Acoustical experiment (fwd from early music)

(Neal: I hope you don't mind my forwarding this to the alternative
tunings list, of which I'm a member and from which I think you'll get
some good responses. Many of the people on that list--perhaps
most!--use synthesizers with non-ET intervals.)

--pH (manynote@library.wustl.edu or http://library.wustl.edu/~manynote)
O
/\ "Do you like to gamble, Eddie?
-\-\-- o Gamble money on pool games?"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 21 SEP 1995 14:02:41 GMT
From: Neal Plotkin
Newgroups: rec.music.early
Subject: Re: (none)

In article John Howell,
John.Howell@VT.EDU writes:

[large portions of temperament discussion omitted]

>When I played in the Baroque Orchestra at the Oberlin Baroque Performance
>Institute some years ago, Jaap Schroeder kept emphasizing that pitches
and
>tuning had to be dynamic; we had to hear what chord tone we were playing,
>and adjust its pitch accordingly. The 5th of the chord had to be raised
>slightly from ET so as to be a perfect 2:3 ratio--a really PERFECT 5th
with
>no temperament at all. But if that same note served as the major 3rd of
>the chord, it had to be lowered so as to be a perfect 4:5 ratio. Sure,
>it's a totally different approach and a very different sound from what
>we've all been trained in, but LORDY is it a pure, velvety sound.

>Try this: sing that perfect 5th and then hold it while another singer
lays
>in the major third and slowly varies it over the acceptable range for the
>pitch. You'll hear it when the beats disappear and every interval locks
in
>with every difference tone, and that will happen when the third is MUCH
>lower than you are used to.

I'm familiar with all the arithmetic involved in figuring out different
temperaments, and I also know what sounds good to me. But I have no
convenient way of relating the two!

I basically want to do John's singing experiment on a
computer/synthesizer combination. That is, I would like to produce a
tone at (say) 400 Hz; produce an approximate 5th, play with it until it
locks in (and see the number 600 appear on the monitor); add in the third
(and see it lock in at exactly 500); etc.

What do I need? I have a Power Macintosh with microphone; Finale; a
not-great synthesizer keyboard (I don't have make or model with me). Is
there any useful software or hardware that will do this without breaking
the bank? (Note: suggesting that I buy a harpsichord and hire a
full-time tuner to be at my beck and call doesn't count as useful.)

I would be grateful for suggestions.
Neal Plotkin nplotkin@umich.edu (313)747-4088
University of Michigan Law School
313 Hutchins Hall
Ann Arbor MI 48109-1215



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