Waveforms
Waveforms
For periodic waveforms, the duration of the waveform before it repeats is called the period of the waveform
Frequency
the rate at which a regular vibration pattern repeats itself (frequency = 1/period)
Frequency of a Waveform
The unit for frequency is cycles/second, also called Hertz (Hz). The frequency of a waveform is equal to the reciprocal of the period. frequency = 1/period
Frequency of a Waveform
Examples: frequency = 10 Hz period = .1 (1/10) seconds frequency = 100 Hz period = .01 (1/100) seconds frequency = 261.6 Hz (middle C) period = .0038226 (1/ 261.6) seconds
Waveform Sampling
Sampling Rate
The sampling rate (SR) is the rate at which amplitude values are digitized from the original waveform.
CD sampling rate (high-quality): SR = 44,100 samples/second medium-quality sampling rate: SR = 22,050 samples/second phone sampling rate (low-quality): SR = 8,192 samples/second
Sampling Rate
Nyquist Theorem: We can digitally represent only frequencies up to half the sampling rate.
Example: CD: SR=44,100 Hz Nyquist Frequency = SR/2 = 22,050 Hz Example: SR=22,050 Hz Nyquist Frequency = SR/2 = 11,025 Hz
Frequencies above Nyquist frequency "fold over" to sound like lower frequencies.
Example:
SR = 20,000 Hz Nyquist Frequency = 10,000 Hz f = 12,000 Hz --> f' = 8,000 Hz f = 18,000 Hz --> f' = 2,000 Hz f = 20,000 Hz --> f' = 0 Hz
(left and right figures have same frequency, but have different sampling points)
Graphical Example 2:
Graphical Example 2:
BUT, if sample points fall on zero-crossings the sound is completely cancelled out
Graphical Example 3:
Graphical Example 3:
Fitting the simplest sine wave to the sampled points gives an aliased waveform (dotted line below):
[i:34] SR=22050, highest frequency in music is about 7000 Hz. (no aliasing) [i:35] SR=11025 (some aliasing; adds a little metallic quality) [i:36] SR=4410 (lots of aliasing; sounds like bad video game)