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GENERATING MUSICAL OVERTONES WITH THE KARPLUS-STRONG ALGORITHM
One of the main characteristics of any musical sound is its pitch, or frequency. This is the number of vibrations per second in hertz (Hz). For example, the third string from the top of an acoustic guitar produces an D note with a frequency of 146.83 Hz. This is a sound you can approximate by creating a sine wave with a frequency of 146.83 Hz on a computer, as shown in Figure 4-1.
Unfortunately, if you play this sine wave on your computer, it won’t sound anything like a guitar or a piano. What makes a computer sound so different from a musical instrument when playing the same note? ...
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