← Dictionary

octave

The distance between a note and the note vibrating twice as fast. They sound like the same note, higher.

The distance between a note and the note vibrating twice as fast, a 2:1 frequency ratio. The two sound so alike we give them the same letter name, and the octave is the frame every scale repeats inside. It is the most consonant interval there is: one note wearing two heights.

Learn it: Pitch and the octave

The one-sentence definition at the top is the same one the Theory Aide extension shows as a tooltip inside Ableton Live. Hover any dotted term for its own.