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Everything about Inharmonicity
Musical term
In music, inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of overtones depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: InharmonicityA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Effect of inharmonicity on pitch perception and subjective tuning of piano tonesInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: Fundamentals of musical acousticsThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Thresholds for the detection of inharmonicity in complex tonesCited 122 times
- Go sideways: Piano acousticsA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Piano tuningA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun The quality or state of being not or less than totally harmonious
Noun The degree to which the frequencies of overtones (known as partial tones or harmonics) depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency.
🗂️ The subject at a glance
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Thresholds for the detection of inharmonicity in complex tones
Inharmonicity of Plain Wire Piano Strings
Neural Correlates of Auditory Scene Analysis Based on Inharmonicity in Monkey Primary Auditory Cortex
Concurrent sound segregation based on inharmonicity and onset asynchrony
Inharmonicity-Based Method for the Automatic Generation of Guitar Tablature
Audibility of the timbral effects of inharmonicity in stringed instrument tones
A parametric model and estimation techniques for the inharmonicity and tuning of the piano
Inharmonicity detection
🆕 Influential since 2022
Effect of inharmonicity on pitch perception and subjective tuning of piano tones
Inharmonicity in plucked guitar strings
Inharmonicity enhances brain signals of attentional capture and auditory stream segregation
Mistuning perception in music is asymmetric and relies on both beats and inharmonicity
Harmonic inharmonicity: Eliminating beats with quantized harmonics
📚 Books worth reading
Fundamentals of musical acousticsArthur H. Benade · 1976
The Keyboard Stringing GuideJean Louchet · 2010- 📕(In)harmònicsEnric Falguera Garcia · 2010
- 📕خارج آهنگموسوی، عبد الجواد · 2015
- 📕Warnings from Travelers in TimeDylan Clearfield · 2024
- 📕TF 65/2 duplex slide ruleLothar Thomma · 1980
Musical mathematicsCris Forster · 2010- 📕New directions in musicJoan S. Olive · 1978
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
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