Click any interval button above to learn why it sounds consonant or dissonant. The ratios shown are the pure "just intonation" ideals; this keyboard, like a real piano, is tuned in equal temperament, which approximates them very closely. See how frequency ratios and wave patterns create the foundation of musical harmony!
Harmony and Dissonance Explorer — Interactive Music Theory and Interval Synthesis in the Browser
The Harmony and Dissonance Explorer is an interactive music theory application that generates and plays musical intervals and chords directly in the browser using the Web Audio API. Users can play notes on a three-octave virtual keyboard, trigger any of the twelve intervals with one click, and hear C major and C minor chords, with real-time visual feedback showing the frequency relationships between notes and a choice of instrument timbres built from harmonic series synthesis (piano, guitar, violin, flute, clarinet, trumpet, organ, and raw waveforms).
The application demonstrates the psychoacoustic principles of consonance and dissonance — why certain note combinations sound stable and pleasant while others create tension that resolves. The tone synthesis uses oscillators tuned to equal temperament, and the visualizer renders waveform interference patterns that make the difference between simple and complex frequency ratios immediately visible and audible, including the beating effect that gives close intervals their characteristic roughness.
Keywords: music harmony explorer, interval ear training, Web Audio API synthesis, consonance dissonance demo, interactive music theory, music interval training, harmonic series demo, equal temperament demo, music education web app