Harmonics Explorer
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Harmonics Explorer
1–10 of 55 posts
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#2Well, that was fun, I've got headphones on, so I heard it all the way down to 16 Hz sine wave.
Getting a triangle wave with 4n+1 harmonics wasn't easy.
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#3This is really cool. I used to do a lot of overtone ("harmonic") throat singing and playing with this tool reminded me of those days.
For anyone curious, vowels are mostly just how we perceive different harmonic distributions. Put differently, harmonics are the basis of what it means to pronounce a different vowel. The human voice is basically just a harmonic chord, with different distributions of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. harmonics.
e.g. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/heal...
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#4My tinnitus does not thank you
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#5The earliest known scientific hypothesis test was a Pythagorean investigation of whether the mathematical model for consonance in stringed instruments generalized to chimes — so rather than 1:2 as a ratio of string length, whether a ratio of 1:2 in chime thickness also produces an octave. It does. (This experiment was conducted by Hippasus and recorded by Aristoxenus, a student of Aristotle)
But interestingly, we still have big open gaps in our scientific models of consonance and dissonance.
Consonant tones involve a large number of shared harmonics. That alignment appears to be important in the perception of consonance and dissonance. Yet, harmonic alignment is not currently a mechanism used in the algorithmic detection of consonance/dissonance, so far as I know. This tool looks like a good way to generate stimuli for experimentation, thanks!
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#6This is really cool. I used to do a lot of overtone ("harmonic") throat singing and playing with this tool reminded me of those days. For anyone curious, vowels are mostly just how we perceive different harmonic distributions. Put differently, harmonics are the basis of what it means to pronounce a different vowel. The human voice is basically just a harmonic chord, with different distributions of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th,…
That reminds me, I saw a video recently of a choir practice where they sang "brighter" and "darker" based on the conductor's hand position.
It was fascinating how the singers could control the brightness of their voice while holding the same note and frequency. When they went bright, it sounded closer to "eee" or "iii". When they went dark, it sounded like "uuu" and "ooo".
From that, I learned that the lyrics of a song, in particular the vowels, can be chosen consciously (or not) for their harmonic effect.
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#7The earliest known scientific hypothesis test was a Pythagorean investigation of whether the mathematical model for consonance in stringed instruments generalized to chimes — so rather than 1:2 as a ratio of string length, whether a ratio of 1:2 in chime thickness also produces an octave. It does. (This experiment was conducted by Hippasus and recorded by Aristoxenus, a student of Aristotle) But interestingly, we sti…
William Sethares developed a model of consonance and dissonance based around alignment of harmonics (or partials; it generalizes to inharmonic sounds).
Original paper:
https://sethares.engr.wisc.edu/paperspdf/consonance.pdf
Informal explanation:
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#8This is really cool. I used to do a lot of overtone ("harmonic") throat singing and playing with this tool reminded me of those days. For anyone curious, vowels are mostly just how we perceive different harmonic distributions. Put differently, harmonics are the basis of what it means to pronounce a different vowel. The human voice is basically just a harmonic chord, with different distributions of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th,…
That reminds me, I saw a video recently of a choir practice where they sang "brighter" and "darker" based on the conductor's hand position. It was fascinating how the singers could control the brightness of their voice while holding the same note and frequency. When they went bright, it sounded closer to "eee" or "iii". When they went dark, it sounded like "uuu" and "ooo". From that, I learned that the lyrics of a so…
You may find this interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC9Qh709gas
EDIT: also this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdldD0-kEcc
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#9I like the thing, but it misses what I enjoyed teaching about these most: phase. Many people know white noise is nominally 'all frequencies at the same intenisty', yet those taught Fourier mathematics are also taught that the same recipe makes a pulse. The difference is all in the phase information, and why I maintain to this day the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem, as typically applied, is incorrect.
Re: Harmonics Explorer
#10I love these. My favourite part is that you can hear the fundamental frequency when you add up the non-octave frequencies (i.e. increase all harmonics except 1, 2, 4 and 8). Even though the fundamental frequency isn't "there", your ears can still hear it.