Sound is a wonderful thin and there would be no music with it vibrating at a constant number of cycles per second. A strange guy named Moog, invented a synthesiser on which you could alter the pitch and length of any note from it's normal frequency.
I can remember my first computer which was a Sinclair Spectrum. It had a beep on it and you could play around and alter the pitch and length of time for notes, just like a hugely expensive synthesiser. I also remember the first ATM in my area and it sounded beep beep on each number. So I got out the Spectrum and played with it to see if I could replicate the ATM beeps and I did.! There are 8 notes and 4 half notes in the C to C chromatic scale giving 12 possibilities or the numbers 1 to 10 and yes or no. By shortening the notes and increasing the pitch I discovered that the ATM is 2.5 octaves higher and the speed of the beep is 0.25. Strange that after all these years the machines are still the same.
Another handy musical tip is how to tune your guitar after you have put on a new full set of strings. If you pick up your phone and dial an unobtainable number, then the beeeeeeeep that you hear is a perfect G. You can then tune from there.
The phone system works on sound, too, the same way as the ATM does. Each number is a musical note or half note from 1 to zero. You can hear it when you listen to the auto dial, especially on a hands free phone. Each number has a slightly different sound but each beep is the same speed. A really naughty person could buy a small recorder/dictaphone and set up numbers on a speed dial. record the sounds, while it beeps and hang up.The get a dial tone and playback. This ,of course, is fraud and should not be done. But how would the phone company know as no record is available. This black art was called phone phreaking, in America, where kids would dial up perfect strangers, to have a chat with them, for free!! It only works on digital exchanges, which America had years before the Uk. I am sure that this is why phone companies are now offering unlimited local calls, for an hour each, at a set rate. You must hang up, after 59 minutes, or you get charged for the lot!!
Sound is a wonderful thing and can be both pleasant and extremely harsh to the ear. Beep beep. By the way, the Spectrum was the only computer to have that feature.
I can remember my first computer which was a Sinclair Spectrum. It had a beep on it and you could play around and alter the pitch and length of time for notes, just like a hugely expensive synthesiser. I also remember the first ATM in my area and it sounded beep beep on each number. So I got out the Spectrum and played with it to see if I could replicate the ATM beeps and I did.! There are 8 notes and 4 half notes in the C to C chromatic scale giving 12 possibilities or the numbers 1 to 10 and yes or no. By shortening the notes and increasing the pitch I discovered that the ATM is 2.5 octaves higher and the speed of the beep is 0.25. Strange that after all these years the machines are still the same.
Another handy musical tip is how to tune your guitar after you have put on a new full set of strings. If you pick up your phone and dial an unobtainable number, then the beeeeeeeep that you hear is a perfect G. You can then tune from there.
The phone system works on sound, too, the same way as the ATM does. Each number is a musical note or half note from 1 to zero. You can hear it when you listen to the auto dial, especially on a hands free phone. Each number has a slightly different sound but each beep is the same speed. A really naughty person could buy a small recorder/dictaphone and set up numbers on a speed dial. record the sounds, while it beeps and hang up.The get a dial tone and playback. This ,of course, is fraud and should not be done. But how would the phone company know as no record is available. This black art was called phone phreaking, in America, where kids would dial up perfect strangers, to have a chat with them, for free!! It only works on digital exchanges, which America had years before the Uk. I am sure that this is why phone companies are now offering unlimited local calls, for an hour each, at a set rate. You must hang up, after 59 minutes, or you get charged for the lot!!
Sound is a wonderful thing and can be both pleasant and extremely harsh to the ear. Beep beep. By the way, the Spectrum was the only computer to have that feature.
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