A new analysis/synthesis system of musical signals using Prony´s method-application to heavily damped percussive sounds

A theoretical aspect of Prony´s algorithm is presented, and the choice of analysis parameters and the achieved spectral resolution are briefly discussed. The analysis system itself is described, including frequency detection, component matching, and amplitude estimation. The problems connected with the analysis of complex signals are explored and some solutions proposed and developed. Three examples of musical sound analysis are then presented. It is concluded that the use of Prony´s method to model musical sounds is efficient when applied to highly damped signals: its very good frequency resolution makes it possible to use small analysis windows and to follow efficiently the evolution of each sinusoidal component. The algorithm proposed for computing amplitudes avoids the problems due to biases in damping factor estimation. In the case of complex sounds, the analysis performed after presegmentation of the signal also yields good results. Future developments in this field are discussed