summary of my recent listening tests (wonkish)

This isn't exactly music, but I thought I'd post it here.
I've recently been messing around in Scala and wanted to share
my reactions, and solicit yours.

I was playing around in mavila[7] (Scala file posted below).
I found the most stable mode was
160.0 360.0 520.0 680.0 880.0 1040.0 2/1
(starting on "A" in the scale below, if 2/1 = C on your keyboard,
which it should by default in Scala)

Does anyone else have any comments on the modes of mavila[7]?

Over in Just Intonation land, I found that the chord 2:3:4
sounds 'happier' to me than 3:4:6.

I also found that the chord 1/1-9/7-11/7 sounds 'happier' than
1/1-11/9-11/7.

Thoughts?

-Carl

!
mavila[7] in 30-ET for C Major keyboard mapping.
12
!
100.0 ! C# avoid
160.0
300.0 ! Eb avoid
320.0
520.0
600.0 ! F# avoid
680.0
800.0 ! Ab avoid
840.0
950.0 ! Bb avoid
1000.0
2/1
!

Mavila, mavila, mavila...one of my favorite scales! Yes, I concur about your choice of tonic modes for a "major key". It is the sLssLss mode, if I read that correctly, aka the "Anti-Aeolian" mode. If you want to hear something really interesting, try the "Anti-Harmonic Minor": in 16-EDO, it would be 150 375 525 675 900 975 2/1, so I'm guessing that would translate to 30-EDO as 160 360 520 680 880 1000 2/1. Running up and down that scale really tricks my ears, I can tell you that!! (And FWIW, I think the 25-EDO version of Mavila is nicer, it damages the 5th and 7th harmonics less than does 30-EDO, and the 23-EDO version has nicer 6/5's--what do you like about the 30-EDO version? The almost-tolerable fifth?)

-Igs

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <carl@...> wrote:
> I was playing around in mavila[7] (Scala file posted below).
> I found the most stable mode was
> 160.0 360.0 520.0 680.0 880.0 1040.0 2/1
> (starting on "A" in the scale below, if 2/1 = C on your keyboard,
> which it should by default in Scala)
>
> Does anyone else have any comments on the modes of mavila[7]?

Thanks for weighing in, Igs. I don't favor the 30-ET version, it's
just what I picked as looking a bit better than 16 and producing nice
round numbers in cents. -Carl

At 05:56 PM 9/16/2010, you wrote:
>Mavila, mavila, mavila...one of my favorite scales! Yes, I concur
>about your choice of tonic modes for a "major key". It is the sLssLss
>mode, if I read that correctly, aka the "Anti-Aeolian" mode. If you
>want to hear something really interesting, try the "Anti-Harmonic
>Minor": in 16-EDO, it would be 150 375 525 675 900 975 2/1, so I'm
>guessing that would translate to 30-EDO as 160 360 520 680 880 1000
>2/1. Running up and down that scale really tricks my ears, I can tell
>you that!! (And FWIW, I think the 25-EDO version of Mavila is nicer,
>it damages the 5th and 7th harmonics less than does 30-EDO, and the
>23-EDO version has nicer 6/5's--what do you like about the 30-EDO
>version? The almost-tolerable fifth?)
>
>-Igs