Written on May 31, 2022
Further explorations about oscillations, waveform and how FFT determines the component of vibration.
[You can either click the buttons or play with the visualizer window to play with the sound]
Previously, I made an audio visualizer and it was fun. It introduced me to this elusive Fourier Transform I've been encountering for a long time.
So basically, these are my notes about the relationship between waves and FFT:
- Any sound is a vibration. The higher the frequency, the higher the tone we perceive.
- Sounds can mix and produce more interesting sound forms.
- However, how do we determine what sound waves are being mixed into the final waveform? This is where FFT enters.
- FFT is an algorithm that can detect what sound waves build up a sound wave collection.
- FFT is not only useable in sound parsing but also in other fields such as earthquake detection, medical field, space and etc.
In the example I made here, using p5js audio kit, I played an oscillation wave (a sound generator) and plugged it into its own audio waveform and FFT functions. With a couple of codes, we now have a pleasant visualization of how sounds literally look like from different perspectives.
A warning tho, the higher frequency can be a bit fatiguing to the ear, so lower your volume.