Since the invention of the semiconductor-based transistor, designers have been putting in great efforts to create electronic musical instruments. Though such instruments may not be able to completely ...

When two notes are an octave apart, one has double the frequency of the other yet we perceive them as being the same note – a “C” for example. Why is this? Readers give their take This question has a ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - In music, "portamento" is a term that's been used for hundreds of years, referring to the effect of gliding a note at one pitch into a note of a lower or higher pitch. But only ...

Both light and sound travel as waves, with characteristics that allow people with typical vision and hearing to perceive and categorize them when they reach their eyes and ears: “That’s a small red ...

Notes with frequencies that are in simple whole-number ratios, like 1:2, 2:3 or 4:5, sound good when played together. This is the basis of musical harmony. After unison (1:1) and the octave (2:1), the ...