Understanding digital signal processing
by Richard G. Lyons · first published 2011
79% recommend21% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Explains DSP concepts and intuition rather than relying on theorems, with helpful illustrations. It serves as an accessible introduction for engineers and students who already have an EE-style background.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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"Understanding Digital Signal Processing" by Richard Lyons should also be mentioned. Not free, but probably the best text for grasping the concepts of DSP. As a mechanical engineer his style and illustrations really clicked with me.
on “Introduction to Signal Processing” ↗…lack of good resources for implementing common DSP algorithms in actual hardware. The jump from Matlab to raw C is mystifying to many people (myself included in many cases). I actually prefer Lyons's Understanding Digital Signal Processing as an intro text over this one. I also really benefitted from having a good teacher in this stuff. Dan Boschen with DSPrelated runs some great online classes on DSP that helped me immensely in understanding…
on “The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing” ↗Richard Lyons - Understanding Digital Signal Processing Focuses more on explaining the concepts behind the math than presenting a wall of theorems. Given that math is the language of DSP though, there's still a reasonable amount of math. It assumes the reader…
on “Fourier Transforms – The Math Trick Behind MP3s, JPEGs, and Homer Simpson’s Face” ↗For signals (as opposed to images), you should have a look at "Understanding Digital Signal Processing" by Richard G. Lyons (ISBN-13: 978-0131089891). I enjoyed this very much and if you grasped the contents from it, you should be able to understand audio-specific books easily.
on “Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expertise?” ↗Understanding Digital Signal Processing, by Richard G Lyons. It's one of the most accessible books on the topic since it's aimed at undergraduate juniors.
on “Ask HN: What kind of math do you study in your free time?” ↗Have some DSP resources: Richard G. Lyons, Understanding Digital Signal Processing [0] Gareth Loy, Musimathics: The Mathematical Foundations of Music (volume 2) [1] r8brain-free-src (high quality sample rate conversion algorithms) [2] KVR's DSP forum, frequented by actual pro audio…
on “Beamforming in PulseAudio” ↗"Understanding Digital Signal Processing" by Richard Lyons is a wonderful book. Very readable, heavier on intuitive explanations/diagrams and lighter on formulas.
on “DDSP: Differentiable Digital Signal Processing” ↗…essential in modern communications DSP. A few that I think are useful or have interesting components are: * https://pysdr.org/content/sampling.html#quadrature-sampling * https://visual-dsp.switchb.org/ * Understanding Digital Signal Processing by Richard Lyons
on “I/Q Data for Dummies” ↗understanding digital signal processing by lyons is a classic. of the standard texts, my favorite was the proakis one. also used linear systems and signals by lathi in school, it was okay.
on “Fourier Series Visualisation with D3” ↗For curiosity: Understanding Digital Signal Processing, by Richard G Lyons. I read it when I was starting college as an undeclared major, and I honestly didn't understand half of it, but I was getting into music production and it taught me the ins and outs…
on “Ask HN: The book that did it for you in math and/or CS?” ↗Understanding Digital Signal Processing, by Richard G Lyons. I read it in my first couple months of college. I had no idea how to understand the differential equations, but the content was interesting enough to motivate me to study Applied…
on “Ask HN: Books that made you fascinated to learn more mathematics?” ↗richard lyons' textbook "understanding digital signal processing" has a nice treatment of spectral leakage issues and choice of window functions. i think it may even discuss the integer multiple issue you speak of with nice illustrations of the "wrapping" effect.
on “Mathematics of the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) with Audio Applications” ↗…implementation. Also [2] is a decent book for overall dsp concepts. [1] DAFX - Digital Audio Effects (Second Edition) Edited by Udo Zölzer https://dafx.de/DAFX_Book_Page_2nd_edition/index.html [2] Understanding Digital Signal Processing, Richard Lyons
on “Ask HN: Where are the good resources for learning audio processing?” ↗…to take great care not to make any more of my hobbies my job.) I spent endless hours thinking about this stuff on my commute, and hunched over Matlab. The other book I recommend is Richard G. Lyons "Understanding Digital Signal Processing".
on “Introduction to Digital Filters (2024)” ↗I also enjoyed Lyon's "Understanding Digital Signal Processing" when I went from a dual CS/Physics undergrad to working as a radar engineer.
on “Ask HN: What single book is the best intro to your field for laypeople?” ↗