Analysis-synthesis of impact sounds by real-time dynamic filtering

This paper presents a sound synthesis model that reproduces impact sounds by taking into account both the perceptual and the physical aspects of the sound. For that, we used a subtractive method based on dynamic filtering of noisy input signals that simulates the damping of spectral components. The resulting sound contains the perceptual characteristics of an impact on a given material. Further, the addition of very few modal contributions-using additive or banded digital waveguide synthesis-together with a bandpass filtering taking into account the interaction with the excitator, allows realistic impact sounds to be synthesized. The synthesis parameters can be linked to a perceptual notion of material and geometry of the sounding object. To determine the synthesis parameters, we further address the problem of analysis-synthesis aiming at reconstructing a given impact sound. The physical parameters are extracted through a time-scale analysis of natural sounds. Examples are presented for sounds generated by impacting plates made of different materials and a piano soundboard.