Welcome • User Guide
ToS • Privacy • Canary
Donate • Bugs • License

©2025 Poal.co

1.3K

Middle C is 261.63 Hz. The next half-step up (C#) is 277.183 Hz.

Why are these notes, while a tone at, say, 265 Hz, is not? Or what about 269.1488 Hz -- nearly absolute middle of the two?

Why do we recognize certain frequencies as notes?

Middle C is 261.63 Hz. The next half-step up (C#) is 277.183 Hz. Why are these notes, while a tone at, say, 265 Hz, is not? Or what about 269.1488 Hz -- nearly absolute middle of the two? Why do we recognize certain frequencies as notes?

(post is archived)

You are currently inside a comment thread.
Click here to see all the comments (29).
[–] • 1 pt (edited )

Octaves are double the frequency of the previous octave.

High notes actually contain a slight version of all the following octaves’ notes when they are played.

So that’s how the notes work when they jump octaves. The rest of the notes I’m guessing are evenly spaced between the two octaves of A at 440 hz and 880 hz?

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

evenly spaced

Well, not linearly, but by a factor of the twelfth root of 2 (i.e. 21/12)