Thursday, May 26, 2011

The (Sinusoidal) Sound of Music

Ever wonder how they can get keyboards and electric pianos to sound so much like the real deal?  The answer, of course, is through mathematical modeling (but you knew that, right?).  Specifically, engineers use combinations of trigonometric functions to model complex sound waves so that your keyboard's circuitry can mimic all those vibrating strings.  If that's not enough motivation to watch the video, you get to see me play the piano a little, which should be good for a laugh.  The sound quality--which, really, is the whole point of this exercise--is not super after recording, formatting, and uploading to YouTube, but hey, you still get to laugh at me.  Enjoy the performance.

The song, by the way, is "My Immortal" by Evanescence.  There was much speculation.