Klarinet Archive - Posting 000235.txt from 2001/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: strange intonation in warm up exercise
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 22:15:09 -0500

At 05:19 PM 2/7/2001 -0500, Tom Labadorf wrote:
>Bill H.,
>
>I am inclined to agree with you on this, but on the other hand, science is
>fact, right? Difference tones are either manufactured in our ear or not.
>Hear's how I understand difference tones and, Bill W., you can judge this
>against Bonades theories? facts?
>
>My thinking is that difference tones and "beats" are related. Beats are
>caused by nodes of two different sound waves aligning at a given moment. The
>alignement of these nodes creates a surge in the amplitude (volume) at that
>given moment. When you have two pitches sounding closely in tune, the nodes
>will align at regular intervals but infrequently. As these tones become
>gradually spread apart in pitch, the alignment of the nodes, thus the surges
>of amplitude, will occur at a increased rate. It is possible that the
>frequency of these amplitude surges can create in themselve a different
>pitch. By this reasoning, these alignments occur less frequently than either
>generated pitche and, so, the created third pitch would be lower than either
>of the generated pitches. This is coroborated by the fact that all
>difference tones are lower than either generated tone.
>
>I hope my explanation is clear. By this reasoning difference tones occur in
>the air before they get to a membrane like the ear. Do Bonade's
>explainations blow this reasoning out of the water?

That's pretty much the way I understood it. I will quote from the record
jacket of an album featuring an an organ with a resultant bass (Chalfont
SDGX 306/307):

"The 64-foot Resultant Bass is derived from the 32-foot Double Open Bass
and creates a pitch an octave lower by "beating" the frequency of two pipes
a fifth apart against one another. The digital displays above clearly show
the 16 Hz 32-foot CCCC and the complex wave form of the resultant 8 Hz
64-foot CCCCC with its wave peak twice the length of the 32-foot tone. The
listener will HEAR the 16 Hz tone in both examples but, with adequate
amplifier and speaker capabilities, the 8 Hz tone will be FELT."

Clearly, the resultant tone can not only be felt by the body (not just
heard in the ear), but it can be recorded AND displayed on an oscilloscope
(you'll have to take my word for it -- it is clear in the pictures).

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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