Patent ID: 8433073

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for use in a sound effect applying apparatus, the computer-implemented method, when executed by the sound effect applying apparatus, comprising the steps of: receiving an input signal of sound or voice; frequency analyzing the input signal to obtain a frequency spectrum of the input signal; detecting local peaks of a pitch frequency and harmonic frequencies thereof contained in the input signal; respectively adding a plurality of new spectrum components which are positioned between at least two adjacent pairs of the detected local peaks of the pitch frequency and the harmonic frequencies thereof in the input signal and which are arranged at equal frequency intervals between each adjacent pair of the detected local peaks, the frequency fki, for the kth spectrum component added for the ith detected local peak being determined by the equation: fki =( i+ 1)×pitch syn +( k+ 1)×(1/( n+ 1))×pitch, where n is an integer number of new spectrum components added between adjacent pairs of the detected local peaks, n≧2, k is an integer, 0≦k<n−1, i is an integer, i≧0, pitch syn represents a synthesized pitch at the pitch frequency, and pitch represents an input pitch at the pitch frequency so that a distortion effect is imparted to the input signal to generate a sound-effect imparted signal while preserving relative magnitudes of the detected local peaks of the pitch frequency and the harmonic frequencies thereof; and converting the sound-effect imparted signal to a time domain output signal.