Ebook: Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale

Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale focuses on perceptions of consonance and dissonance, and how these are dependent on timbre. This also relates to musical scale: certain timbres sound more consonant in some scales than others. Sensory consonance and the ability to measure it have important implications for the design of audio devices and for musical theory and analysis. Applications include methods of adapting sounds for arbitrary scales, ways to specify scales for nonharmonic sounds, and techniques of sound manipulation based on maximizing (or minimizing) consonance. Special consideration is given here to a new method of adaptive tuning that can automatically adjust the tuning of a piece based its timbral character so as to minimize dissonance. Audio examples illustrating the ideas presented are provided on an accompanying CD. This unique analysis of sound and scale will be of interest to physicists and engineers working in acoustics, as well as to musicians and psychologists.

---

Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale focuses on perceptions of consonance and dissonance, and how these are dependent on timbre. This also relates to musical scale: certain timbres sound more consonant in some scales than others. Sensory consonance and the ability to measure it have important implications for the design of audio devices and for musical theory and analysis. Applications include methods of adapting sounds for arbitrary scales, ways to specify scales for nonharmonic sounds, and techniques of sound manipulation based on maximizing (or minimizing) consonance. Special consideration is given here to a new method of adaptive tuning that can automatically adjust the tuning of a piece based its timbral character so as to minimize dissonance. Audio examples illustrating the ideas presented are provided on an accompanying CD. This unique analysis of sound and scale will be of interest to physicists and engineers working in acoustics, as well as to musicians and psychologists.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xviii
The Octave is Dead… Long Live the Octave....Pages 1-9
The Science of Sound....Pages 11-47
Musical Scales....Pages 49-71
Consonance and Dissonance of Harmonic Sounds....Pages 73-88
Related Spectra and Scales....Pages 89-122
A Bell, A Rock, A Crystal....Pages 123-145
Adaptive Tunings....Pages 147-164
The Gamelan....Pages 165-187
Consonance-Based Musical Analysis....Pages 189-210
From Tuning to Spectrum....Pages 211-233
Spectral Mappings....Pages 235-257
A “Music Theory” for 10-tet....Pages 259-270
Speculation, Correlation, Interpretation, Conclusion....Pages 271-279
Back Matter....Pages 281-345

---

Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale focuses on perceptions of consonance and dissonance, and how these are dependent on timbre. This also relates to musical scale: certain timbres sound more consonant in some scales than others. Sensory consonance and the ability to measure it have important implications for the design of audio devices and for musical theory and analysis. Applications include methods of adapting sounds for arbitrary scales, ways to specify scales for nonharmonic sounds, and techniques of sound manipulation based on maximizing (or minimizing) consonance. Special consideration is given here to a new method of adaptive tuning that can automatically adjust the tuning of a piece based its timbral character so as to minimize dissonance. Audio examples illustrating the ideas presented are provided on an accompanying CD. This unique analysis of sound and scale will be of interest to physicists and engineers working in acoustics, as well as to musicians and psychologists.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xviii
The Octave is Dead… Long Live the Octave....Pages 1-9
The Science of Sound....Pages 11-47
Musical Scales....Pages 49-71
Consonance and Dissonance of Harmonic Sounds....Pages 73-88
Related Spectra and Scales....Pages 89-122
A Bell, A Rock, A Crystal....Pages 123-145
Adaptive Tunings....Pages 147-164
The Gamelan....Pages 165-187
Consonance-Based Musical Analysis....Pages 189-210
From Tuning to Spectrum....Pages 211-233
Spectral Mappings....Pages 235-257
A “Music Theory” for 10-tet....Pages 259-270
Speculation, Correlation, Interpretation, Conclusion....Pages 271-279
Back Matter....Pages 281-345
....