Re: [tuning] Digest Number 1219

Hi Paul,

> Consonance?

Yes, for the modern bell with the partials tuned to minor third,
fifth and octaves.

Not all the partials are consonant of course, but several of them are,
fairly much.

> Thought it was an octave above it, which would make more sense in terms of
> the "missing fundamental" phenomenon.

No, it's an octave below. It isn't a "missing fundamental", but another
phenomon altogether, not well understood.

It's the hum of hte bell, which is quieter note an octave below the
perceived note, while the perceived note usually isn't present as
a partial at all, according to that bell partials site.

It would be okay to have that in the experiment, one could have any
cues one likes to lead one to the note. Can have harmonic cues as
well as the inharmonic ones, as it would be pretty much impossible
to eliminate all possible harmonic cues.

One would know that the inharmonic timbre was responsible because of the
learning period with Timbre 1 needed before one can hear the pitch at s in
timbre 2.

If it was just the harmonic series responsible for our perception of
pitch, then one would always hear the same pitch in any timbre, no
matter what one heard beforehand, as it would have the same harmonic
content. Or for ones with ambiguous pitches, then the proportions
of times that one hears one or the other pitch wouldn't depend on
what else one heard before.

However I think it is possible that one might be influenced in this way.
If one can at all, then it means there is something else to take account
of in pitch perception, and not just the harmonic series, important
though it is.

I wouldn't want to go any further and try to develop any theory of
what else might be involved, just suggesting an experiment that
would perhaps show if there is anything else to consider.

At least, that was the idea in doing it that way.

Idea is that the inharmonic partials and learning those could
influence the perception of pitch, and that would be what one would
be testing for.

Is that clear now?

Robert