Generator · up to 8 voices
Multiple Tone Generator
Run up to eight independent oscillators at the same time, each with its own frequency, waveform, level and stereo position. Build chords, octave stacks and harmonic series, or detune a pair by a few hertz to hear the beat. Every voice is a live Web Audio oscillator - nothing is pre-recorded and nothing leaves your browser.
Eight simultaneous tones are noticeably louder than one. Start with the header level low, keep individual levels modest and add voices one at a time. The limiter stops digital clipping; it does not make loud playback safe.
Ready. Add voices and press play.
The spectrum shows every voice as its own peak. Two voices close together resolve into two lines; as you move one toward the other the lines converge and merge into a single blurred peak.
Two steady tones a few hertz apart do not sound like two clean notes - they pulse. The oscillators start in
phase (peak level), drift out of phase (near silence) and back, repeating at the difference of their
frequencies. That rate is the beat frequency: fbeat = |f₁ − f₂|. The beating pair
preset (440 Hz and 441 Hz) beats exactly once a second.
When two tones are loud and far enough apart, the ear and the loudspeaker both generate extra “combination
tones” at sums and differences (f₁ ± f₂). A difference tone is audible even when the ear cannot
hear one of the originals, which is why a clean 440/880 octave can produce a faint 440 Hz reinforcement.
Beating is the fast, reliable way to tune one oscillator to another: set two voices an octave or a fifth apart, nudge one by 1 Hz, and stop the drift.
| Interval | Ratio | Cents | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unison | 1 : 1 | 0 | Two voices at the same pitch. Perfectly still, no beating. |
| Octave | 2 : 1 | 1200 | The same note higher. The simplest, most consonant interval. |
| Perfect fifth | 3 : 2 | 702 | Root and fifth. The strongest consonant interval after the octave. |
| Perfect fourth | 4 : 3 | 498 | A fifth inverted. Stable, slightly more open than a fifth. |
| Major third | 5 : 4 | 386 | Bright, major quality. A triad’s middle note. |
| Minor third | 6 : 5 | 316 | Dark, minor quality. A triad’s middle note. |
| Major sixth | 5 : 3 | 884 | Consonant and warm. |
| Minor seventh | 16 : 9 | 996 | Tense, bluesy. |
| Tritone | 45 : 32 | 590 | Unstable. Half an octave; wants to resolve. |
Multiply a root frequency by a ratio to get the upper voice: 440 Hz × 3/2 = 660 Hz is a perfect fifth, × 5/4 = 550 Hz a major third. When the ratio is made of small whole numbers the two tones share more harmonic peaks, and the interval sounds more consonant.
How many tones can I run at once?
Up to eight independent voices, each with its own frequency, waveform, level and stereo pan. All eight route through one master bus and a safety limiter, so the total output stays inside the headroom of the mix instead of clipping. Two or three voices is usually the most that is useful for interval and beating work; more is for checking how a chord sums.
What is the beating I hear with two close tones?
Two sine tones a few Hz apart drift in and out of phase. When the crests line up the sound is loud, when they oppose it cancels - the level rises and falls at the difference frequency. 440 Hz and 441 Hz beat once a second, heard as a slow throb; 440 and 444 Hz beat four times a second. Beat rate equals the frequency difference, so it is a precise way to tune two oscillators against each other.
Is a level of 100 % per voice too loud?
The level slider sets a voice’s share of the mix, not absolute loudness - the header volume still controls how loud anything is. Each voice is capped at 0.6 of full scale so eight of them sum without the limiter working hard. If the meter on your interface or interface software shows clipping, lower the header volume or drop the individual levels.
Can I share a chord or stack with someone else?
Yes. Every voice - its frequency, waveform, level, pan and on/off state - is encoded into the URL. Press Copy link to get it, and anyone opening that address sees the same stack restored and ready to play. Nothing is uploaded; the whole configuration lives in the address itself.
Online Tone Generator
Pure sine, square, sawtooth and triangle tones from 1 Hz to 20 kHz, with precise frequency entry and WAV export.
Frequency Sweep Generator
Linear or logarithmic sweeps between any two frequencies, with start/end levels and optional hold.
Noise Generator
White, pink and brown noise with band shaping - for masking, calibrating and testing.
Binaural Beat Generator
Two detuned carriers, one per ear. Delta through gamma with exact beat frequencies.
Instrument Tuning Tones
Reference pitches for guitar, bass, ukulele, violin, cello, mandolin, banjo and viola.
Subwoofer Test Tones
Low-frequency test signals from 16 Hz up, plus sweep tools for finding room and driver limits.