Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale

Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale focuses on perceptions ofconsonance and dissonance, and how these are dependent on timbre. Applications include methods of adapting sounds for arbitrary scales,ways to specify scales for nonharmonic sounds, and techniques of soundmanipulation based on maximizing (or minimizing) consonance.

Table2. 2. Each note consists of three partials. If the sequence is played ascending, then the ?rst virtual pitch tends to be perceived, whereas if played descending, the second, lower virtual pitch tends to be heard. Only one virtual pitch is audible at a time. This can be heard in sound examples [S: 6] and [S: 7]. Note First Second Third Virtual Pitch Virtual Pitch partial partial partial ascending descending 1 600 800 1000 200. 0 158. 9 2 620 820 1020 205. 2 163. 0 3 640 840 1040 210. 4 167. 1 4 660 860 1060 215. 6 171. 2 5 680 880 1080 220. 9 175. 3 6 700 900 1100 226. 1 179. 4 7 720 920 1120 231. 3 183. 6 8 740 940 1140 236. 6 187. 7 9 760 960 1160 241. 8 191. 8 10 780 980 1180 247. 0 195. 9 11 800 1000 1200 252. 2 200. 0 Pitch and virtual pitch are properties of a single sound. For instance, a chord played by the violin, viola, and cello of a string quartet is not usually thoughtofashavingapitch;rather,pitchisassociatedwitheachinstrumental tone separately. Thus, determining the pitch or pitches of a complex sound source requires that it ?rst be partitioned into separate perceptual entities. Only when a cluster of partials fuse into a single sound can it be assigned a pitch. When listening analytically, for instance, there may be more "notes" presentthaninthesamesoundwhenlisteningholistically.