This page uses the Mozilla Audio Data API, present in Firefox 4.0 beta 6 and later. As of this writing (6 Dec 2010) it won't work in other browsers :-(
The ratios between the different pitches that we use in western music is a carefully-worked-out compromise between a number of factors. This has left us in a situation where some chords can actually sound very slightly nicer when they're a tiny bit "out of tune". Try playing the ones below and see what you think. I've done three options, which are basically the same chords — adjusted and unadjusted — in three different octaves. I won't say which ones are meant to sound better.
Be warned — you may have to listen very hard to hear any difference at all, especially if you're somewhere noisy.
| Low-pitched version: | ||
| Medium-pitched version: | ||
| High-pitched version: |
If you'd like to say which chords you thought sounded best, leave a comment on this blog post.
Based on this Firefox Audio Data API demo. Inspiration from this synthesizer 101 post, and, of course, Wikipedia.
<< Back to Audio Experiments index