RE: Paul Erlich's points about inharmoni

So many objections, so little time. A few off-the-cuff comments:

>John Chalmers informs me that some folks
>object to the idea of matching inharmonic
>timbres to inharmonically-derived tunings.
>Apparently, your contention is that the
>inharmonic tone complexes tones will be heard
>as having a virtual pitch entirely different
>from that of their component inharmonic
>partials. Paul Erlich seems typical in
>these respects.

I don't even know what that could mean, so it seems unlikely that I said it.
What, exactly, is "my theory" on this subject? Can you quote something I
said?

Many of Brian's supporting references do not support him at all. Terhardt's
two components of consonance, I presume, are 1) critical band
roughness/beating and 2) spectral fusion/virtual pitch formation. Brian's
supporting references explain consonance and dissonance relations of
inharmonic timbres in terms of the first component, but not the second.
Brian then tries to interpret the existence of these consonance and
dissonance relations as evidence that spectral fusion/virtual pitch
formation is playing a role. Looks like bad logic to me. In particular,
Parncutt's work rests firmly atop Terhardt's, far from being the final nail
in Terhardt's coffin.

Brian says that only be putting the right inharmonic pitches together can
you get a true "inharmonic series." Can you provide a reference that could
lead to a definition or mathematical criterion for such a thing? Presumably
it has to be based on iterated continued fractions or transcendental roots
of transcendental numbers or a physical model, otherwise it just won't sound
right?

Yes, there are cues other than pitch that can make partials "fuse" to some
degree. And yes, the first component of consonance will exert an ordering
influence on compositions using inharmonic timbres, and can be used as a
principle to derive scales for these timbres. I don't think I ever said
anything to contradict that. Then again, Brian has a way of reading whatever
he wants into what people say, be it Gregory Taylor or Richard Parncutt. I
sure hope his musical skills are better than his communicative skills!


Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Thu, 18 Jul 1996 03:34 +0100
Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
for id SAA27706; Wed, 17 Jul 1996 18:34:30 -0700
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 18:34:30 -0700
Message-Id:
Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu