Violin quality differences hide in time-domain impulse responses that Fourier analysis erases

Evidence

Some important differences in the comparative quality of violins might be revealed by directly comparing impulse responses of the bridge and body. Or perhaps a sonogram analysis is in order. We could tune it from time-like to frequency-like by adjusting the window function (see section 4.5 and chapter 5). In fact, impulse response measurements on musical instruments are fairly common, but the results are all too often whisked off to the frequency domain by Fourier analysis, with the obliteration just mentioned as a side effect. If a velocity impulse response is transformed, it can be recovered by inverse transform. Even so, the features that present themselves to the eye and the brain are quite different in the two domains (time and frequency). — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 1783

Categorization

• QUESTION: Could a standardized impulse-response tap plus trained software competition reveal violin quality differences that luthiers’ ears miss? Worth chasing.
• SEED: Angle: why instrument-analysis tradition defaults to the frequency domain and what the time domain might reveal about instrument quality.