On the extraction of excitation from a plucked string sound in time domain

Authors

  • Jung Suk Lee Music Technology Area, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT), Schulich of School of Music of McGill University, 555 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 1E3, Canada
  • Philippe Depalle Music Technology Area, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT), Schulich of School of Music of McGill University, 555 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 1E3, Canada
  • Gary P. Scavone Music Technology Area, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT), Schulich of School of Music of McGill University, 555 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 1E3, Canada

Keywords:

Models, Signal processing, Audio interfaces, Electric guitar, Excitation signals, High impedance, Inverse Filtering, Output signal, Physical model, Plucked string, Sound signal, Time domain, Traveling wave components

Abstract

The article proposes a simple but physically intuitive method to extract the excitation signal from a plucked string signal in the time domain. In order to observe the motion of a string when plucked, a string of an electric guitar is plucked and the output signal from an electromagnetic pickup is recorded using a high impedance port of an audio interface. This suggests that the excitation signal actually travels on the string in the same way that the impulse does in the DW simulation. The method is inspired by the observation of the way traveling wave components behave in the plucked string sound signal and by comparison with a DW simulation. The excitation extracted by the proposed method is compact and physically more meaningful, facilitating the use of the excitation for synthesis in conjunction with physical models such as DW. Future work will entail more systematic validation of the extracted excitation via inverse filtering approaches.

Additional Files

Published

2011-09-01

How to Cite

1.
Lee JS, Depalle P, Scavone GP. On the extraction of excitation from a plucked string sound in time domain. Canadian Acoustics [Internet]. 2011 Sep. 1 [cited 2025 Feb. 15];39(3):126-7. Available from: https://jcaa.caa-aca.ca/index.php/jcaa/article/view/2443

Issue

Vol. 39 No. 3 (2011)

Section

Proceedings of the Acoustics Week in Canada

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