Synthesis of musical tones based on the Karhunen-Loeve transform

A musical tone synthesis technique based on the Karhunen-Loeve (KL) transform is introduced. Currently, most additive synthesis methods are based on a truncated Fourier series representation. The computational load has been reduced considerably, compared to that of Fourier-based additive synthesis, by replacing the sinusoids with a smaller set of basis functions derived from KL statistical techniques. Algorithms are developed for the analysis of tones, yielding the basis functions and synthesis parameters. Energy compression in the KL basis functions is enhanced by a classification procedure applied to the tones to be synthesized. A high level of natural quality is achieved in tones synthesized with this method