Categorization of Musical Instrument Sounds Based on Numerical Parameters

In this paper we present methodology of categorization of musical instruments sounds, aiming at the continuing goal of codifying the classification of these sounds for automating indexing and retrieval purposes. The proposed categorization is based on numerical parameters. The motivation for this paper is based upon the fallibility of Hornbostel and Sachs generic classification scheme, most commonly used for categorization of musical instruments. In eliminating the discrepancies of Hornbostel and Sachs’ classification of musical sounds we present a procedure that draws categorization from numerical attributes, describing both time domain and spectrum of sound, rather than using classification based directly on Hornbostel and Sachs scheme. As a result we propose a categorization system based upon the empirical musical parameters and then incorporating the resultant structure for classification rules.