Beats vs cycles vs cents

[Sarah Fox]

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Hi Jean-Jacques,

A beat happens every time two frequencies drift past each other by one =
cycle (one complete vibration).  In other words, if you have two notes =
at 440 and 441 Hz (i.e. 440 and 441 cycles per second), respectively, =
there will be a resultant beat frequency of one beat per second.

For those of you with heads stuck in physics or acoustics books, take =
heed that there is no acoustic energy at the beat frequency, provided =
there is linearity in the system, but that's been argued back and forth =
before!

And yes, there are 100 cents between one half step and the next, where =
each note is roughly 2^(1/12) or 1.0595 times the frequency of the =
previous half step and 2^(-1/12) or 0.944 times the frequency of the =
next half step.  A cent, at any frequency, would be roughly =
1-2^((1/12)/100) or 0.0005778 times that frequency.  At 440 Hz, a cent =
would be roughly 0.25 Hz.

Peace,
Sarah



----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Jean-Jacques Granas=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 5:44 PM
  Subject: Beats vs cycles vs cents


  Hi Joseph,

  So if I understand this right, cents are units along a scale leading =
from one half tone to the next, while beats are pegged to the specific =
unison's frquency. Did I understand this right?

  Peace
  jj
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