Pitch: Difference between revisions
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Because the wave patterns themselves are different. Only the frequency determines the "fundamental" pitch. Instruments, when they sound a note of a certain pitch, actually sound many pitches that, added together at different volumes, give their distinctive waveform. |
Because the wave patterns themselves are different. Only the frequency determines the "fundamental" pitch. Instruments, when they sound a note of a certain pitch, actually sound many pitches that, added together at different volumes, give their distinctive waveform. |
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The simplest, purest pitched sound is the [ |
The simplest, purest pitched sound is the [[wikipedia:Sine wave|sine wave]]. But note that, if you have a pattern that's half the length of your original wave, or a third, or a fourth, and so on, it also fits into the same wave period. These are called '''harmonics''', and the original sine wave is called the '''fundamental frequency'''. Harmonics have half, a third, a fourth, etc. the wavelength of a the fundamental frequency, and their frequencies are correspondingly twice, thrice, etc. as high. |
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These different waves, all with the same fundamental period length, can be added together using a concept known as the [ |
These different waves, all with the same fundamental period length, can be added together using a concept known as the [[wikipedia:Fourier series|Fourier series]]--basically overlain one on top of another, if you're drawing them--to create a distinctive waveform. |
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