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Topic: Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement (Read 6522 times) previous topic - next topic
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Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

A harmonics generator takes the filtered buffer signal, V’in(t), and uses it as input for a high order mathematical function.

      Vgen(t) = a2.Vin2(t) + a3.Vin3(t) + a4.Vin4(t) + ..........

It is a multiplication series of the form: f(out) = a.f(in) + b.f(in).f(in) + c.f(in).f(in).f(in) + ....

If the filtered input signal is a pure sine wave, this procedure generates all the major harmonics. For example the square of a sinusoidal signal generates a signal with the double frequency (plus an offset):

      sin2(2p.f.t) = 0.5 (1 - cos(4p.f.t))

Here's a schematic to build one...

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancer

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #1 –
I've no idea what you're talking about / what it's good for.
(And I don't call myself a newbie anymore)
What are you trying to tell us ?

bye,
Sebastian

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #2 –
From the article:

In this article a device is presented that makes signals below 60 Hz audible in loudspeakers and headphones that normally, by their mere physical construction, are not able to reproduce these frequencies. The device combines two psychoacoustic phenomena:

1.  The principle of the missing fundamental
2.  Mechanical harmonic distortion in the inner ear

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #3 –
So what ?
Sorry, I don't get the point.

Is this any related to an approach to make encoders sound better ?

bye,
Seastian

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #4 –
The jist would be that it makes very low bass frequencies audible, thereby possibly making the music sound better.

I'm not qualified to evaluate the accuracy or applicability of this.  But it sounds interesting on several levels.  I would be curious what some of the audio experts on HA have to say.
Santa is very jolly because he knows where all the bad girls live.  - Dennis Miller

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #5 –
Hi,

From what I could figure out from reading the article, is that this will enable you to "hear" frequencies lower than physically possible on your equipment. For example, you should be able to listen to tones of 25Hz on a loudspeaker that has a frequency response of say 65Hz - 15000Hz.

My question to the author would be how much does this device affect bass transients. After all, I wouldn't really want to hear tones of 25Hz if they were boomy and resonant. (Sorry if the previous lines seem unscientific, but I couldn't really figure out how else to put my point across.)

Rajas

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #7 –
Yes, it's useful for small speakers.

People sometimes use it when mastering tracks too. There were lots of bass lines on rave tracks in the early 1990s that were far too low for cheap equipment. When the track dropped to "just the bass line" for a few bars, there must have been some very confused listeners (and radio DJs!).

Of course, if you have decent speakers, it sounds cleaner if you don't add distortion using this technique.

I'm surprised Windows doesn't add it when you select "LapTop speakers <small>" or whatever - but it doesn't seem to.

Cheers,
David.

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #8 –
Quote
People sometimes use it when mastering tracks too. There were lots of bass lines on rave tracks in the early 1990s that were far too low for cheap equipment. When the track dropped to "just the bass line" for a few bars, there must have been some very confused listeners (and radio DJs!).


haha, yes, The Prodigy had a few tracks with solo bass sequences and I distinctly remember how some of the sub tones were difficult to hear through some of my equipment at the time.

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #9 –
This is an older Winamp plugin which might have this type of bass enhancement (haven't used it in ages but I remember I used to like it a lot):

edit: http://www.i-adrian.home.ro/enhancer.htm (direct link doesn't work)

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #10 –
Enhancer does not use missing fundamentals, on an algorithmic level, but does use filtered even-order harmonic distortion, which gives somewhat of the same effect, just not as clean.

the Dee series of plugins are the only ones I am aware of that use true missing fundamentals, but is not an ideal implimentation imo, because they also generate sub-bass AFTER the missing-fundamental stage.

anyone else know of any that use the trick?

btw, this idea is nothing new.  It was actually invented by Johan Bach.  He used the idea as a way to install huge-sounding pipe organs into smaller churches - partly why he became so renouned at an early age.  He would have two smaller pipes create the harmonics required to make your ears "think" that they are hearing one much larger pipe.

Imo, the correct verbage for missing fundamental harmonics should be "auralacoustic" instead of psycoacoustic, since the process happens in the ear itself, and not in the brain.  I blame Waves for throwing around thier marketing bs. 

There is a hardware unit by Behringer which also uses roughly the same process as maxxbass.


What really buggers me about the whole deal, is that the patent offices are too stupid to know that any of this was done as "prior art" a LONG time ago, by Bach, among others.  It's understandable how a manifacturer might want to patent something relating to methods for the control of the missing fundamentals algorithms, but the basic idea itself has been public domain for a long time.

whatever
/rant

Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement

Reply #11 –
I've got two 15" subs, I don't care about adding more mid-bass. I use delaydots.com's PhatPro to add stuff an octave lower  Makes stuff like old Van Halen etc sound much better. Makes John Bonham's kick drum sound mighty nice too.