--- Dr Strange wrote:
> Hi, I was trying to find a music expert to ask a
> question of, I'm working on a sort of personal 'back
> yard' experiment, and it seems there is a musical
> component to it. I'm relatively
> ignorant to music theory (not completely) but much
> of it is Greek to me. I saw your name on the net as
> an expert and hoped to ask you a question. You don't
> know me and if you are
> too busy, no problem. I'm working on something that
> I think might really help people a lot
> and maybe even make a bit of a difference in the
> world, I dont say this to 'guilt' you into providing
> me advice, only to make my intentions clear. I also
> can't as yet fully describe what it is I'm actually
> working on, all I can do is describe a part of a
> process to you and hope you can fill in some blanks
> for me. Thats it, thats all Im seeking. I'm not a
> wacko who will try and con you with some sort of
> 'Nigerian' bank transfer spam weirdness. I'm just
> trying to find someone
> who's a lot smarter in music theory than me to offer
> me a bit of advice - thats it.
>
> So, if you feel free to offer your insight, here is
> the first part;
>
> I have a 'process', a sort of mechanism in place,
> when it runs it spits out what appears to be musical
> chords, however these chords are not always what
> might (from what I understand so far) be considered
> proper or normally harmonious musical chords to the
> western ear - although sometimes they are. Each
> chord will have two to three notes, usually three.
>
> What I need to be able to do is understand what
> makes one chord harmonious to another, so;
>
> I found the following formula for consonace, it
> seems incredibly simple, allowing anyone to check a
> chord immediately for consonance, I have included it
> below with the associated reference table and url -
> however, I don't "get" the third column. Where are
> they getting the freq ratio values from? How is the
> third column derived from the first? My music
> theory is elementary, just learning. They say
> "repeat period for the major chord is 4 times the
> period of the lowest note in the chord", what is the
> 'period' of the lowest note in the chord? Its freq
> in hertz? The below taken from the website;
>
> =====================================
> http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/chords.html
> "What makes a chord sound consonant or dissonant
> depends upon human physiology and psychology. One
> "rule" is based on work by Helmholtz and relies on
> "overlapping harmonics." A nice explanation is
> contained in the article by Jan Wild listed below.
> Basically, for each pair of notes in the chord, find
> the lowest harmonics which match. If it is the 8th
> or less in every case, the chord is consonant. For
> example, the major triad has frequency radios of
> 4:5:6. The harmonics of the lowest note are then 4,
> 8, 16, 20, 24, etc. and the harmonics of the second
> are 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc. The fifth of the lower
> matches with the fourth of the upper so this
> interval should be consonant. (i.e. they are both
> less than the 9th harmonic). One gets a similar
> result for 4 and 6, and 5 and 6. Hence, the entire
> major triad is consonant. "
>
> ChordHalf Steps between notesFreq.
>
RatiosMajor4-34:5:6Minor3-410:12:15Diminished3-3160:192:231
> (approx. 20:24:29)7th4-3-320:25:30:36Min.
> 7th3-4-310:12:15:18Maj. 7th4-3-48:10:12:15
> The fundamental beat frequency associated with a
> chord can be determined by looking at the repeat
> period - that is, for the frequency ratios given
> above (which are reduced to the lowest possible
> integer values), the repeat period for the major
> chord is 4 times the period of the lowest note in
> the chord. For the 7th, it is 20 times that of the
> lowest note. Since f = 1/T, the fundamental beat
> frequency for the major chord is 1/4th the frequency
> of the lowest note, and for the 7th, it is 1/20th
> the frequency of the lowest note. If you listen
> carefully, you can hear the beat frequency as an
> additional unplayed note. "
> ====================
> So using this formula, what frequency ratios would
> be associated with the following chords, and how
> would they be derived? I realize that some of these
> may not seem like normal chords,
> but if you could stretch the rules and 'make' it
> work for each, what would these ratios be?
> (f - in the below means flat). The most important
> thing I need to know, in as simple English, and as
> simple an explanation as possible, is HOW are the
> frequency ratios derived? I just don't get
> this......
>
> Bf+C+G
> F+D+Df2
> D+E+F
> Bf + D + B
> G + Ef + C
> Bf + Df + Df
> E + D + F
>
>
> Thanks for any help you may provide....
>
>
> D
can anyone explain to the general public what he is talking about? Please?
cheers!!!
the mark
but hmmmmm... cge, in my free time i'll read your post again ang break it down slowly. this is serious man! 
Microtonal intervals are difficult but interesting. 
