Comments on: How can the presence or absence of beats help musicians in an orchestra tune their instruments? http://www.beatswagger.net/how-can-the-presence-or-absence-of-beats-help-musicians-in-an-orchestra-tune-their-instruments/ Tue, 22 May 2012 12:36:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: eyeonthescreen http://www.beatswagger.net/how-can-the-presence-or-absence-of-beats-help-musicians-in-an-orchestra-tune-their-instruments/comment-page-1/#comment-12092 eyeonthescreen Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:44:49 +0000 #comment-12092 Beats stem from frequency differences. Compression waves, like musical notes, superpose on each other to give a resulting wave; as in f = f1 + f2; where f is the resulting wave frequency and f1 and f2 are two frequencies played by instruments 1 and 2. The beats you hear are the frequency of the resulting wave f. When f1 <> f2, you will hear the beats because f1 - f2 = f <> 0. But when f1 = f2, you will not because f1 - f2 = 0 = f. BTW: Beats are also used to sync two aircraft engine rpms. If the two propeller driven engines are in sync, there will be no beats because the rotation frequencies are equal. [See source.] Beats stem from frequency differences.

Compression waves, like musical notes, superpose on each other to give a resulting wave; as in f = f1 + f2; where f is the resulting wave frequency and f1 and f2 are two frequencies played by instruments 1 and 2. The beats you hear are the frequency of the resulting wave f.

When f1 <> f2, you will hear the beats because f1 - f2 = f <> 0. But when f1 = f2, you will not because f1 - f2 = 0 = f.

BTW: Beats are also used to sync two aircraft engine rpms. If the two propeller driven engines are in sync, there will be no beats because the rotation frequencies are equal. [See source.]

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