psoutowood wrote:I have a Kerry Custom Pro low D that has lots of back pressure and a very soft 'airy' sound. Also an Overton low D that has a more clear, loud tone with a beautiful buzz on the edge. Both can be haunting, so maybe it's whether you want a breathy tone or a clear tone.
-Peter
The descriptions of the tone of musical instruments are linguistically as fascinating as generally questionable: it would be necessary to have the formantics curve of the tone of each musical instrument in order to attribute to each formant a precise qualifying adjective, and to the curve a qualification deriving from the sum of those adjectives , perhaps supplemented by numerical indices. This is perhaps too difficult because often the tone changes as the frequency and intensity change, however, trying to compare sound wave graphs, using something free like Audiacity, could be interesting.
Tell us something.: I am a longtime piper, and have added in the few years a bunch of Irish whistles and smallpipes to my collection. Looking for new instruments and like-minded people!
CPA wrote:
The descriptions of the tone of musical instruments are linguistically as fascinating as generally questionable: it would be necessary to have the formantics curve of the tone of each musical instrument in order to attribute to each formant a precise qualifying adjective, and to the curve a qualification deriving from the sum of those adjectives , perhaps supplemented by numerical indices. This is perhaps too difficult because often the tone changes as the frequency and intensity change, however, trying to compare sound wave graphs, using something free like Audiacity, could be interesting.
CPA
What makes quantifying tone even harder is the setting and accompaniment. Some whistles shine in a noisy environment with other instruments and sound a bit flat in a quiet room. Depending on how you usually play you should select whistles accordingly. Also some whistles really transform when pushed harder and the play of air volume can really modify tone. Others have a very narrow band of acceptable air volume and peak tone quality with any variation making the instrument sound terrible. For me, I prefer a dynamic instrument to a uniform one, but that's a personal choice.