Why a flute and a clarinet sound different on the same note: harmonics and timbre
30seconds
Play the same note on a flute and a clarinet, at the same pitch and loudness, and you can still tell them apart at once. That difference is called timbre, and a big part of it is a recipe: every steady note is a stack of pure tones called harmonics, and each instrument mixes them in different strengths.
Drag twelve bars to mix your own recipe, watch the wave change shape, and hear the result. Keep only the odd harmonics and a hollow, clarinet-like sound appears. Add them all and it turns bright and buzzy.
Deep dive · 4 min
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