3 ms·

For sure. It still doesn't explain why the octave is the specific point where the cycle of pitch perception repeats. The perfect fifth is very consonant, for su

• kazinator 8y ago
  Note that there is no harmonic that is a perfect fifth above the fundamental; the first harmonic is the octave. So if cycles of perception have to be based on harmonics (multiples of frequencies), the next plausible one after octaves (2f) would be based on the perfect 12 (3f), rather than the 5th (3f/2). The 4f based cycle is really just octaves again, except we're skipping every other octave. It gets too distant after that. Maybe the 3f progression does contain a cycle of pitch perception; I will try giving that a listen.
  • kazinator 8y ago
    I tried this! Eerily, I'm able to convince my ear/brain that this 12th interval is an octave-like relationship; that the two notes have a sameness (that I don't perceive in the case of the perfect fifth that we normally consider enharmonic with the 12th, giving it the same letter name). Come to think of it, a lot of western harmony is based on a two-octave "gamut". Like for instance alterations to chords such as dominants take place close to this "3f octave" (dodecade?) 12th interval, like the like 11th, 13th. The usual explanation is that if these alterations are in the higher octave, it prevents certain dissonances. But from the "3f octave" view, we can just regard them as different notes; that the 13th is not simply the 6th, only one octave higher, but rather an "augmented dodecave" interval.