Oscillations

MUSC COLL 100

What is an oscillator?

• a device or circuit that produces a continuous, periodic, oscillating signal

Types of waveforms

• sine

• square

• triangle

• sawtooth

What is a complex wave form?

a bunch of different waveforms combined

Harmonics

• timbre - the characteristics of a sound

• harmonics are the related frequencies that accompany a base tone

• harmonics can be even or odd

square wave harmonics

fundamental frequency + odd harmonics (3,5, 7)

triangle wave harmonics

fundemental + odd harmnoics that decrease faster than square waves

Sawtooth wave harmonics

they have odd and even harmonics because they are asymmetrical

sine wave form harmonics

they dont have them!

Fourier Series

• any periodic waveform can be represented as a sum of harmonically related sine waves

• pioneered by Joseph Fourier in math in the early 1800s

• Fourier Analysis is the process of breaking complex waves into sine and cosine waves

Fast Fourier Taskform

if you change the pitch of something, this will make the harmonics change accordingly

Duty Cycle Of Square waves

• allows the on vs. off time of square wave to be changed

  • changes the harmonic content of the square wave; affects timbre

• other waveforms can also be changed this way - Waveshaping