AES E-Library

Control of Synthesized Vibrato during Portamento Musical Pitch Transitions

Vocal vibrato, a naturally occurring pitch oscillation in singing, requires careful analysis in the vicinity of portamento transitions from one pitch to another. Measurements show that singers manage to align pitch transitions to the natural shape of the vibrato cycle. Vibrato continuity is preferred to timing accuracy. Although singers do not report being conscious of this subtlety, the characteristic is quite consistent. These results show that in order to mimic natural vocal vibrato, a vocal synthesizer must synchronize the main pitch transition and the phase of the vibrato oscillator.

Author: Maher, Robert C.
Affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
JAES Volume 56 Issue 1/2 pp. 18-27; January 2008 Import into BibTeX

Click to purchase paper or login as an AES member. If your company or school subscribes to the AES Journal then you can look for this paper in the institutional version of the Online Journal. If you are not an AES member and would like to subscribe to the E-Library then Join the AES!

This paper costs $20 for non-members, $5 for AES members and is free for E-Library subscribers.

Learn more about the AES E-Library

E-Library Location: (CD JAES56)   /jaes56/1/pg18.pdf

Start a discussion about this paper!