This paper presents a novel method of analysing drum sounds, demonstrating that this can form the basis of a highly realistic synthesis technique for real-time use. The synthesis method can be viewed as an extension of IFFT synthesis; here we exploit the fact that audio signals can be recovered from solely the real component of their discrete Fourier transform (RDFT). All characteristics of an entire drum sample can therefore be conveniently encoded in a single, real-valued, frequency domain signal. These signals are interpreted, incorporating the physics of the instrument, and modelled to investigate how the perceptual features are encoded. The model was able to synthesize drum sound components in such detail that they could not be distinguished in an ABX test. This method may therefore be capable of outperforming existing synthesis techniques, in terms of realism. Sound examples available here.

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