Although recent research showed the connection between timbre and emotion with sustaining musical instruments, this research investigates the connection for nonsustaining instruments, such as plucked string, pitched percussion, and keyboard sounds. Pairwise listening tests considered eight emotional categories. Results showed that the harpsichord, marimba, vibraphone, and xylophone were highly rated for positive emotional categories; the guitar, harp, and plucked violin were highly rated for negative emotional categories; and the piano was rated emotionally neutral. By correlating timbral features with the listener rankings, we found that decay slope and density of significant harmonics were the relevant timbral features for many emotional characteristics. There were differences in emotional characteristics due to early release.
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https://aes2.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=17581
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