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Scientific pitch, also known as philosophical pitch, Sauveur pitch or Verdi tuning, is an absolute concert pitch standard which is based on middle C (C 4) being set to 256 Hz rather than ~ 261.63 Hz, [a] making it ~ 31.77 cents lower than the common A440 pitch standard.
A440 (also known as Stuttgart pitch [1]) is the musical pitch corresponding to an audio frequency of 440 Hz, which serves as a tuning standard for the musical note of A above middle C, or A 4 in scientific pitch notation. It is standardized by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 16.
The initial standard was A = 439 Hz ⓘ, but this was superseded by A = 440 Hz, possibly because 439 Hz was difficult to reproduce in a laboratory since 439 is a prime number. [22] In 1964, of 31 top professional U.S. orchestras, 19 were tuning at 440, the others at 441 or 442. [23]
Traditionally in Western music, a musical tone is a steady periodic sound. A musical tone is characterized by its duration, pitch, intensity (or loudness), and timbre (or quality). [1] The notes used in music can be more complex than musical tones, as they may include aperiodic aspects, such as attack transients, vibrato, and envelope modulation.
For instance, 660 Hz / 440 Hz (a ratio of 3:2) constitutes a fifth, and 880 Hz / 440 Hz (2:1) an octave. Such intervals (termed "just") have a stability, or purity to their sound, when played simultaneously (assuming they are played using timbres with harmonic partials) because pure intervals do not waver or beat regularly.
Musical sound can be more complicated than human vocal sound, occupying a wider band of frequency. Music signals are time-varying signals; while the classic Fourier transform is not sufficient to analyze them, time–frequency analysis is an efficient tool for such use. Time–frequency analysis is extended from the classic Fourier approach.
When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of the F ♯ above middle C (or F ♯ 4) is approximately 369.994Hz. [1] See pitch (music) for a discussion of historical variations in frequency.
D [1] is a musical note a whole tone above C, and is known as Re within the fixed-Do solfege system. Its enharmonic equivalents are C (C-double sharp) and E (E-double flat). It is the third semitone of the solfège.