Tone or Sound Drones & harmonics?

[mizmar]

So drones. They have the root / tonic; obviously.
Then, if played on an instrument, whatever Overton/partial/harmonic series that thing has (for strings and tubes; octave, 5th 4th, major 3rd, minor 3rd or whatever).
Equally, the synth in TE Tuner app allows to add a major 3rd and/or perfect 5th.

So, my question, is that what one always wants?
If you're playing something in minor or a more exotic harmonic landscape? I guess you can use the relative minor; but then the tonal center / root is wrong. Ok. You can't change the harmonic series of a natural instrument; but with synths, the world is your blue oyster cult.
Or maybe it doesn't matter.

I bet the world of Sitar drones is more interesting!

 

[Pete Thomas]

So, my question, is that what one always wants?

It's up to you what you want to use drones for when practicing. I don't think I ever used them but I can understand how it could be useful to play along to and make your ears aware of the relationship between what you are playing and the drone pitch. Whether a drone is a tonic or a root, again that would depend on what you are doing

 

[mizmar]

My wondering was more focused on the spectrum of the drone than the root.
Not everything one might want to do fits against the harmonic series, surely?

 

[Pete Thomas]

My wondering was more focused on the spectrum of the drone than the root.

Do you mean the harmonics in the actual drone? If you use a sine wave there are no harmonics.

 

[mizmar]

Do you mean the harmonics in the actual drone?

Yes

If you use a sine wave there are no harmonics.

Sure... But that'd be quiet boring as a drone and I said about harmonics in the OP.
Even the tone generator in TE offers not just sin but Saw , square and a range of instruments... All of which have harmonics. Although saw and square are not the standard (tube or string) harmonic series.

people who publish Drones - normally produce a more complex sound than even the TE tone generator instruments, for example

Post in thread 'Recording with backing track and tuner' Backing Tracks - Recording with backing track and tuner

 

[skeller047]

The drones I use were done with samples of string orchestra ensemble. Because of the way they are made, I don’t know what actual instruments were used, and it varies from note to note. I also suspect that different octves are being played, it’s a real ensemble sound. I added the fifth, or rather the 12th, above - to add a bit of weight to the sound. But the root tone is all you really perceive, the added tone is mixed much lower.

I do play various tones against the drones, usually from a Mixolydian mode based on the root, as that is the most “natural” sounding (it closely matches the harmonic series of the root note). I often listen for difference tones as a way to tune, as I was taught by my clarinet teacher many decades ago. This is part of long tone and tonal centering exercise, it’s kind of like a meditation. Each drone tone is held for either 30 seconds or a minute, depending on how much time I want to spend on tonal focus.

 

[wakyct]

You mention sitar drones, I think I had a drone app at one point called Tanpura drone or something like that on Android, it was a more buzzy drone than the typical cello drone. Though I found it was too buzzy for what I was playing.

 

[mizmar]

You mention sitar drones, I think I had a drone app at one point called Tanpura drone or something like that on Android, it was a more buzzy drone than the typical cello drone. Though I found it was too buzzy for what I was playing.

Yeah, I've seen that app and agree, for me, there's too much going on. I guess the sitar has a lot sympathetic/drone strings. It's probably great for folks working on Raga...
... Which is, kinda, what I've been musing about; different structures of drone for different styles and such.

 

[Tenor Viol]

Instruments with sympathetic resonator strings are quite common - the baryton, which Haydn wrote a lot for, the Hardanger Fiddle, are two examples. The number varies and they'd resonate at an assortment of frequencies depending on what's being played.

Bagpipes of various sorts, e.g. musette, all have drones of varying degrees of subtlety. Issue there is that they're fixed pitch. I think Highland pipes are just tuned in octaves, I don't think there's a 5th or 12th in there.