Fun fact: the reason you hear distortion applied to stringed instruments like a guitar, but not wind instruments like a flute, is because of the harmonics invol

Fun fact: the reason you hear distortion applied to stringed instruments like a guitar, but not wind instruments like a flute, is because of the harmonics involved. Overdriving a signal generates a chain of overtones related to whatever the fundamental is- 3rd, 4th, 5th harmonic, etc. But if you play two unrelated notes and then overdrive the signal you get weird extra frequencies related to the sum and difference of the two notes. Now with a stringed instrument, the natural harmonics of a vibrating string are multiples of the original frequency (since a string is vibrating in one dimension only). So the artificial harmonics from the overdrive work together with the natural ones in a way that produces a pleasing sound. But with a two dimensional resonating surface like a bell or a three dimensional volume like a flute, there are all kinds of extra frequencies that aren't clean multiples of the fundamental. So when you overdrive that signal you get a splash of noisy frequencies that are not very musical. That's why you hear overdriven guitars, but not overdriven flutes. And, if they have discovered the trick of overdriving a musical signal on Proxima Centauri b, they are probably doing it on a stringed instrument. So, in summary: space rock and roll is a plausible thing.