Separation of piano tones into tonal and broadband components
Martin Keane · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2005
Few studies have proposed simple objective methods to evaluate the quality of piano tones. Recordings of both sound and vibration of six pianos (two grands and four uprights) were analyzed. The results suggest an objective measure for piano tone quality. A method is given for splitting recorded tones into tonal and broadband components. The broadband vibration was found to be more intense in the upright pianos than in the grand pianos, this is due to differences in the construction of the keybed. There was no such difference found in the tonal component. These results suggest the hypothesis that a smaller broadband component correlates with higher quality in piano tones.