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For example, the frequency one octave above 40 Hz is 80 Hz. The term is derived from the Western musical scale where an octave is a doubling in frequency. [note 1] Specification in terms of octaves is therefore common in audio electronics. Along with the decade, it is a unit used to describe frequency bands or frequency ratios. [1] [2]
An octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double or half its frequency. For example, if one note has a frequency of 440 Hz, the note one octave above is at 880 Hz, and the note one octave below is at 220 Hz. The ratio of frequencies of two notes an octave apart is therefore 2:1.
A jump from the lowest semitone to the highest semitone in one octave doubles the frequency (for example, the fifth A is 440 Hz and the sixth A is 880 Hz). The frequency of a pitch is derived by multiplying (ascending) or dividing (descending) the frequency of the previous pitch by the twelfth root of two (approximately 1.059463).
An octave band is a frequency band that spans one octave (Play ⓘ).In this context an octave can be a factor of 2 [1] [full citation needed] or a factor of 10 0.301. [2] [full citation needed] [3] [full citation needed] An octave of 1200 cents in musical pitch (a logarithmic unit) corresponds to a frequency ratio of 2 / 1 ≈ 10 0.301.
For example, a perfect fifth, say 200 and 300 Hz (cycles per second), causes a listener to perceive a combination tone of 100 Hz (the difference between 300 Hz and 200 Hz); that is, an octave below the lower (actual sounding) note. This 100 Hz first-order combination tone then interacts with both notes of the interval to produce second-order ...
For example, using harmonic timbres: A tone caused by a vibration twice the frequency of another (the ratio of 1:2) forms the natural sounding octave. A tone caused by a vibration three times the frequency of another (the ratio of 1:3) forms the natural sounding perfect twelfth, or perfect fifth (ratio of 2:3) when octave-reduced.
The thirteenth tone would then be the same as the first, and the cycle could continue indefinitely. (In other words, each tone consists of two sine waves with frequencies separated by octaves; the intensity of each is e.g. a raised cosine function of its separation in semitones from a peak frequency, which in the above example would be B 4 ...
Examples of these "other" instruments are xylophones, drums, bells, chimes, etc.; not all of their overtone frequencies make a simple whole number ratio with the fundamental frequency. (The fundamental frequency is the reciprocal of the longest time period of the collection of vibrations in some single periodic phenomenon. [10])