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Acoustic Analysis of Timbre of Sarasvati Veena in Comparison to Simple Sonometer

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Recent Developments in Acoustics

Abstract

We characterize the timbre of the Sarasvati Veena, a traditional Indian string instrument, by analysing the sound spectrum and the energy distribution with different frequencies as a function of time. We compare the acoustic analysis with that of a simple sonometer. We find that while the spectrum consists of the fundamental and harmonics of a plucked string under tension, the Veena shows a prominent formant near the resonant frequency of the body. But more notable is the behaviour of the higher harmonics (upper partials) which share substantial energy and show a characteristic revival with time, in contrast to the sonometer spectrum.

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Correspondence to Radhika Vathsan .

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Chauhan, C., Singru, P.M., Vathsan, R. (2021). Acoustic Analysis of Timbre of Sarasvati Veena in Comparison to Simple Sonometer. In: Singh, M., Rafat, Y. (eds) Recent Developments in Acoustics. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5776-7_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5776-7_25

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-5775-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-5776-7

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