The residue phenomenon makes it necessary to assume that many areas of the basilar membrane may give rise to sensations of widely different pitch, depending upon the pattern of stimulation. In the case of steady‐state signals, the place of maximal stimulation will be a measure of timbre whereas the pitch will depend on the quasi‐periodicity of the signal. A closer study of the residue phenomena is of interest, since the residue implies situations where average frequency and periodicity are separate parameters and, to a certain extent, may be varied independently. The literature shows that attempts to establish the residue have not always been successful, mostly due to the specific frequency combinations chosen. In this paper, measurements are described on an harmonic complex consisting of three components, with variable modulation depth and frequency. This harmonic complex is found to have a decidedly tonal character within a limited frequency region. The boundaries for a complex with a modulation depth of 100% are roughly given by values of the center frequencyf<5000 cps, and values of the spacing frequencyg⩾0.05f. A theoretical model of a pitch‐extractor is presented which accounts for the observed frequency region of the tonal residue.