Pitch & Frequency

[Stopp,Gene]

Another angle on the topic -

>From my readings on Pitch vs. Frequency, Pitch is subjectively percieved
tonicity whereas frequency is objectively measured periodicity.

(I think I had too much coffee this morning....)

Anyway, "pitch" refers to the note of the musical scale that the human
ear/brain combination percieves. "Frequency" refers to the reciprocal of
the repeated waveform pattern measured in seconds. The two are always
equal for simple waveforms, and may become more and more separated as
the complexity of the waveform of the sound increases. One example that
comes to mind is the piano string. Although a string in a piano can be
modelled by a simple algorithm which would represent both pitch and
frequency as identical, with a real piano string there are mechanical
inharmonic characteristics which throw off the human ear. A piano string
is made of hardened metal (actually multiple strands of hardened metal
with a core and one or more windings) and as such, gives somewhat of a
"klang" when firmly struck. There are many complex modes of vibration
going on that the are not all integer ratios to each other. This
confuses the human ear somewhat, so that the overall effect integrated
by our senses results in a musical note detected that does not always
match up with what an oscilloscope says we "should" be hearing. This is
why pianos are tuned with what is called "stretch tuning" - screw the
test equipment, and make it sound good.

Also on the Leslie thread - I concur with the other observations, except
that there are no centrifugal forces on the voice coils (at least not in
the 127/147). Another tip - when demonstrating your Leslie to curious
onlookers, try not to point at the treble horn when tremolo mode is on!

 - Gene

 ----------

>>Hang on a minute, I always thought that perceived pitch is the same as
>>received frequency. Would someone explain why it isn't the case?

It is the case.  The frequency of a wave determines its pitch, as a note
is
defined by the frequency of its fundamental.  However, there are also a
number of harmonics whose frequencies have a fixed ratio to this
fundamental.

<snip>