Ph 490

June 6, 2004

 

Problem Set 13:  LabView and FFT with MatLab

(LabView lab writeup)

 

   This problem set is a program of analysis of waveforms which will be captured in class, during the lecture time.  For a guide on how to set up LabView, capture waveforms, transfer them to your unix file system, and analyze them with MatLab, see the lab writeup entitled “Digital Waveform Capture with LabView” (http://www.physics.sfsu.edu/~bland/courses/490/labs/minilabs/labview/labview.html).

   In class, a signal will be provided for you to analyze.  It will be a note sung at a pitch somewhere near middle C.  The exact pitch will be determined by someone else, with the frequency given to the instructor but not to you.  Someone will also be recorded singing the first two bars of  “Papa Haydn’s Dead and Gone.”

 

1.  Make a plot of the waveform, and of its Fourier power spectrum, using MatLab.  Identify the dominant frequencies in the spectrum.

 

2.  Determine the fundamental frequency, and thus the note of the scale being sung.  For finding the note, use the well-tempered scale, where the scale starting with middle C has the frequencies

,

where n = 0,1,2,3, . . . 12 refer to C, C#, D, D#, E, F,F#,G, G#, A,A#,B, and C.

 

3.  Explain the other frequencies occurring in the power spectrum as well as you can (in terms of harmonics of the fundamental frequency of the musical note, electromagnetic pickup, etc.)

 

4.  Make a spectrogram of someone singing “Papa Haydn’s Dead and Gone,” and identify significant features of the spectrum.