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FREQOUT Notes? — Parallax Forums

FREQOUT Notes?

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2002-05-02 21:22 in General Discussion
I have a student making a BS2 project with the freqout command.
Her Beethoven's 5th project needs more notes than are illustrated
in the FREQOUT explanation in the BS2 command referrence.

We need to find the values for the notes, A,F, and B. Has
someone figured those out? We're using the command as follows

FREQOUT 12,255,note,note-8

Paul

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-02 17:11
    I'm not very musical (years of childhood piano lessons not
    withstanding).
    However, look at http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html

    Al Williams
    AWC
    * 8 channels of PWM
    http://www.al-williams.com/awce/pak5.htm



    >
    Original Message
    > From: verhap@o... [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=EStjzeX-4p0Gc8_Bhz05tV7_Br15uYdzT5LUnggPYTyq8_C90QRB_cCDzedVas1fB5ktwuf6LZn2UP_rMU_S860]verhap@o...[/url
    > Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 11:39 AM
    > To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    > Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] FREQOUT Notes?
    >
    >
    > I have a student making a BS2 project with the freqout command.
    > Her Beethoven's 5th project needs more notes than are illustrated
    > in the FREQOUT explanation in the BS2 command referrence.
    >
    > We need to find the values for the notes, A,F, and B. Has
    > someone figured those out? We're using the command as follows
    >
    > FREQOUT 12,255,note,note-8
    >
    > Paul
    >
    >
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  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-02 17:13
    >I have a student making a BS2 project with the freqout command.
    >Her Beethoven's 5th project needs more notes than are illustrated
    >in the FREQOUT explanation in the BS2 command referrence.
    >We need to find the values for the notes, A,F, and B. Has
    >someone figured those out? We're using the command as follows
    > FREQOUT 12,255,note,note-8
    >Paul

    Hi Paul and student,

    One way to calculate the frequencies of the 12 tone chromatic scale
    is to use the powers of the number,
    Z=1.059463
    which is the twelfth root of 2. For example start at A440 on the
    musical scale. C523 is 3 steps above that, and sure enough
    440*Z*Z*Z = 523.28628
    Of course, the twelfth power is the octave
    440*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z = 880

    B is two steps
    440*Z*Z=494
    F above A440 is 8 steps
    440*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z = ??
    or, F below A440 is 4 steps down, which can be found by dividing by Z
    440/Z/Z/Z/Z = ??

    I have a blurb on how to make musical scales on the stamp using math
    posted at..

    http://www.emesystems.com/BS2math1.htm#musical

    The point there is an illustration of how to multiply times numbers
    like Z=1.059463.

    -- regards,
    Tracy Allen
    electronically monitored ecosystems
    mailto:tracy@e...
    http://www.emesystems.com
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-02 17:33
    On Thu, 02 May 2002 09:13:48 -0700, Tracy Allen wrote:

    >>I have a student making a BS2 project with the freqout command.
    >>Her Beethoven's 5th project needs more notes than are illustrated
    >>in the FREQOUT explanation in the BS2 command referrence.
    >>We need to find the values for the notes, A,F, and B. Has
    >>someone figured those out? We're using the command as follows
    >> FREQOUT 12,255,note,note-8
    >>Paul
    >
    >Hi Paul and student,
    >
    >One way to calculate the frequencies of the 12 tone chromatic scale
    >is to use the powers of the number,
    > Z=1.059463
    >which is the twelfth root of 2. For example start at A440 on the
    >musical scale. C523 is 3 steps above that, and sure enough
    > 440*Z*Z*Z = 523.28628
    >Of course, the twelfth power is the octave
    > 440*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z = 880
    >
    >B is two steps
    > 440*Z*Z=494
    >F above A440 is 8 steps
    > 440*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z = ??
    >or, F below A440 is 4 steps down, which can be found by dividing by Z
    > 440/Z/Z/Z/Z = ??

    This is equal tempered tuning. Is this really suitable for
    Beethoven's 5th, or should some well tempered or mean tempered tuning
    be used instead?
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-02 17:45
    > This is equal tempered tuning. Is this really suitable for
    > Beethoven's 5th, or should some well tempered or mean tempered tuning
    > be used instead?

    I'm an electronics teacher, not a music teacher!!!
    [noparse];)[/noparse]

    We're were pulling the notes off of a piece of sheet music and
    that's the notes they had.

    Paul
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-02 21:22
    > > This is equal tempered tuning. Is this really suitable for
    >> Beethoven's 5th, or should some well tempered or mean tempered tuning
    > > be used instead?


    >I'm an electronics teacher, not a music teacher!!! [noparse];)[/noparse]




    I just learned something about temperament (that it is spelled with
    an "a"), and that well tempered is not the same as equal tempered. I
    guess other people are confused about it too--I am strictly an
    amateur musician, and I probably wouldn't be conscious of the slight
    differences in the tunings.

    If your wants, they could use the stamp to explore peoples' acuity as
    a listeners?!

    Here are a couple of links that go into the insanely convoluted
    history, math, physics and aesthetics of the musical scale.
    http://www.jimloy.com/physics/scale.htm
    http://www.rdrop.com/users/tblackb/music/temperament/stoess.htm
    A google search turns up oodles of links.


    -- best regards
    Tracy Allen
    electronically monitored ecosystems
    http://www.emesystems.com
    mailto:tracy@e...
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