File talk:Ring modulation sine waves 2 and 3.png

Sum/diff and multiplication

See also: en:Talk:Ring modulation#New diagram.

Ring modulation is the multiplication of waveforms. This shows the addition (and subtraction) of waveforms. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kvng (talk • contribs) 14:20, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

@Kvng: That's not what the Wikipedia article says. Hyacinth (talk) 00:03, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

@Hyacinth: the lead at Ring modulation says ...an implementation of frequency mixing, performed by multiplying two signals... Perhaps Frequency mixing is what's throwing you off. See Frequency mixer and let me know if you still feel that a ring modulator is addition or subtraction (as in audio mixing, for instance). Kvng (talk) 19:57, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Because many people get confused about audio ring modulation I would encourage everyone involved in this discussion to read what Bob Moog had to say about it:

• Bob Moog on Synthesizers: Amplitude And Ring Modulation

Also helpful is this article from The Synthesizer Academy:

• Ring Modulator

For those with circuit design experience, this may help:

• Ring Modulator schematic

The key feature of ring modulation (also known as balanced modulation) is that the output contains the sum and difference of the two inputs without the original inputs, which are canceled out. Also note that one or both inputs can be above the audio range, in which case only the lower sidebands are heard.

Now here is something quite interesting. Look at this image from The Synthesizer Academy:

• http://synthesizeracademy.com/wp-content/uploads/ring-modulator-sidebands-only.jpg

That's an actual ring modulator with inputs at 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. Note how it differs from [ FileRing modulation sine waves 2 and 3.png ]. I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out why...   :)   --Guy Macon (talk) 21:19, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

@Kvng: The article reads: Ring modulators frequency mix or heterodyne two waveforms, and output the sum and difference of the frequencies present in each waveform. I did not speak of my opinion, I spoke of the article. Hyacinth (talk) 04:23, 9 February 2020 (UTC)

@Hyacinth: The thing I think you're missing here is that a ring modulator produces sum and difference frequencies. The diagram shows sum and difference in the time domain, not the frquency domain. Kvng (talk) 16:07, 9 February 2020 (UTC)