Klarinet Archive - Posting 000403.txt from 2001/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Combination tones
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 19:57:30 -0500

At 02:31 PM 2/10/2001 -0800, Richard S. wrote:
>I do agree that the ear is non-linear. It is
>logarithmic. In being logarithmic it can receive
>audio energy over a much wider range than if it was
>linear. However, I am convinced that the ear is not
>non-linear in the way that would generate difference
>tones. To put it in musical terms, if I hear a
>trombone and a trumpet separately or together I can
>still recognize them as a trombone and a trumpet.
>There is no third tone. I would expect that if our
>ears were sensitive to difference tones we would all
>have headaches from the noise.

I think one of the caveats that has been missing from this discussion is
that the original tones need to be rather simple in the first place. Pure
sine waves beat against each other produce a somewhat more complex (and
relatively weak) waveform in the resultant tone. I THEORIZE then that
complex tones would result in a mish-mash of a waveform that would most
likely be perceived only as spurious harmonics, assuming it was at audible
levels at all, and then only on sustained notes. Does that make any sense?

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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