Music In The Dimensions

[Jay]

In 1d I think the only possible instrument would be some sort of drum, which the musician would just bang itself into to produce sound.

In 2d, percussion would be available. But in addition I think they would be able to play intruments that required blowing.

In 3d, we have both these type of instruments. But in addition, we also have the ability to create and play stringed intruments. I think these can be created in 2d, although the bionian wouldn't be able to play it b/c he wouldn't be able to pluck it.

I wonder type of instrument would require 4 spatial dimensions. I bet a 4 dimensional band would sound awesome with this addition.

[sup2069]

I didnt think of sound.

Could we listen to a tetra band group? Or would our ears possibly not register 4d air waves?

[Keiji]

we could hear an instrument that requires 4-dimensions, but we can't use the instrument to make the sound ourselves.

[alkaline]

sounds are just longitudinal waves, so we could hear 4d sound just fine.

One thing tetronians could do that we couldn't is rub one realmic surface over another one. We can only rub lines and planes together. Rubbing of realmic surfaces could create some pretty complex sounds, i'm sure.

[Keiji]

sounds are just longitudinal waves, so we could hear 4d sound just fine.

agree

One thing tetronians could do that we couldn't is rub one realmic surface over another one. We can only rub lines and planes together.

agree

Rubbing of realmic surfaces could create some pretty complex sounds, i'm sure.

exactly why would it create complex sounds? rubbing lines together and rubbing planes together sound rather similar.

[alkaline]

the differential equations describing a vibrating surface at any particular point in time use more variables the higher the dimension. You can only create so many patterns of vibration with a string - you can create more with a plane, and yet more with a realm.

[Keiji]

i see - tetronians would be able to "pluck" planar "strings". wow, they could have a guitar made simply out of a plane!

[alkaline]

ahh yes, i just realized - we can pluck strings, and we can pluck the edges of planes. Tetronians can pluck both strings and planes, and the edges of realms.

Of course, if they had a guitar using sheets instead of strings, they would need more than just one if they're going to be able to produce all of the notes. So, maybe a 6-sheet guitar?

[Keiji]

No they wouldn't. If they plucked the plane in different places it would make different notes.

[alkaline]

the note that a string makes depends on its length, not where you pluck it. That's why when you're playing the guitar, you press down at different locations - this changes the length of the vibrating part of the string in order to make a different note. It would be the same with planes - you would pinch down at different places it order to make different notes when you plucked it.

[Keiji]

damn right, silly me

[RQ]

Although it is true that the different length of a string would produce a different note, it is also true of the position of the string, since sound would bounce off as echo and would be louder in a smaller place, also since the surroundings absorb sound that would add to how we hear the notes

[Jay]

Our trionian drums are played by hitting the circular top and making it vibrate a little up and down (a 3rd direction).

I think a tetronian drum would be interesting. I figure it would be played by hitting the spherical top and making it vibrate a little ana and kata (a fourth direction).

And a bionian drum would be played by hitting a linear top and making it vibrate up and down (a second diection).

I wonder if a 1d drum would even work? Sure, the unian could hit a point, but how would that point be connected to the rest of the drum, and still be able to vibrate? I know sound would dissapate more slowly, but a great deal would be absorbed by the musician, so that anyone behind would hear a small fraction of the sound.

[alkaline]

Although it is true that the different length of a string would produce a different note, it is also true of the position of the string, since sound would bounce off as echo and would be louder in a smaller place, also since the surroundings absorb sound that would add to how we hear the notes

That is true that it would sound "different" based on different positions, but the note itself is the same, it just has a different quality to it.

[alkaline]

I wonder if a 1d drum would even work? Sure, the unian could hit a point, but how would that point be connected to the rest of the drum, and still be able to vibrate? I know sound would dissapate more slowly, but a great deal would be absorbed by the musician, so that anyone behind would hear a small fraction of the sound.

In linespace, sound doesn't dissipate at all - it just follows a line. Whatever you strike in linespace travels away from you and doesn't come back, since it's not attached to anything - thus you can't have anything vibrate, and thus drums in linespace aren't possible.

[Geosphere]

Sound is a waveform, and technically 1d - a pattern of pressure and pause as perceived by the ear. Add amplitude for dynamics and it becomes 2d. "Music" in tetra terms would probably be a 3d perception, and anything we call "music" deemed stupidly primitive; if you heard a song that was 1 tone, but only changed volume, or a song that was one compressed volume, and only changed tone, either would be curiously interesting for 30 seconds and you would move on.

Tetra music would probably exist to us as something visibly perceptive, not audibly.

[alkaline]

amplitude is essentially the volume or energy of a waveform, and thus is also 1d. The higher the waveform goes, the higher the amplitude. The greater the extent of the vibration in 1d, the greater the amplitude. Sound is 1d in every dimension, and thus can be heard identically in every dimension. It is just easier to create complex sounds the higher the dimension you go.

[Geosphere]

I'm not saying it doesn't exist. I'm saying it becomes incosequential in how primitive it is to the inhabitants. 4d beings probably dont find a lot of fun in sound as we know it.

[alkaline]

i highly doubt that - we have a very complex set of sounds to work with. Sounds from planespace would even be interesting to us - they could create an instrument where they pound on different locations to make different notes, which would be different from just a single note over and over. The sounds wouldn't be as complex as some sounds we can make (like plucking strings), but still would be interesting to listen to.

[Geosphere]

That would be a xylophone.

But sound would be very different in planespace. Like reverb. The lack of dimension would cause a lot of pulsating in the sound due to the extremely high chance of peaks and nadirs lining up at specific intervals - after all, the sound has no way to "flesh out".

When we listened to planespace music, automatically our 3d listening environment would corrupt the composition of our 2d musician.

The translation won't be clear.

[alkaline]

sound would definitely echo a lot more, but it would still dissipate. What is a nadir by the way? a valley?

One way to listen to 2d music would be to create a microphone device that you would stick into planespace. A piece inside would vibrate and the vibration would be transmitted to realmspace, and we could then electronically amplify it to hear the sounds being produced.

[Geosphere]

Nadir is the opposite of a zentih - so yes, a valley.

Nope - we still can't hear it right. As soon as it hits our darned 3d air between the speaker and our ear, it is corrupted by our physics and reverb.

Technically (and grotesquelly) you would have to wire the speaker outs directly into your cochlea, skipping 3d transmission and going straight to neural interpretation.

[alkaline]

well, i'm talking about "electronic perception" right there within planespace, so that our 3d physics doesn't actually do anything to the 2d sound before it is recorded. After recording, it is transmitting without modification as a digital signal. I am assuming a perfect noiseless 3d environment with the 3d speaker transmitting the 2d sounds to us, so that they wouldn't be modified before they reached our ear.

[Geosphere]

I still wouldnt think we'd find it entertaining.

After all, they all sing flat!

[Jay]

I don't think the 2d music hitting our ear would change it at all. I don't think pitches and tones change when moving into the dimension up, the volume just dissapates quicker.

[Geosphere]

Sure it changes. Sound here scatters. We have 'dead zones' and 'sweet spots' in any given listening area. Timbre would shift radically as soon as the sound radiated in a conical rather than linear fashion and encountered various sound changing realmspace artifacts - not the least of which being hydrogen.

[Jay]

Well, maybe the 2 sound wouldn't scatter. Maybe it would continue to travel along the confines of a plane, even though itwasn't confined anymore. It would take other sounds coming from left and right to change its path and make it go all wacky.

I was basing this on the law of inertia. Unless that only applies to mass. But I thought energy was mass in a different form. I'm so confused.

[Geosphere]

The concept you are refering to is a Maser (sounds like laser) - polarized sound. No one has been able to generate a stable 'maser beam' yet. Unfortunately, it would only exist in a vaccuum, since sound is so easily scattered and screwed with.

[alkaline]

If you are playing music out of a single speaker and the speaker is standing out in a field, it doesn't change except for volume when you move around. Sure, we may percieve the sound differently than bionians, but it would still be internally consistent - you hear what comes out of the speaker. Deadspots are from two speakers playing the same thing, and at that spot there is destructive interference. Sweet spots are constructive interference. Both are from two sound sources though (two speakers, or a speaker and a wall reflecting the sound). The quality of the sound is unchanged - only the volume changes.

[Geosphere]

I disagree.

The way that sound wave reverbrates off of the ground surface itself, as well as the absorbing properties as well as the smoothness of the ground will most definitely alter and degrade the sound as you perceive it.

So will humidity, temperature, air pressure, wind, and whether or not one of the Backstreet Boys is involved.