The Wound
Gain-band
also: gain band · gain-band drift
The tolerance envelope of a harmonic array's output — and the number the Wound hides inside.
In full
Every array is rated for a band its output may drift within: roughly ±2.5%. A reading 0.3% above baseline is therefore not an alarm — it is within tolerance, and gets logged as routine. That is the whole trick. The drift is the Wound; the tolerance is the institution's confidence; the confidence is what produces the silence. Crews say the word out loud a hundred times a book without once meaning anything sinister by it.
Key facts
- Tolerance roughly ±2.5%.
- A persistent 0.3% above-baseline drift sits inside it and is filed as routine.
- The term did not exist early on — emitter operators spoke of peak frequency and roll-off.
- The unit in which the cost is recorded and ignored.