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<p>Richard Moody wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>And if a partial is really
<br>> really weak, who cares what its frequency is? No one will hear
<br>> it.
<br>>
<br>> -Robert Scott
<br>> Ann Arbor, Michigan
<p>That is a very good question.In piano tuning we are concerned with the
<br>beats caused by coincident partials. We really notice partials when
they
<br>beat. The question is, how weak does a partial have to be not to cause
<br>beats? In terms of audible strength (decibles?) the fundamental is
louder
<br>than the second partial. The second partial is louder than the
third and
<br>so on, or so it should seem. Yet the beatings do not sound any louder
or
<br>softer according to how loud or weak the partial is.
<br> Why does it seem a 5/4 third beats as loud as a 2/1 octave. One
would
<br>think the first and second partials would be at least twice as
loud as
<br>the fourth and fifth partials. Shouldn't that affect the loudness of
the
<br>beats?
<br>Ric</blockquote>
I believe this has something to do with the fact that beats from coincidentals
are the result of two partials from two seperate partial series. Both would
have to be more powerfull if they are to stick out more then expected.
This sometimes is the case I suspect. The bass area especially. Tuning
octaves you once in a while find a pairing that is just really loud compaired
to that same pairing in adjacent octaves.
<p>Also, Partials sound louder perhaps then we think. We train ourselves
to listen to only a few in different situations, conciously working at
<i>not</i> listening to the others. If you reverse this process and make
an effort to listen to as many partials as you can, (in octaves for example)
pick them out individually you might be suprised what you can hear even
relatively high up in the treble ( C5 - C7) area.
<p>Richard Brekne
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