Originally posted by Mark_H:
Do sawtooth waves that ramp upward and sharply drop sound
the same as sawtooth waves that ramp downward and sharply
rise (reverse sawtooth waves)? If not, then how different do
they sound, and in what way do the sounds differ?
Waveforms that have the same harmonic (overtone) structure sound the same, which is true for the case that you mention. However, that assumes the sound is being heard directly, and not the result of using it to modulate or otherwise interact with another source. For example, the ramp could be used as an LFO, and depending on what it modulated/controlled, the resulting output would sound quite different depending on the slope of the rise and fall.
--Barry