Christoph Reuter: Formants - The Missing Link between Orchestration and Post-Helmholtzian Timbre Research

Oxford Handbook of Orchestration Studies

Formants: The Missing Link between Orchestration and Post-Helmholtzian
Timbre Research
Christoph Reuter
Musicological Department, University of Vienna (christoph.reuter@univie.ac.at)

Formants are pitch-independent, fixed maxima in the spectrum of a sound that characteristically shape the timbre of an instrument or voice.

For example, instruments with a maximum between 300 and 500 Hz sound like "o" (e.g. bassoon or horn). Usually two formants are sufficient to describe a vowel-like, characteristic timbre of an instrument.

With the help of two axes for the first and second formant, one can draw up a formant map in which the musical instruments of the orchestra can be placed on characteristic positions. this holds especially for the low and middle registers.

Timbres with similar formant positions usually sound similar and blend well together when played simultaneously.
Timbres with different formant positions usually sound dissimilar and are easily separable when played simultaneously.

In the Formant Map 2.0, any instrument combinations can be tried out in three registers and two dynamic levels each.

Formant Map 2.0 (Reuter 2020)

Dynamic Timbre Maps in Comparison
on the example of Beethoven's 7th symphony, 1st movement

Select the Dynamic Formant Map 2.0 and observe the dynamic behavior
of instrumental timbres and their descriptors "in the wild".

You can set up any instrumental combination using the colored buttons
at the top of the Dynamic Formant Map screen.

The closer the timbres are to each other in the Dynamic Formant Map,
the more similar they should sound.

Attention: the Dynamic Formant Map needs about 30 seconds
until they are fully loaded.
But it's worth the wait...