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Use of the term overtone is generally confined to acoustic wave s, especially in applications related to music. Despite confused usage, an overtone is either a harmonic or a partial. A harmonic is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. A partial or inharmonic overtone is a non-integer multiple of a fundamental frequency.

An example of harmonic overtones:

Unlike harmonics, overtones are not necessarily exact multiples of the fundamental frequency. Not all musical instruments have overtones that match their harmonics, as described earlier in this note. The sharpness or flatness of their overtones is one of the elements that contributes to their sound; this also has the effect of making their waveforms not perfectly periodic.

Since the harmonic series is an arithmetic series (1f, 2f, 3f, 4f...), and the octave, or octave series, is a geometric series (f, 2×f, 2×2×f, 2×2×2×f...), this causes the overtone series to divide the octave into increasingly smaller parts as it ascends.

The overtones of a sound determine its sound quality or timbre and its spectra.

Contrast with fundamental.

See also

• harmonic series (music)This article is about the harmonic series in music theory. See harmonic series (mathematics) for the related mathematical concept. Pitched musical instruments are usually based on some sort of harmonic oscillator, for example a string or a column of air,
• just intonationJust intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by whole number ratios. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval . Another way of considering just intonation is as being based on members of the harmonic
• xenharmonicXenharmonic is fairly recent broad musical term used to refer to tuning systems or music using those systems not using the common twelve-tone equal temperament. It is also used more generally to refer to all microtonal music. The term was invented by Ivor
• stretched octave

Source: originally from Federal Standard 1037CFederal Standard 1037C entitled Telecommunications: Glossary of Telecommunication Terms is a U. Federal Standard, issued by the General Services Administration pursuant to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended. This docu, but edited.

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Topics: Overtone Harmonic Series Overtones Frequency Fundamental Octave...

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OvertoneAn overtone is a sinusoidal component of a waveform, of greater frequency than its fundamental frequency. Usually the first overtone is the second harmonic, the second overtone is the third harmonic, etc. Use of the term overtone is generally confined to