Re: need help with microtone

On 10 Oct 2003 at 14:16, John Cowan wrote:

> It's not perceptual but physical.  When any physical object (other
> than an electronic oscillator) produces a tone, it invariably produces
> overtones as well at higher frequencies.  It is the pattern of overtones
> that allows us to distinguish one instrument from another.  The first
> overtone appears at exactly twice the frequency of the fundamental.
> So it is no accident at all that we hear a tone and the corresponding
> tone at twice the frequency to be "the same".
Okay. I didn't stop and consider the nature of stretched strings, and
other vibrating entities, when I made my reply. I suppose I ought to
have, really. With hindsight, I think I actually knew about that, but
it obviously wasn't anywhere near the front of my mind when I wrote
my reply.






Paul