Parameter estimation of FM synthesis

Resumo

FM synthesis is a sound synthesis technique developed by Chowning in the 70s. The technique became popular for the possibilities of generating different timbres with few oscillators. One of the biggest challenges in using FM synthesis is the nonintuitive parameters. It is necessary a profound knowledge of the mathematics behind the synthesis or a vast experience with its operation to create the desired sounds. A possible solution for this problem is to create a system, which given a sound example, find the synthesis parameters that generates another sound with high perceptual similarity with the sound example. This system would facilitate the sound creation process and would help people with little experience in FM synthesis to understand the relationship between the parameters and the synthesized sound. This work proposed the creation of a parameter estimation system applied to FM synthesis using the PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) algorithm.