What is the quality that causes one instrument to sound different from another?

In simple terms, timbre is what makes a particular musical instrument or human voice have a different sound from another, even when they play or sing the same note.

What is the weirdest sounding instrument?

The 10 strangest musical instruments

1. 1 The Great Stalacpipe Organ.
2. 2 The Blackpool High Tide Organ.
3. 3 The road that plays Rossini.
4. 4 Musical ice.
5. 5 The Cat Piano.
6. 6 Aeolus Acoustic Wind Pavilion.
7. 7 The Musical Stones of Skiddaw.
8. 8 The Singing Ringing Tree.

Do expensive instruments sound better?

If the instrument is from a shop though, you’re probably be better off buying a more expensive one if you’re considering taking up an instrument. It’s better to start with a good one in every way. … So, in conclusion, expensive instruments are higher in quality and are thus more likely to produce a good tone.

What determines quality of sound?

Sound “quality” or “timbre” describes those characteristics of sound which allow the ear to distinguish sounds which have the same pitch and loudness. Timbre is mainly determined by the harmonic content of a sound and the dynamic characteristics of the sound such as vibrato and the attack-decay envelope of the sound.

Why do some violins sound better?

The reason was likely twofold: First, bigger violins tend to have better sound because there is more room to resonate. Second, the quality of the instrument was clearly higher. The difference was obvious: they’d gone from scratchbox instruments to violins capable of singing.

Why are older violins better?

While aging any wooden stringed instrument generally will make it sound better, playing it over time is what makes the most difference. The vibrations of the strings affects the structure & resonance of the wood more than age itself.

Which instrument has the purest tone?

A pure sine wave is the only instrument that plays a tone without any overtones. This isn’t a strange coincidence.

Why do some instruments sound better than others?

Again, without the scientific study this is all just speculation. One thing that might explain why older instruments are perceived to sound better is natural selection. In the case of instruments this means that only the instruments which sounded good in the first place ever made it to old age.

Do older violin instruments sound better?

The conventional wisdom has it that older instruments sound better than newer ones. And there is certainly a good deal of anecdotal evidence that this is so. Violin players consider the instruments made during the golden age of violin making in Cremona,Italy to be the best sounding.

Is there a synth Sax that sounds like a sax?

Well, yes, a sax sounds like a sax – but I don’t know of one synth sax that sounds “like a sax” – Wallander Instruments (additive synthesis) are cute but they’re no serious concurrence for a sample instrument. Iron Axe imitates a Stratocaster via physical modeling and is nice – but it is still far from the real thing.