A single circular drumhead produces complex and in-harmonic vibration characteristics. However, with cylindrical drums, which have two drumheads coupled by a mass of air, it is possible to manipulate the harmonic relationships through changing the tension of the resonant drumhead. The modal ratio between the fundamental and the batter head overtone therefore provides a unique and quantified characteristic of the drum tuning setup, which has been termed as the Resonant Tuning Factor (RTF). It may be valuable, for example, for percussionists to manipulate the RTF value to a perfect musical fifth, or to simply enable a repeatable tuning setup. This research therefore considers a number of user interfaces for analyzing the RTF and providing a tool for quantitative drum tuning.
Open
Access
http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=19325
Download Now (1.7 MB)
This paper is Open Access which means you can download it for free.
Learn more about the AES E-Library
The Engineering Briefs at this Convention were selected on the basis of a submitted synopsis, ensuring that they are of interest to AES members, and are not overly commercial. These briefs have been reproduced from the authors' advance manuscripts, without editing, corrections, or consideration by the Review Board. The AES takes no responsibility for their contents. Paper copies are not available, but any member can freely access these briefs. Members are encouraged to provide comments that enhance their usefulness.
Start a discussion about this paper!
