I'd link this stuff, but it's easier if you google "violin formants"
and there's a good bit of stuff there. No database out there that I
know of (I know because I searched for this type of stuff in the
past) but you can find info on individual instruments for a start...
violins and guitars and so on.

Formants and properties of acoustic systems makes me think of how in
analog synthesis one of the sounds that screams "analog synth" is
the low pass filter sound - and this I think relates to Brian Eno's
interest in synths and bodily functions - have you ever heard your
stomach grumbling and thought that it sounds like a analog synth
sound I certainly have - hearing the stomach's sounds being
filtered through the abdomen is like a sound being filtered through
a low pass filter.

Not to digress too much, but just something I think of when it comes
to analog synth "artificial" sound vs. "real" acoustic sound. One of
the aspects of raw acoustic sounds that makes them what they are is
the amount of high frequency content, and synthesizing acoustic type
sounds in analog seems hard to me because the waveforms don't have
that real high frequency content in the harmonics. I'm just thinking
of what you have to start with as raw material before it hits the
formant filtering.

Don't get me wrong, it's interesting and worthwhile to understand
how to synthesize acoustically based sounds - I'm certainly
interested in it, but I like analog synths for the nice "fake"
sounds that they make. :)

--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com , "stuadh" <stuadh@...> wrote:
>
> General information is fine. I'm just after a start point from
which to experiment. I got
> the idea from the Sound on Sound, Synth Secrets series, Formant
Sysnthesis http://
> www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar01/articles/synthsec.asp. Given that
there is something
> about the grouping of violin formants that makes the instrument
sound violiny, I reckon
> having a database of different sonic reference points must be
useful. Has anyone any
> experience in this I have found several online articles
describing how we use formants to
> identify sounds, but none show which frequencies relate to which
sounds (except a bit the
> Synth Secrets giving vowel formants).
>
> Yours Aye
>
> Stuadh
>
> --- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com , "untiedstates"
<untiedstates@> wrote:
> >
> > Whatever you might find would likely only be general
information,
> > because formants are the characteristic resonances of individual
> > instruments or systems.. in other words, from violin to violin
the
> > formants would be different, just as from one person's voice to
> > another person's voice the formants would be different.
> >
> > You could find frequency ranges for different instruments, but
each
> > instrument's formants are like its fingerprint, unique to that
> > particular instrument.
> >
> > --- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com , "stuadh" <stuadh@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > Does anyone have a list of the formants present in acoustic
> > instruments and other non-
> > > musical sounds I am looking to expand my sound design
knowledge
> > and having a ready
> > > guide would be very useful.
> > >
> > > Yours Aye
> > >
> > > Stuadh
> > >
> >
>