A phase vocoder is a type of vocoder which can scale both the frequency and time domains of audio signals by using phase information. The computer algorithm allows frequency-domain modifications to a digital sound file (typically time expansion/compression and pitch shifting).
At the heart of the phase vocoder is the short-time Fourier transform (STFT), typically coded using fast Fourier transforms. The STFT converts a time domain representation of sound into a time-frequency representation (the "analysis" phase), allowing modifications to the amplitudes or phases of specific frequency components of the sound, before resynthesis of the frequency domain representation into the time domain by the inverse STFT. The time evolution of the resynthesized sound can be changed by means of modifying the time position of the STFT frames prior to the resynthesis operation allowing for time-scale modification of the original sound file.
Read more about Phase Vocoder: Phase Coherence Problem, History, Use in Music
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