An ear for Strudel · listening 01
Hear a Strudel cycle.
Same notes. Different spacing. Which line did you hear?
Sound starts only when you press Listen.
No headphones? Follow the difference without sound.
Follow the difference without guessing
Follow the four moments.
Spaces share the cycle. A bracketed group takes one of those places.
Fractions of a cycle
e4 g4 b4 a4e4 [g4 b4] a4EStart togetherOpen the listening note0E4 · cycle 1slot 1/40E4 · cycle 1slot 1/3
Both E notes begin at zero. But the first E gets a quarter in A and a third in B. The brackets change the number of outside places from four to three; they do not add extra time to the cycle.
Listen for the longer first E in B before the two middle notes arrive.
GWait a little longerOpen the listening note1/4G4 · cycle 1slot 1/41/3G4 · cycle 1slot 1/6
G starts at 1/4 in A, but 1/3 in B. In B, G shares the middle third with B, so its allocation is only 1/6. A later start and a shorter slot are two different changes.
At 30 cycles/min, the G onset moves from 0.500 to 0.667 seconds.
BSame start, shorter placeOpen the listening note1/2B4 · cycle 1slot 1/41/2B4 · cycle 1slot 1/6
Both B notes begin halfway through. The grouped B gets 1/6 instead of 1/4. A note can keep its starting position even though the writing around it changes.
This is the misleading moment: hearing B at the same instant does not mean the whole rhythms match.
AThe last note arrives earlyOpen the listening note3/4A4 · cycle 1slot 1/42/3A4 · cycle 1slot 1/3
A begins at 3/4 in A and 2/3 in B. At 30 cycles/min that is 1.500 versus 1.333 seconds. The unbracketed final note moves too, because the outside sequence now has three places.
Both finish their allocated cycle at 2.000 seconds. The next E starts at the same instant. The second cycle repeats these timings.
Each coloured line is one full cycle; the filled segment is this note’s allocation. Compare A and B on the same row. Seconds in the listening notes assume 30 cycles/min; half speed doubles them.
Timing, sound & using these phrases
At 30 cycles per minute, one cycle is 60 ÷ 30 = 2 seconds. An onset of 1/3 is two thirds of a second into that cycle. For cycle 2, add another two seconds. These examples stop after two cycles; the real Strudel patterns continue.
CycleEar synthesizes original sine tones after your click. They fade before their allocated slot ends. Allocations are not waveform measurements: instruments and envelopes can sustain or fade differently. The snippets use Strudel’s own sine instrument, so their envelope can sound different.
Open Strudel, paste one complete downloaded phrase and press Ctrl+Enter. Use Ctrl+. to stop. The file sets 30 cycles/min and plays a single original note pattern; it has no samples to download.
Rule reference: Strudel’s original documentation. Sources, privacy and sharing your own listening page.