Topic: Octobasse.

I didn't knew this instrument existed :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12X-i9YHzmE

Here ( 01:48) he says the lowest note it's bellows human hearing capability, but then he played a sequence of very deep bass notes, one lower than the other, and I could hear all.
I supose that, unless he didn't played the lowest note, I didn't heard the fundamental of that note. Is that supposition right?

Last edited by Beto-Music (03-05-2020 22:49)

Re: Octobasse.

Humans can hear much lower frequencies than usually discussed.  It's not so much a matter of not being able to hear low Hz sounds as a matter of them not be distinct or musical.  You are correct that you are hearing more overtones than fundamentals on most computer speaker systems.  My system is only reliable down to 50-60Hz, but I too could hear "something" from each note, but some note were much quieter because their fundamentals weren't being played back correctly.  Humans can hear and feel notes of sufficient volume down to at least 10Hz, but as you can start to count the cycles per second, pitch perception becomes nearly impossible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasoun..._reactions

Last edited by tmyoung (04-05-2020 12:26)
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Re: Octobasse.

There are hearing tests on youtube, to check hearing range.
I got scared at first, in the test for bass, I could not hear even 70Hz, and a health humans was supposed to hear 20Hz or less. Then I found it was not my ears but my speaker. With a cheap headphne I heard even 16Hz. But for high frequency the cheap headphone was not very good compared to the speaker.

It's funny how some thermometer manufacturers use a very high frequency, for the alarm to warn it's time to remover the thermometer, that many old people can't listen. Old people get ill easier, like get flu, and would use more often the thermometer than young people. How "smart" this industry is...

tmyoung wrote:

Humans can hear much lower frequencies than usually discussed.  It's not so much a matter of not being able to hear low Hz sounds as a matter of them not be distinct or musical.  You are correct that you are hearing more overtones than fundamentals on most computer speaker systems.  My system is only reliable down to 50-60Hz, but I too could hear "something" from each note, but some note were much quieter because their fundamentals weren't being played back correctly.  Humans can hear and feel notes of sufficient volume down to at least 10Hz, but as you can start to count the cycles per second, pitch perception becomes nearly impossible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasoun..._reactions

Last edited by Beto-Music (04-05-2020 18:47)

Re: Octobasse.

Beto-Music wrote:

I didn't knew this instrument existed :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12X-i9YHzmE

Here ( 01:48) he says the lowest note it's bellows human hearing capability, but then he played a sequence of very deep bass notes, one lower than the other, and I could hear all.
I supose that, unless he didn't played the lowest note, I didn't heard the fundamental of that note. Is that supposition right?

Right, you can't hear the fundamental (the lowest note frequency is 16 hertz) but you can see it vibrating.

Re: Octobasse.

Berlioz would be happy: The OSM (Montreal Symphony Orchestra) now has 3 of them:
https://www.ludwig-van.com/montreal/202...nt-a-losm/

Re: Octobasse.

Correction, I heard at 19Hz in one test and not at 16hz as I said.

Re: Octobasse.

this is an awesome instrument.  i can't wait for the hexadecabasse.  but maybe they can only be used in performances for humpback whales or something.