Vuvuzela filter

Jun 15, 2010 3 Replies

How close is anyone to making a working electronic filter for the sound of the vuvuzela horn which is plaguing television broadcasts of the world cup?



"If we consider a vuvuzela to be a tuba with a 1 meter tube length, then the fundamental tone would have a wavelength of 2 meters, which corresponds to a frequency of 172 Hz. Using the modern Western standard of A440, this would be between 4 and 5 half-steps below A an octave below middle A, or somewhere between E and F (I suspect that the instrument typically isn't exactly a meter long, but calibrated to fall exactly on one of these two). But most players probably aren't hitting the fundamental; the first or second harmonic is generally easier to blow. The first harmonic would be at double the fundamental, 343 Hz, and would likewise be an E or F, one octave higher. The second harmonic would be triple the fundamental, 515 Hz, which between two and three half-steps above middle A, which would put it somewhere between B and C.



Or, going about it the other way, if as Wikipedia says the note is B flat, and if we assume that that's the second harmonic, then that means that the length of the instrument should actually be 110 cm. A ten percent error is probably reasonable for trying to estimate the length from pictures, so that's probably correct."



formatting link


On a sunny day (Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:19:27 +0100) it happened BeeJeepers wrote in :

It is simple: do not watch.

Turn off the TV and get a life.

Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

It's not a metre.... it's 62 cm

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required