5d ago

Let me just tune up real quick

21 comments

AI always does this shit.
"Do X thing"
"I don't think that sounds like a good idea"
"You're right! Don't do X thing. Do Y thing instead"
- it's so fucking defeatist, but then again the alternative is the ai clowning me, which I actually experienced, NOT FUN EITHER.
  
  Oh like when it just doubles, triples, and quadruples down? That is some of the funniest shit.

For context, bass guitar strings are tuned 3 octaves lower than that. The frequency of the A string is 55 Hz. You can't even reach 220 Hz using the 12th fret on the highest (G) string. Tuning a bass A string to 8 times the frequency would require increasing its tension ~~almost 3 times~~ 64 times. The guitar body ~~should~~ will not survive such forces but the string will snap long before you reach 110 Hz.
Edit: got the quadratic formula the other way around
You can do the experiment on a non-bass guitar: "shorten" the high E string (330 Hz) by 5 frets to reach close to 440 Hz. It's a chromatic scale and not a perfect fifth (error of +0.02 semitones) but that can be corrected without damage by holding the 5th fret and tuning the string to exactly 440 Hz. This shorter string will then react to the tuning fork as intended.
- Or you can just use harmonics.
  
  I think that would make a standing wave with a series of nodes/antinodes on the string, and how well it works would strongly depend on where the tuning fork is along the string. This has the potential to be more interesting but it's not as easy. See my other comment for a table at which frequencies a standing wave occurs on the A1 string.

Yeah, you can’t tune your bass’s A string to a 440 Hz A. Lol

With that being said, the phenomenon the meme is referencing is called sympathetic resonance. It is not limited to matching intervals, but will resonate sympathetically at any frequency in the material’s harmonic scale. Any A will make any well-tuned A string resonate (or C#, D, E, or flat B/sharp Bb…), it just may be very low amplitude.

As Frozengyro@lemmy.world mentioned, you can have interesting results by using harmonics - tones that are a whole (k) multiple of the base frequency because then the string vibrates in a standing wave forming a series of k+1 nodes (including ends) and k antinodes equally spaced across its length. Such notes are:

Closest note	Freq.	Harm.	Relation to A
A1	55 Hz	base	(aka fundamental or open string frequency)
A2	110 Hz	2nd	octave above A1
E3 + 2 cents	165 Hz	3rd	perfect fifth from A2
A3	220 Hz	4th	octave above A2
C#4 - 14 cents	275 Hz	5th	major third from A3
E4 + 2 cents	330 Hz	6th	perfect fifth from A3
G4 - 31 cents	385 Hz	7th	far from a note on the chromatic scale
A4	440 Hz	8th	octave above A3
B4 + 4 cents	495 Hz	9th	major second from A4
C#5 - 14 cents	550 Hz	10th	major third from A4
D#5 - 49 cents	605 Hz	11th	very far from a note on the chromatic scale
E5 + 2 cents	660 Hz	12th	perfect fifth from A4
F5 + 41 cents	715 Hz	13th	very far from a note on the chromatic scale
G5 - 31 cents	770 Hz	14th	far from a note on the chromatic scale
G#5 - 12 cents	825 Hz	15th	minor second below A5
A5	880 Hz	16th	octave above A4

Frequencies and relations are exact, closest chromatic (piano) notes other than A are approximate, the deviation is expressed in whole cents (hundreths of semitones). Notes more than 20 cents off the chromatic scale will probably sound off so they are discouraged. You could continue forever but frequencies above that will have a very weak response.

Yes, you will get some resonance on non-integer multiples but way less.

Tbf they meant relative to the Stuttgart pitch. Humans would also refer to an orchestra tuning to concert pitch "A440."
- I don't think the AI meant anything.
  
  "They" being the sources that the AI ingested to produce this output. AI is a word association machine, not a research tool. If people ("they") call "tuning relative to A4=440Hz" "tune A to 440" AI will repeat it.
  I'm just saying, while the OP is technically correct, one wouldn't apply the same requirements on conversation with a human, which AI is built on.
- Y'know, you're definitely right. But if Copilot were really useful it could have explained that.
- I understand your point, but isn’t an orchestra ACTUALLY tuned to 440 (or 442 sometimes), because it’s usually a violin or oboe they’re tuning from? Like yeah, my bass isn’t going to be at 440, but the pitch I’m listening to while tuning is 440.
  
  You're right. Orchestras often tune to the oboe, because it can't easily be tuned and usually stays in tune in conditions that would make other instruments go out of tune.

21 comments