15 October 2026 · Built with Claude
Beats
Two bowed notes, both A, played without vibrato. One slider pulls the second slightly out of tune. A little out, and the pair starts to pulse. Further out, the pulse becomes a buzz. Further still, you hear two notes. Find the point where it feels most alive.
One note.
The bowing is phrased: four strokes at a time, swelling in the middle.
Notes
This is how a cellist tunes a stopped A against the open A string: play both with no vibrato and listen. If they beat, they don't match, and the beats slow down as you get closer. When they stop, you're in tune. Here the slider moves you the other way, away from unison.
The vibrato has to stop for this. Vibrato swings the pitch by several cents, five or six times a second, which is about the size of the gaps you're listening for, so it hides the beats. That's why cellists tune with a still left hand, and why the two players here use no vibrato at all.
The beating is the difference between the two frequencies. At A3 (220 Hz), ten cents out gives just over one beat a second. That's slow enough to tap to. Between about one and four beats a second, the pulse sits at a tempo you could walk or dance to. Above about twelve it turns into roughness. Further out, the ear stops hearing one note that wobbles and hears two notes.
Part of V, Beats, from a series on the near-miss: notes close enough to lock together, but different enough to pulse. The sound is synthesised from two bowed-string tones, not recorded. The upper harmonics beat faster than the fundamental, which is why the pulse has a shimmer on top.