is described. The guitar as well as some other instruments may produce the
same tone on three different strings. By the analysis of the degree of inharmonicity it is
possible to determine the played tone, the string and the field where the string was pressed
[5].
This paper presents the results of the analysis of inharmonicity of the violin, actually a
copy of the Antonius Stradivarius violin, built in the Czeck Republik in the transition
period from the 19th to the 20th century. The first part of the paper deals with the algorithm
proposed by the authors of the paper [6]. That algorithm consists of two entities: a)
estimation of the frequency position of partials and b) estimation of inharmonicity.
Estimation of the frequency position is based on the peaks of the maximum within the
spectrum and on the application of PCC of the convulsive kernel. Parameters of this part of
the algorithm represent a part of the results found by the authors and published in [7] and
[8]. Out of a great number of published formulas for calculating the inharmonicity the
authors have applied the formula from [9]. After that the algorithm for estimation of the
inharmonicity of the double stop published in [12] was described. The second part of the
paper deals with the analysis of inharmonicity of the violin when the strings are aroused to
vibrate by: a) afiddle-bow and b) by picking (pizzicato technique). Then the analysis of
inharmonicity of the double stops from the third octave played on the first and third strings
by the pizzicato technique was done. The obtained results are compared to the results of
96 ETF Journal of Electrical Engineering, Vol. 20, No. 1, September 2014.
inharmonicity of the concert piano Steinway D [10], pianino August Förster (built in the
Czeck Republic in 1971) [11] and the electric guitar Fender Stratokaster [6].
The organisation of the work is as follows. In the section 2 the algorithm for the
estimation of inharmonicity is presented. In the section 3 the experimental results and the
comparative analysis are presented. The section 4 represents a conclusion.
f k k f 0 , k 1,2,... , (1)
where f0 is the fundamental frequency, k. the ordinal number of a partial and fk the
frequency of the partial. The frequency shifting of the partial from the frequency position of
the harmonic represents the inharmonicity of a tone. Inharmonicity is defined by the
coefficient of inharmonicity :
f k k f 0 1 k 2 , k 1,2,... (2)
The coefficient of inharmonicity depends on the material the string is made of and can
be calculated on the base of:
3 Q d 4
, (3)
64 l 2 F
where Q is Jung’s modul of elasticity of the material the string was made of, d the diameter
of the string, l the length of the string and F the tension force.
B. The algorithm for estimation of the partials
The algorithm for estimation of partials is based on the spectrum analysis of the signal x.
First of all the the spectrum X is calculated by using of the discrete Fourier transformation.
After that the position of the maximal spectral component that represents the fundamental
frequency is determined by the method of spectrum peaking [7]. In order to increase the
estimation precision the parametric cubic convolution is applied and the fundamental
frequency f0 is calculated [7, 8]. Estimation of the partials is performed by the algorithm
shown in Fig.1. That algorithm consists of the following steps:
Input: Spectrum Xb of the frame xb of the signal x, the estimated fundamental frequency
f0, number of partials NP.
Outout: partials fP.
Z. Milivojević, Z. Veličković, D. Balanesković: Inharmoniciti of the copy of 97
Antonius Stradivarius violin
FOR p=1:NP
Step 1: peaking of the p-th spectral component
Step 2: Counting of the p-th partial by using PCC interpolation.
END FOR p
Start
f0 , Frame Xb
FOR p=1:NP
Peak picking
fp
f1,...,fNP
End
Input: The fundamental frequency f0, partials fP, number of partials NP.
Output: The coefficient of inharmonicity β.
Step 1: Determination of frequencies of the harmonic components:
f k k f 0 , k 1,2,..., N P . (4)
Step 2: Counting of the coefficient of inharmonicity according to the algorithm from [9]:
2
m 2
fk fm
k
2
, (5)
2 2 m
k f m2 m fk
k
where m and k are partials and . fm and fk the corresponding frequencies of partials.
98 ETF Journal of Electrical Engineering, Vol. 20, No. 1, September 2014.
Input: aliquotes of two tones f1,k and f2,k where k=1:Np, and Np is the number of aliquotes
analyzed.
Output: mean aliquote frequency error (MAFE), mean aliquote cent error (MACE),
instrument’s inharmonicity P .
Step 1: detection of tones which form two-tone,
G
1
MAFE
G f
g 1
1, k f 2 ,l
g
. (8)
where ftocent is transformation function of frequency axis into cent axis with normalization
to f1,1 frequency.
Step 4: Inharmonicity calculation of all two-tones in contra octave:
Z. Milivojević, Z. Veličković, D. Balanesković: Inharmoniciti of the copy of 99
Antonius Stradivarius violin
ND
1
MAFE
ND MAFE
d 1 _ 1
d , (10)
ND
1
MACE
ND MACE
d 1 _ 1
d , (11)
A. Base
The base consists of all the tones (one octave) on the strings E5 (e2), A4 (a1), D4 (d1) and
G3 (g). The recording was done with the measuring frequency fs=44.1 kHz and 16
bits/sample.
B. Results
In Fig. 3 and Fig.4 there are diagrams related to the tones obtained by playing with the
fiddle-bow (Fig. 3 (G3), Fig. 4 (D4)) while in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 there are time diagrams of
the tones obtained by the pizzicato technique (Fig. 5 (G3), Fig. 6 (D4)). In every figure a)
represents the time form of the complete signal, b) the time form of the frame lasting 32 ms,
c) the difference between the frequencies of harmonic and inharmonic components and d)
the part of amplitude characteristic to the 10th harmonic. The vertical line denotes the
position of the harmonic component. In Tab. I there are values of inharmonicity calculated
by using of the algorithm described in sectionb 2. Fig. 7 shows frequency positions of
harmonics and inharmonics aliquotes for playing E5-G#5, while Fig 8 shows positions of
notes. Positions of inharmonic aliquotes are presented at fig. 9.a (aliquote G#7), fig. 9.b
(aliquote G#8), fig. 9.c (aliquote G#9). Values of semitones inharmonicity coefficients are
displayed in table II. Frequency and cent values of differences of harmonious and
inharmonious aliquotas are given in table III.
0.5 0.1
0.05
x (t)
0
x(t)
−0.05
−0.1
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
−0.5 t (s)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
t (s) b)
a)
1.4
1.2
0.8
e (Hz)
0.6
0.4
0.2
−0.2
0 2 4 6 8 10
Partial k
c) d)
0.4
0.05
0.2
x (t)
x(t)
0
−0.2
−0.4 −0.05
−0.6
−0.8 −0.1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
t (s) t (s)
a) b)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
e (Hz)
−0.2
−0.4
−0.6
−0.8
0 2 4 6 8 10
Partial k
c) d)
0.3 0.15
0.2 0.1
0.1 0.05
0 0
x (t)
x(t)
−0.1 −0.05
−0.2 −0.1
−0.3 −0.15
−0.4 −0.2
0 0.5 1 1.5 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
t (s) t (s)
a) b)
14
12
10
8
e (Hz)
0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Partial k
c) d)
0.6 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2
0.2
0
0
x (t)
x(t)
−0.2
−0.2
−0.4
−0.4
−0.6
−0.8 −0.6
−1 −0.8
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
t (s) t (s)
a) b)
40
30
20
e (Hz)
10
−10
0 2 4 6 8 10
Partial k
c) d)
4
x 10
2.5
E5 harmonic
2 E5 partial
G#5 harmonic
G#5 partial
1.5
f (Hz)
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20
Partial k
B9
G9#
E9
C9
G8#
E8
C8
Note
G7# E5 harmonic
E7 E5 partial
G#5 harmonic
C7
G#5 partial
G6#
E6
C6
G5#
E5
0 5 10 15 20
Partial k
C8 C9
B8
B7
A8#
A7#
A8
A7
Note
Note
G8#
G7#
G8
G7
a) b)
B9
A9#
A9
G9#
G9
F9#
F9
Note
E9
D9#
D9 E5 partial
C9# G#5 partial
C9
B8
A8#
A8
G8#
G8
15 16 17 18 19 20
Partial k
c)
Fig. 9. Inharmonious aliquotes position details with E5-G#5: a) G#7, b) G#8, and c)
G#7.
104 ETF Journal of Electrical Engineering, Vol. 20, No. 1, September 2014.
Table I
Coefficient of inharmonicity of tones of the empty string of the violin.
Fiddle-bow Pizzicato
F0 [Hz]
(x10-6) (x10-4)
G3 196 6.05 1.31
D4 293.66 1.38 2.86
A4 440 3.55 3.82
E5 659.25 2.06 1.13
βsr=3.26 βsr=2.28
Table II
Coefficient of inharmonicity of tones of the first and second string of the violin.
Tone S (x10-4)
E5 1.13
F5 6.9341
Fis5 6.8746
G5 2.5016
Gis5 6.1697
A5 18.2261
P 6.9726
Table III
Coefficient of inharmonicity of tones of the empty string of the violin.
Tone MAFE [Hz] MACE [cent]
E5-F5 413.0169 63.6348
E5-Fis5 654.7776 101.5170
E5-G5 93.9050 12.8624
E5-Gis5 1067.6 150.2831
E5-A5 276.6344 64.3648
MAFE 501.1867 MACE 78.5324
4. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented the results of testing the copy of Antonius Stradivarius violin
built in the Czeck Republic in the transition period from the 19th to the 20th century,
regarding inharmonicity. The testing was performed for two ways of producing the sound:
by picking the string (the pizzicato technique) or by playing with a fiddle-bow. The results
show that inharmonicity is negligible if the fiddle-bow is used (the coefficient of
inharmonicity of order 10-6), while if it the pizzicato technique is used the coefficient of
inharmonicityis of order 10-4. The mean value of inharmonicity of the double stops of the
violin in the second octave is MACE 78.5324 cent, which is 2.46 times higher in
comparison to inharmonicity of the double sounds of “August Förster” for the double stops
from the counter octave. Considering the fact that the spectral components of tones from
the second octave are in higher parts of the spectrum, where man has lesser sensitivity, it
can be said that inharmonicity of the violin played with the pizzicato technique is of the
same order of magnitude as of the pianino “August Förster” and the electric guitar “Fender
Stratokaster”.
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