Timbre

In music, timbre (French, IPA /'tæmb?r/ as in the first two syllables of tambourine) is the quality of a musical note or sound which distinguishes different types of sound production or musical instruments. The physical characteristics of sound which are used in the determination of timbre are spectrum and envelope with psychoacoustics or human perception also determining the perceived quality of a sound. Timbre is what, with a little practice, people use to pick out the saxophone from the trumpet in a jazz group or the flute from the violin in an orchestra, even if they are playing notes at the same pitch and amplitude (or notes which are otherwise equal). Timbre has been called the psychoacoustician's waste-basket as it can include so many factors.

Envelope

The timbre of a sound is also greatly effected by the following factors: attack, decay, sustain, release, and transients. Attack, decay, sustain, and release are thus all common controls on samplers. For instance, if one takes the attack off of the sound of a piano or trumpet, one much less readily identifies the sound correctly, since the sound of the hammer hitting the strings or the first blat of the players lips are highly characteristic of those instruments.

Related Topics:
Transient - Sampler

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There are two additional points that should be noted:

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• The fundamental is not necessarily the strongest component of the overall sound. However, it is implied by the existence of the harmonic series - the A above would be distinguishable from the one an octave below (220 Hz, 440 Hz, 660 Hz, 880 Hz) by the presence of the third harmonic, even if the fundamental were indistinct. Similarly, a pitch is often infered from non-harmonic spectra, supposedly through a mapping process, an attempt to find the closest harmonic fit.
• It is possible to add artificial 'subharmonics' to the sound using electronic effects but, again, this does not affect the naming of the note.