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Dominant paradigms - the continuous tone

Posted by Timbo in Oz (A) on August 31, 2003 at 20:26:08

In Reply to: what other explanations are possible posted by Timbo in Oz on August 31, 2003 at 20:00:51:

The statement, in the abstract at the URL, that this might be 'a previously unrecognised phenomenon' is a bit hard for me to take, there are heaps of such reports.

This sort of intrepretation should and would be seen as an extension of the work on attacks and decays, if it were not for the fact that the continuous tone and its harmonics so strongly, and incorrectly, dominates our discourse on music and what thus might matter in audio.

If the primacy of starting transients (aka attacks) and decays in our getting of music were more widely understood, esp. instrument level attacks map to the dear old first arrival window, I think we might be more willing to test for what is happening.

The affect, for me of listening to many hi-fi systems, and to electric keyboards, before CD or digital LP's, and to CD a lot of the time - esp. in decade 1, is often the same. A growing sense of irritation, that I can't really hear what is going on, both from individual players and singers, AND between them.

It seems to me that this is almost certainly due to damage to the attacks and decays, OR the complete absence of appropriately modelled attacks from electronic keyboards.

After all, the piano, harpsichord and clavichord are 'percussion' instruments, and thus do not have ANY continuous tone anyway, just an attack, and a decay around the pitch. Viz for cymbals, drums etc

IF I am being unfair about "the continuous tone and its harmonics being 'the dominant paradigm' in audio", I would be happy to be corrected - with evidence.

The continuous tone on its own is as much use as guessing, in identifying an instrument by it's supposed 'charcateristic timbre'. IE remove the starting transient (attack) and we get a statistically significant and consistent degradation in identification, remove the decay, and we are just guessing.

Further, most of the expression is in the attack and decays.

Clearly, any tone(?) and expression from a percussionist, can only reside in attacks and decays.

Timbo

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