Re: harmonic vs. inharmonic sounds (one last time)

[Peter Lennox <P.Lennox@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

similarly, if you bring the partials in one by one, then waht you hear
is all the individual components - you can still hear them out. If you
start them together then take them out from the top, you hear a
progressive darkening of timbre
regards
ppl

Dr. Peter Lennox
S.P.A.R.G.
Signal Processing Applications Research Group
University of Derby
http://sparg.derby.ac.uk  
Int. tel: 1775
>>> Jan Schnupp <jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 03/16/07 10:58 AM >>>
On 16/03/07, Kevin Austin <kevin.austin@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On reconsideration, I would reframe the question something as:
>
> When hearing the partials 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, do you
> perceive the fundamental to be 100 Hz? Do you hear a 100 Hz component?



If you play a harmonic series and the partials all come on together and
are
unmodulated or modulated together then you wouldn't normally hear any
'components'. The partials are strongly bound into a single buzzy sound.
If
you first play that harmonic series with the fundamental, and then
without
the fundamental then the two sounds should sound very similar in pitch
but
somewhat different in timbre. The really interesting thing happens if
you
play harmonic series with and without the fundamental repeatedly, back
to
back, switching the harmonic on and off every 500 ms or so. You may then
observe that the fundamental 'pops out', i.e. when the fundamental is on
you
hear two tones (one pure tone, one complex tone), when it is off you
hear
only one. Well worth playing around with.

Jan


Best
>
> Kevin
>



-- 
Dr Jan Schnupp
University of Oxford
Dept. of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
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Oxford OX1 3PT - UK
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