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🎷 Reed Instrument Resonance Explained

Interactive 3D reed-and-tube model where adjusting reed stiffness and tube length forms standing-wave resonance modes that determine the simulated instrument's pitch and timbre.

Acoustics2DModerate60 FPS

A vibrating reed and a resonating tube lock together into a standing wave — set the reed stiffness, tube length, blowing pressure and tube type to see how the resonant harmonic, and therefore the pitch, is chosen.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Closed-open tubes (reed instruments) resonate only at odd harmonics and overblow to a twelfth; open-open tubes resonate at every harmonic and overblow to an octave. Tube length sets the fundamental; the reed just supplies the energy that keeps the resonance alive.

🎮 How to Use

Drag tube length to change pitch, switch tube type to compare harmonic families, adjust blowing pressure to see the wave amplitude respond, and press Overblow to jump the sounding harmonic the way a player forces a register change.

💡 Did You Know?

A clarinet's cylindrical, closed-reed bore is why its lowest register spans a twelfth before the first overblown note, while a conical-bore saxophone with the same reed mechanism behaves acoustically like an open pipe and overblows to a plain octave.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D reed-and-tube model where adjusting reed stiffness and tube length forms standing-wave resonance modes that determine the simulated instrument's pitch and timbre.

reed-instrumentsresonancestanding-wavesmusical-instrumentssound-physicsacoustics

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install