Spectral envelope position and shape in sustained musical instrument sounds

It has been argued that the relative position of spectral envelopes along frequency axis serves as a cue for musical instrument size (e.g., violin vs viola) and shape envelope encodes family identity (violin flute). is further known fundamental (F0), F0-register specific instruments, dynamic level strongly affect properties acoustical sounds. However, associations between these factors have not rigorously quantified representative set instruments. Here, we analyzed 5640 sounds from 50 sustained orchestral instruments sampled across their entire range F0s at three levels. Regression centroid (SC) values index indicated smaller possessed higher SC majority classes (families), but also correlated with F0 was consistently affected by level. Instrument classification using relatively low-dimensional cepstral audio descriptors allowed discrimination accuracies beyond 80%. Envelope became much less indicative class whenever problem involved generalization to different levels or F0-registers. These analyses confirm encode information about highlight dependence on F0(-register)