resultant tones

[John Meulendijks]

To Richard,

My ability to read the German language is better than the reading of
English. In writing I experience more difficulties with the German language.
Maybe except for one issue: the vocabulaire........ (taken your remark as a
compliment: thanks.)
My using us the c' as (indeed) symbol for key #40, stemms from what is
current in (european) musical theory. At least I thought it was current.
Your question makes me reconsider this. You may also have noticed that I
used 'quint' , changing it to 'fifth'. Also due to geografically restricted
terminology. So for best communication I should use C0, C1,........C8?
If you wanted to know what the Dutch/ Middle-European musical theory
proposes:
Subcontra:("C- "Gsharp(Gis)) there is #1:"A, "Bflat(Bb), "B     (note:
written in capitals, and also as  C2, till B2)
Contrabas: 'C,........,'B;
(also C1.....B1)
Big octave/ Great? (I realise this has no Anglo-saxon parallel-
terminology): C,.......B.
Little octave/ Small? (......)   c,........b.          (mark the small ones)
one-marked octave                c'.........b'.
(AKA  c1......b1)
two-maked octave                c''........b''
(AKA c2......b2)
three.....
etc......
In tuning theory we were educated in the same way.

There is a piano (grand piano) where I normally without exception experience
the difference tone (or the tone that isn't there, but is only suggested in
my head (the other view to the phenomenon)). This is a Schimmel grand. I
don't know why that is, it's not the copy, it's the brand (if they are not
to old). It happens sometimes with other instruments also. What puzzles me
is why is it only in the 5th /6th octave? I don't believe it has to do with
stretching to a certain amount: I tried to alter it, but it does not
disappaer within small changes. Anyways, thank you for replying.

John Meulendijks
Tilburg,
The Netherlands

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Moody <remoody@midstatesd.net>
To: piano tech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 1:29 AM
Subject: resultant tones


> John Meulendijks wrote....
>    > Let's assume it happens on c''', then there is a feeling of a
> > root F on the fifth f''-c''', and a feeling of C' on g''-c'''
>
> I have never heard this on a single note.  But now that you mention it I
will
> listen.  I remember the first time I heard "lower tones" when checking
> intervals.  It was very quiet in the orchestra pit in a good size
auditorium. I
> thought I was  hearing things, or it was  the acoustics, or my ears were
stopped
> up from a cold or something.  They sounded more inside my head.
Sometimes I
> could hear them better than other times.  Sometimes not at all.  Later on
at
> various places sometimes I could hear them, but most of the time not.
>     I do not know what to call these tones other than "resultants"  a term
organ
> builders use to describe a lower tone created by the difference of two
tones
> sounding  together.  For example two tones that have a difference in
frequency
> of 32cps should sound a resultant of 32cps; a very low note on an organ
pipe,
> more of a sensation in the chest than in the ears.   I don't know what the
> difference would be of a tone between say 100 cps and 130 cps as compared
to 400
> cps and 430 cps.
>     Since experiencing these fleeting "lower tones" while tuning, I have
> discovered them very pronounced on my synthesizer through headphones. You
have
> to have all reverb and LFO off with pure saw tooth or square wave patches.
In
> the range of middle C play 3rds down, listen for a very low tone that
sounds
> more "in your head" than in the earphones.
>
>     When you say c'   do you mean Middle C?  or what we call C4  or
sometimes
> C40
> or simply the 40th key on the piano?   So from Middle C it would be  as
below ?
> ?
>
>                c' = (C4)   c'' (C5)   c''' (C6)  c''''(C7) c''''' (C8)
>
>                 c (C3)   C (C2)    CC (C1)  CCC (C0 )
>
> Also, do you read German?  Specifically is your German as good as your
English?
>
> ---ric
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John Meulendijks <jmjmeulendijks@planet.nl>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2001 3:58 PM
> Subject: Re: inharmonicity/beats
>
>
> >
> > Apart from this I've experienced many times the feeling (not sure about
> > actual hearing) of two low bass notes playing a fifth and a fourth under
the
> > note I'm tuning in the 5th and 6th octave. I think they are related to
each
> > other as a a lower octave of the fifth and an even more lower octave of
the
> > tuning note.  Let's assume it happens on c''', then there is a feeling
of a
> > root F on the fifth f''-c''', and a feeling of C' on g''-c'''. A
> > fysicist-teacher said it was in my head  (but in a polite way: we tend
to
> > complete a sequence of upper partials without having the basic tone (the
> > first partial) actually sounding). Any other explanations?
> >
> > John Meulendijks
> > Tilburg
> > the Netherlands
> >
>
>
>