I'm learning to design, build, and repair mouthpieces. This is one that I adopted in order to learn some of those skills

A study of rollover baffles of various lengths and angles

A study of baffle length and baffle angle.

Poses the question: A study of baffle length vs baffle angle The que

Say you are looking for a particular amount of edge in your tone. Say you want to get that edge by incorporating a rollover baffle in your design.

This study demonstrates that for short baffles (8mm or less in length), the amount of perceived edge is a function of at least baffle_length and baffle_angle.

Saundra's favorites from listening to recordings

A2.3__C0 and A7.5__C5

Jack's Favorites from behind the horn

A2.3__C0: Aww Yeah A1.8__C0: Hot Damn A1.0__C0: Perfect A7.4__C5: Aww Yeah!

Jack's Notes from behind the horn

A5.0__C0: Bright and clear, like Metalite A4.0__C0: Less Bright, still clear A3.0__C0: Just a tad brighter than I like A2.3__C0: Aww, Yeah A1.8__C0: Hot Damn! A1.0__C0: Perfect A0.7__C0: Gorgeous---a little smoother than I like A0.5__C0: Milk Toast

A7.4__C5: Aww Yeah! A4.0__C5: Good A3__C5: Good A2.9__C5: (no comment written) A2.3__C5: Too tame, but sounds good A1.5__C5: (no comment written)

Jack's Favorites from listening to the recordings

Of the ones I said I liked when recording...the ones with the shallower angle (and very short length) seem to have more personality than the wider-angle-but-longer baffle.

BACKLOG

• Practice scraping wax so you can get the exact measurement you are aiming for
• Sketch the diagram showing the two critical dimensions
• add millimeters to the index page
• Compute the reed angle
• Choose which ones from C0 match which ones from C5
• improve index.html by naming which one has no baffle
• Write this up and post on SOTW
• Repeat the measurements, at least for the ones that interest you the most

Parametric Study of Rollover Baffle Geometry

I'm learning to design, build, and repair mouthpieces. Especially of interest to me is how to construct a baffle to give a particular timbre.

Today I constructed several rollover baffles atop an otherwise-dark-sounding baritone mouthpiece. With each new wax rollover baffle, the dimensions of the baffle were written down and a recording of the D minor scale was made.

Here is a sketch showing the dimensions referenced:

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Here is a photo of one of the wax baffles. (C=0mm, A=2.3mm)

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And here is a link to the audio recordings.

For simplicity these rollover baffles actually have sharp edges. The baffle angle was established by scraping the wax with a flat object with one end of the flat object resting atop the tip rail and the other end of the flat object resting either at the base of the window (C==0) or 5mm below the base of the window (C==5). This gives a clean, repeatable angle.

Establishing the baffle length (A) was more akin to "shave and check". The same flat object was used to establish the back side of the baffle, and after a few scrapes the baffle length (A) was measured. Once the length was deemed appropriate for the next reading, a recording was made.

Say you have two mouthpieces that are identical except for the values of C and A. One has C=0mm, the other has C=5mm. What values can you choose for A for each mouthpiece such that the resultant timbre of each mouthpiece is approximately the same?

The real intent of this exercise is to discover which combinations of C=0, A=? The real intent of the exercise is to find commonalities between timbres of different geometries. That is, to identify disparate geometries that share the same timbre.

To put it simply, can you find a sound from the left column that has the same amount of edge or brightness as a sound from the right column?

The real intent of the exercise is to identify the dimensions of a baffle that have the most impact on the timbre. And then to find out if there are multiple combinations of those dimensions that can yield the same timbre.

For this parametric study, two values of C are used, and several values of A. C is a linear measurement that reflects the angle of the baffle. Small values of C represent shallow baffle angles, and large values of C represent steep baffle angles.

A is the length of the baffle from the tip rail.

Here is a photo of one of these wax baffles. The measurements of this one are A=2.3, C=0.

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For simplicity these rollover baffles actually have sharp edges. The baffle angle was established by scraping the wax with a flat object with one end of the flat object resting atop the tip rail and the other end of the flat object resting either at the base of the window (C==0) or 5mm below the base of the window (C==5). This gives a clean, repeatable angle.

Establishing the baffle length (A) was more akin to "shave and check". The same flat object was used to establish the back side of the baffle, and after a few scrapes the baffle length (A) was measured. Once the length was deemed appropriate for the next reading, a recording was made.

Experiment Description

Objective

The objective of this experiment is to explore the effects of varying the length and angle of the saxophone mouthpiece baffle on the produced sound.

Variables

• A (Length of the Baffle): This variable represents the length of the baffle inside the saxophone mouthpiece. The length is denoted by the value following a in the filenames (e.g., a0.0, a0.5, a1.0, etc.).
• C (Angle of the Baffle): This variable represents the angle of the baffle inside the saxophone mouthpiece. The angle is denoted by the value following c in the filenames (e.g., c0, c5).

Method

1. Preparation of Mouthpieces:

   • Multiple saxophone mouthpieces were prepared with different lengths and angles of the baffle.
   • The length of the baffle (A) was varied in specific increments (e.g., 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, etc.).
   • The angle of the baffle (C) was set to either 0 or 5 degrees.

2. Recording:

   • A series of sound recordings were made with each mouthpiece configuration.
   • Each recording was saved with a filename indicating its respective baffle length and angle (e.g., a0.0__c0.mp3 for a length of 0.0 and angle of 0 degrees, a1.5__c5.mp3 for a length of 1.5 and angle of 5 degrees, etc.).

3. Analysis:

   • An HTML file was generated to present the recordings. The recordings were organized into two columns based on the angle of the baffle (C).
   • The left column contains recordings with a baffle angle of 0 degrees (C0).
   • The right column contains recordings with a baffle angle of 5 degrees (C5).

Results Presentation

• The HTML file displays audio elements for each recording, allowing for a direct comparison of the effects of different baffle lengths and angles on the sound produced by the saxophone.

Conclusion

To gain a certain amount of brightness or edge to the tone of a mouthpiece, a very short (1mm) baffle at a shallow angle gives similar results compared to a medium-length (8mm) baffle using a steeper angle.