In article YV85g.18478$fG3.15052@dukeread09,
"ScottW" wrote:

"Jenn" wrote in message
...
So, I guess that I have the answer to my original question: musicians
and audio people may or may not be speaking of the same thing when, for
example, they refer to "second harmonic distortion".

It's really quite simple. Harmonics are integer multiples
of a fundamental. Anything else that is related to a fundamental
by a non-integer multiple should be referred to as an inharmonic
or a partial or an overtone, but not as a harmonic.

But again, not always for musicians.


Not to muddy the water with another inappropiate use
of terminology, but WTH. Why would any musician describing
the output of an acoustic
instrument refer to any aspect of the instruments output
as distortion?

Well, we don't really, as it relates to individual performance except as
in "the sound is distorted"...raspy, overblown, too much bow pressure,
etc. We DO however refer to a room distorting the second harmonic, for
example.