What is seewave?

  • R package for sound analysis
  • Works with bioacoustics, music, environmental sounds
  • Tools for timbre, harmonics, decay, pitch stability

What is a Steelpan?

  • Trinidadian percussion instrument
  • Played by striking metal notes
  • Each note has a unique shape

Tuning Basics

  • Each note = fundamental + partials → 1:2:3
  • 3 steps: Coarse Tuning, Fine Tuning, Blending
  • Shape controls sound quality
  • Precision affects clarity
  • Objective + Standardized

What Tuners Listen For

  • Pitch accuracy (Fourier Spectrum)
  • Warmth / brightness (Spectrogram)
  • Ring & decay (Envelope)
  • Stability (Spectrogram)

Musical → Acoustic

Term Acoustic Feature
Bright High spectral centroid
Warm Strong fundamental
Wobble Beating / unstable modes
Ring Long decay envelope

Decay Envelopes

Fourier Spectrum

More Examples

Half steps

Major Third + Harmonic Tuning

Spectrograms

Why This Matters

  • Objective comparisons
  • Documentation
  • Training tool
  • Standardization

Research Context

  • Vibrational mode studies
  • Harmonic tuning research
  • Physics of pan design

Sources