Application of wavelets to onset transients and inharmonicity of piano tones

Abstract

The use of wavelets to analyze two important aspects of piano tones is explored: their onset transients and inharmonicity. The wavelet time-frequency analysis of piano tones' onset transients indicates that the existence of frequency bands on some partials may account for greater inharmonicity for the bass tones as compared to the middle or treble piano tones. In order to measure the exact inharmonicity coefficients of the piano tones, an approach based on wavelet impulse synthesis is proposed. The accurate reconstruction of a piano tone using just a small proportion of the wavelet coefficients is also demonstrated.