Playing MIDIs with Win98's original SB16 OPL3 sound card

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message
,
writes:
On Feb 27, 8:41 pm, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
[]
But the logic is wrong. A square wave, triangle wave, and sine wave
each
produce a distinct sound (when fed to an amplifier and heard from the
loudspeaker), but that has nothing to do with whether they qualify as a
musical instrument. A waveform is not an instrument.

All instruments produce waveforms, a piano looks like a triangle with
stairs, a trumpet looks like jaguar teeth. And a sinewave can be
produced non-digitally with an actual physical instrument, so YOUR
logic is wrong.

Piano and guitar produce decaying waveforms, by the nature of their
construction - not just diminishing in amplitude, either.

But just because instruments produce waveforms, does not mean waveforms
are necessarily instruments. (Actually I do not know of any instrument
that produces a pure sinewave, though some come close.)

Both points above are well taken.

"Bill in Co" wrote:


WHAT musical instruments can produce a pure sinewave, squarewave,
triangle wave, or sawtooth waveform?

A tuning fork produces a perfect sinewave.

I don't consider a tuning fork a "musical instrument" (it's just a test
instrument).

OK...other than that, a flute with the player maintaining a constant
air pressure probably comes closest.

And for that matter, I'm not even sure if it produces a pure sinewave (and
NO harmonics, whatsover). (a pure sinewave only has a fundamental
frequency and no harmonics).

Yeah well...nobody's perfect. I expect that the only way to get a
perfect sine wave would be some kind of electronic synthesizer. And if
you looked closely enough, you'd find imperfections there too.

--
Tim Slattery

I doubt anyone cares but I thought I'd state for the record that I did
a double-blind frequency response test and I can just barely hear up
to 19kHz with 40/60 correct trials (not sure what the confidence
interval of that is). I can't hear 19.2 or above. Haven't tried 19.1
and don't want to, my head hurts.
So it appears I do indeed have superhuman hearing after all. Yeehaw!

Tim Slattery wrote:
"Bill in Co" wrote:


WHAT musical instruments can produce a pure sinewave, squarewave,
triangle wave, or sawtooth waveform?

A tuning fork produces a perfect sinewave.

I don't consider a tuning fork a "musical instrument" (it's just a test
instrument).

OK...other than that, a flute with the player maintaining a constant
air pressure probably comes closest.

In reality, I don't think there is anything in nature that produces a pure
sine, square, triangle, sawtooth, or whatever waveform.

And for that matter, I'm not even sure if it produces a pure sinewave
(and
NO harmonics, whatsover). (a pure sinewave only has a fundamental
frequency and no harmonics).

Yeah well...nobody's perfect. I expect that the only way to get a
perfect sine wave would be some kind of electronic synthesizer. And if
you looked closely enough, you'd find imperfections there too.

Yes, a sinewave oscillator can produce a sinewave, although as you said,
there will still be some imperfections. But nothing in nature can, to my
knowledge.

And nobody would want to listen to it anyway (sounds without harmonics are
pretty boring!).

Does an electronic synthesizer constitute a "musical instrument"? I guess
so, at least in one sense. For me, musical instrument implies an acoustic
instrument - something natural, not artificial or synthesized. But I guess
I'm somewhat a purist for feeling that way. :-)

wrote:
I doubt anyone cares but I thought I'd state for the record that I did
a double-blind frequency response test and I can just barely hear up
to 19kHz with 40/60 correct trials (not sure what the confidence
interval of that is). I can't hear 19.2 or above. Haven't tried 19.1
and don't want to, my head hurts.
So it appears I do indeed have superhuman hearing after all. Yeehaw!

Really good for now, so enjoy it!
It falls off with age, however (a condition known as presbycusis). I think
by age 60 or so it's down to about 10 kHz or so, so enjoy it while you can!

On Mar 1, 3:06*pm, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
wrote:
I doubt anyone cares but I thought I'd state for the record that I did
a double-blind frequency response test and I can just barely hear up
to 19kHz with 40/60 correct trials (not sure what the confidence
interval of that is). I can't hear 19.2 or above. Haven't tried 19.1
and don't want to, my head hurts.
So it appears I do indeed have superhuman hearing after all. Yeehaw!

Really good for now, so enjoy it!
It falls off with age, however (a condition known as presbycusis). * I think
by age 60 or so it's down to about 10 kHz or so, so enjoy it while you can!

Thanks, I'll try. Last test, I used cut-off frequency shelves of music
instead of tones so I didn't think I could hear more than 16. It's
good to know I'm not deteriorating THAT fast.
I still can't hear below 40 Hz though and it says people with normal
hearing should sense 15-20. I happen to like very loud low bass in
music so it would suck if my low-shelf hearing would also deteriorate.

So by 2050 I won't be able to hear cymbals anymore eh? Meh, we'll have
cyborg ear implants by then.

wrote:
On Mar 1, 3:06 pm, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
wrote:
I doubt anyone cares but I thought I'd state for the record that I did
a double-blind frequency response test and I can just barely hear up
to 19kHz with 40/60 correct trials (not sure what the confidence
interval of that is). I can't hear 19.2 or above. Haven't tried 19.1
and don't want to, my head hurts.
So it appears I do indeed have superhuman hearing after all. Yeehaw!

Really good for now, so enjoy it!
It falls off with age, however (a condition known as presbycusis). I
think
by age 60 or so it's down to about 10 kHz or so, so enjoy it while you
can!

Thanks, I'll try. Last test, I used cut-off frequency shelves of music
instead of tones so I didn't think I could hear more than 16. It's
good to know I'm not deteriorating THAT fast.
I still can't hear below 40 Hz though and it says people with normal
hearing should sense 15-20. I happen to like very loud low bass in
music so it would suck if my low-shelf hearing would also deteriorate.

So by 2050 I won't be able to hear cymbals anymore eh? Meh, we'll have
cyborg ear implants by then.

No, I can still hear cymbals, but probably not to the full "depth" you can.

Presbycuspis results in a slow decline in hearing with age, so don't worry.
(The high frequency loss is slow, unless you go to a very loud rock concert,
which can do permanent and instantaneous (and non-reversible) damage).

On Mar 1, 3:03*pm, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
Does an electronic synthesizer constitute a "musical instrument"? * *I guess
so, at least in one sense. * For me, musical instrument implies an acoustic
instrument - something natural, not artificial or synthesized. *But I guess
I'm somewhat a purist for feeling that way. *:-)

A little close-minded, no? Change does not mean linear advancement, it
means change and things take on new forms. We're conversing, learning
and transforming on here yet we exist without nationality, age or
gender. Plasma speakers are massless yet produce coherent sound. 99.9%
of today's currency doesn't physically exist yet it births millions,
kills billions and makes the earth rotate.

And my favorite, EverQuest! The 77th richest country in the world and
it doesn't even exist. http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/info_a...e_theories.htm

So, just because squarewaves don't exist doesn't mean it's not an
instrument.

On Mar 1, 4:32*pm, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 1, 3:06 pm, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
wrote:
I doubt anyone cares but I thought I'd state for the record that I did
a double-blind frequency response test and I can just barely hear up
to 19kHz with 40/60 correct trials (not sure what the confidence
interval of that is). I can't hear 19.2 or above. Haven't tried 19.1
and don't want to, my head hurts.
So it appears I do indeed have superhuman hearing after all. Yeehaw!

Really good for now, so enjoy it!
It falls off with age, however (a condition known as presbycusis). I
think
by age 60 or so it's down to about 10 kHz or so, so enjoy it while you
can!

Thanks, I'll try. Last test, I used cut-off frequency shelves of music
instead of tones so I didn't think I could hear more than 16. It's
good to know I'm not deteriorating THAT fast.
I still can't hear below 40 Hz though and it says people with normal
hearing should sense 15-20. I happen to like very loud low bass in
music so it would suck if my low-shelf hearing would also deteriorate.

So by 2050 I won't be able to hear cymbals anymore eh? Meh, we'll have
cyborg ear implants by then.

No, I can still hear cymbals, but probably not to the full "depth" you can.

wrote:
On Mar 1, 4:32 pm, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 1, 3:06 pm, "Bill in Co"
wrote:
wrote:
I doubt anyone cares but I thought I'd state for the record that I did
a double-blind frequency response test and I can just barely hear up
to 19kHz with 40/60 correct trials (not sure what the confidence
interval of that is). I can't hear 19.2 or above. Haven't tried 19.1
and don't want to, my head hurts.
So it appears I do indeed have superhuman hearing after all. Yeehaw!

Really good for now, so enjoy it!
It falls off with age, however (a condition known as presbycusis). I
think
by age 60 or so it's down to about 10 kHz or so, so enjoy it while you
can!

Thanks, I'll try. Last test, I used cut-off frequency shelves of music
instead of tones so I didn't think I could hear more than 16. It's
good to know I'm not deteriorating THAT fast.
I still can't hear below 40 Hz though and it says people with normal
hearing should sense 15-20. I happen to like very loud low bass in
music so it would suck if my low-shelf hearing would also deteriorate.

So by 2050 I won't be able to hear cymbals anymore eh? Meh, we'll have
cyborg ear implants by then.

No, I can still hear cymbals, but probably not to the full "depth" you
can.

Presbycuspis results in a slow decline in hearing with age, so don't
worry.
(The high frequency loss is slow, unless you go to a very loud rock
concert,
which can do permanent and instantaneous (and non-reversible) damage).

http://www.sendspace.com/file/67hx54
Can you hear the high crystalline notes from 1.85 to 3 seconds of the
clip? They are above 10 kHz. If you can't, all you'll hear is the
accordion in that part.

I can hear them. I can actually hear up to about 11 kHz.