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Rich Holmes temperaments

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/2/2006 1:11:20 PM

In this article

http://web.syr.edu/~rsholmes/music/xen/scale_mos.html

Rich Holmes sets himself the task of finding good 7-limit linear
temperaments with low Graham complexity, and for some reason doesn't
find any. One problem is that he didn't consider anything other than
strictly linear temperaments, so temperaments like pajara were out.

He does, however, find a temperament unfamiliar to me. His least
complex is a temperament with a generator of 919 cents, with major
thirds flat by 29 cents. This seems to be describing the <<6 3 5 -9 -9
3|| temperament, which is indeed pretty atrocious, as he notes. It has
a generator like orwell's evil twin, and like orwell, a 9-note MOS.
What it doesn't have is good 7-limit harmony. Another temperament he
mentions has a generator of 881 cents and an 11-note MOS. This is
keemun, tuned to a major sixth which gives pretty sharp fifths and thirds.

The Graham complexity of orwell, incidentially, is 11, so the
Orwell[13] MOS has two otonal and two utonal tetrads, which seems to
satisfy his requirements. Holmes doesn't much like Superpyth[12],
which has only one otonal and one utonal tetrad, but Orwell[13] seems
to fill his minimum requirements, as well as being in far better tune
than the tunings he considers. Magic[13] doesn't quite fit the bill,
alas, but perhaps the most obvious choice of all is Meantone[12]; I
have no idea why that wasn't considered.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/2/2006 1:33:22 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> In this article
>
> http://web.syr.edu/~rsholmes/music/xen/scale_mos.html
>
> Rich Holmes sets himself the task of finding good 7-limit linear
> temperaments with low Graham complexity, and for some reason doesn't
> find any. One problem is that he didn't consider anything other than
> strictly linear temperaments, so temperaments like pajara were out.

Actually, on another page he does get to "nonlinear" temperaments and
pajara comes into its own.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/2/2006 7:44:53 PM

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

> Orwell[13] seems
> to fill his minimum requirements, as well as being in far better tune
> than the tunings he considers. Magic[13] doesn't quite fit the bill,
> alas, but perhaps the most obvious choice of all is Meantone[12]; I
> have no idea why that wasn't considered.

Where would I go to find definitions of these?

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/2/2006 9:07:20 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> Where would I go to find definitions of these?

Meantone[12] is 12 contiguous notes of septimal meantone:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimal_meantone_temperament

For example, Eb to G#.

Orwell is discussed here:

http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/orwell.html

Since good ets for it are 53 and 84, you can see the tuning is not
bad, especially for the 5-limit part.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/3/2006 7:40:32 AM

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> > Where would I go to find definitions of these?
>
> Meantone[12] is 12 contiguous notes of septimal meantone:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimal_meantone_temperament

OK, so 1200 cent period and a generator of 696.88 cents? Then you
need 1, 4, 10 generators to reach 3/2, 5/4, 7/4 (e.g. 7/4 = 969 cents
~= 10*696.88 mod 1200). (Sorry about not using the more compact
notation you are used to, but I'm not.) Therefore in Meantone[12] you
have just two otonal tetrads, and two utonal. It's been quite a while
since I did the stuff I wrote up on the page you mention and I'm not
sure why Meantone[12] seems to have been overlooked, but in any case
the smallish number of tetrads would've been regarded as a
shortcoming.

> Orwell is discussed here:
>
> http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/orwell.html

So 1200 cent period and about 271 cents generator? Here you need 7,
-3, 8 generators for 3/2, 5/4, 7/4. So you need 1+8-(-3) = 12 notes
for your first otonal tetrad and Orwell[13] will contain two of them.
Again, I'd been hoping for something better at the time. (I haven't
been thinking much about microtonal music lately, but when I was, I
was moving away from 7-limit scales and getting more interested in
things like scales based on factors 2, 3, and 11.)

- Rich Holmes

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/3/2006 3:01:34 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> In this article
>
> http://web.syr.edu/~rsholmes/music/xen/scale_mos.html
>
> Rich Holmes sets himself the task of finding good 7-limit linear
> temperaments with low Graham complexity, and for some reason doesn't
> find any. One problem is that he didn't consider anything other than
> strictly linear temperaments, so temperaments like pajara were out.

I tried very hard to inform Rich of this limitation, but he seems not
to have taken my pleas into account so far. He mentions me in
connection with 22-equal but seems not to have looked at what my
paper on 22-equal is really about -- the decatonic scales.

> The Graham complexity of orwell, incidentially, is 11, so the
> Orwell[13] MOS has two otonal and two utonal tetrads, which seems to
> satisfy his requirements. Holmes doesn't much like Superpyth[12],
> which has only one otonal and one utonal tetrad, but Orwell[13]
seems
> to fill his minimum requirements, as well as being in far better
tune
> than the tunings he considers. Magic[13] doesn't quite fit the bill,
> alas, but perhaps the most obvious choice of all is Meantone[12]; I
> have no idea why that wasn't considered.

I thought Meantone[12] got highest props on his page. Wait -- it
looks like he re-wrote it. What happened?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/3/2006 3:02:02 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
> wrote:
> >
> > In this article
> >
> > http://web.syr.edu/~rsholmes/music/xen/scale_mos.html
> >
> > Rich Holmes sets himself the task of finding good 7-limit linear
> > temperaments with low Graham complexity, and for some reason doesn't
> > find any. One problem is that he didn't consider anything other than
> > strictly linear temperaments, so temperaments like pajara were out.
>
> Actually, on another page he does get to "nonlinear" temperaments and
> pajara comes into its own.

But pajara *is* rank 2!

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/3/2006 6:11:49 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> So 1200 cent period and about 271 cents generator? Here you need 7,
> -3, 8 generators for 3/2, 5/4, 7/4. So you need 1+8-(-3) = 12 notes
> for your first otonal tetrad and Orwell[13] will contain two of them.
> Again, I'd been hoping for something better at the time. (I haven't
> been thinking much about microtonal music lately, but when I was, I
> was moving away from 7-limit scales and getting more interested in
> things like scales based on factors 2, 3, and 11.)

Actually, Orwell[13] does pretty well for the 11-limit, if you find
the tuning acceptable. You can extend orwell to the 11-limit by
tempering out 99/98, in which case 11/8 is two generators. In 53-et,
the 11 is 7.9 cents flat, and if that is tolerable, you are in
business. The worst 11-limit interval is 11/7, which in 53-et is 12.7
cents flat.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/4/2006 6:14:20 AM

"wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@aya.yale.edu> writes:

> I tried very hard to inform Rich of this limitation, but he seems not
> to have taken my pleas into account so far. He mentions me in
> connection with 22-equal but seems not to have looked at what my
> paper on 22-equal is really about -- the decatonic scales.

Not so. The second page Gene referred to is almost entirely about the
decatonic scales.

> I thought Meantone[12] got highest props on his page. Wait -- it
> looks like he re-wrote it. What happened?

Yes... I've rewritten it several times (though not very recently.)

> But pajara *is* rank 2!

I probably chose a bad title for the first of those pages. There I
was limiting myself (initally through failure to recognize it as an
unnecessary assumption) to octave-period scales.

Is "linear" still the approved term for octave-period rank 2 scales?

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 10:42:31 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> Is "linear" still the approved term for octave-period rank 2 scales?

I suppose. Paul likes it for historical reasons, and I like it because
the distinction is useful. I'd suggest that "cylindrical" would be a
much better term than "nonlinear" for rank two temperaments which are
not linear, however. Calling them "nonlinear" suggests they are going
to break out into chaotic dynamics. It's a cylindrical shape of
modulatory space:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulatory_space

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 12:16:29 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> Not so. The second page Gene referred to is almost entirely about the
> decatonic scales.

Here's a listing in order of increasing rms error for various Graham
complexity cutoff figures. I used rms error because TOP, Kees or NOT
errors are likely to give two different temperaments the same value.
It looks to me that augene/tripletone is another one you might want to
look at. Also, if you go up to complexity 10, myna and meantone become
very attractive, with a much lower error than anything of less
complexity. Going up to complexity 11 adds orwell to the list, with a
lower error yet. Complexity 12 sees valentine come into the picture,
and complexity 13 sees miracle, which is an absolute killer; many
people would not *want* a temperament more accurate than this, and as
an extra trick, it does the 11-limit. The only problem is that for the
size of scales you wanted, you can't get both complete tetrads and a MOS.

I'd add some discussion of all of these; not just pajara but augene,
myna, meantone, orwell, valentine, and miracle. Otherwise it seems to
me a false picture has been presented of the problem.

Graham complexity < 8

Pajara [2, -4, -4, -11, -12, 2] 6 10.903177
Negri [4, -3, 2, -14, -8, 13] 7 12.188571
Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
Blackwood [0, 5, 0, 8, 0, -14] 5 15.815353
Augie [3, 0, 6, -7, 1, 14] 6 16.598678
Diminished [4, 4, 4, -3, -5, -2] 4 19.136992
Dominant seventh [1, 4, -2, 4, -6, -16] 6 20.163282
Decimal [4, 2, 2, -6, -8, -1] 4 23.945252

Graham complexity < 10

Augene [3, 0, -6, -7, -18, -14] 9 8.100679
Doublewide [8, 6, 6, -9, -13, -3] 8 10.132266
Pajara [2, -4, -4, -11, -12, 2] 6 10.903177
Injera [2, 8, 8, 8, 7, -4] 8 11.218941
Negri [4, -3, 2, -14, -8, 13] 7 12.188571
Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
Godzilla [2, 8, 1, 8, -4, -20] 8 12.690079
Blackwood [0, 5, 0, 8, 0, -14] 5 15.815353
Augie [3, 0, 6, -7, 1, 14] 6 16.598678
Mavila [1, -3, 5, -7, 5, 20] 8 18.584500

Graham complexity < 12

Orwell [7, -3, 8, -21, -7, 27] 11 2.589238
Myna [10, 9, 7, -9, -17, -9] 10 3.320167
Meantone [1, 4, 10, 4, 13, 12] 10 3.665035
Beatles [2, -9, -4, -19, -12, 16] 11 6.245316
Superpyth [1, 9, -2, 12, -6, -30] 11 6.410458
Porcupine [3, 5, -6, 1, -18, -28] 11 6.808962
Augene [3, 0, -6, -7, -18, -14] 9 8.100679
Doublewide [8, 6, 6, -9, -13, -3] 8 10.132266
Pajara [2, -4, -4, -11, -12, 2] 6 10.903177
Injera [2, 8, 8, 8, 7, -4] 8 11.218941

Graham complexity < 14

Miracle [6, -7, -2, -25, -20, 15] 13 1.637405
Orwell [7, -3, 8, -21, -7, 27] 11 2.589238
Valentine [9, 5, -3, -13, -30, -21] 12 3.065962
Myna [10, 9, 7, -9, -17, -9] 10 3.320167
Mothra [3, 12, -1, 12, -10, -36] 13 3.579262
Meantone [1, 4, 10, 4, 13, 12] 10 3.665035
Superkleismic [9, 10, -3, -5, -30, -35] 13 4.052704
Magic [5, 1, 12, -10, 5, 25] 12 4.139051
Sensi [7, 9, 13, -2, 1, 5] 13 5.052931
Beatles [2, -9, -4, -19, -12, 16] 11 6.245316

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/4/2006 12:44:32 PM

>Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810

Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
are.

Now let's try to identify this temperament. "Kemun"
doesn't occur on your page

http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/sevnames.htm

or in Herman's doc file. But "Keemun" does. It's a
kind of tea and perhaps a region in China. What's the
anecdote behind this name?

Ideally your page above would not be limited to the
7-limit, and ideally it would be in alpha order by
temperament name.

Herman -- what are the "catalog number"s in your Word
file?

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/4/2006 12:50:28 PM

At 12:44 PM 1/4/2006, you wrote:
>>Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
>
>Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
>headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
>mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
>are.

I assume the thing between [] is the map, but why the
period and generator are apparently given on the same
line....

-C.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/4/2006 12:54:50 PM

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

> I'd add some discussion of all of these; not just pajara but augene,
> myna, meantone, orwell, valentine, and miracle. Otherwise it seems to
> me a false picture has been presented of the problem.

I never intended it to be a definitive and complete treatise. Just
some notes on some of the lines of thought I was pursuing.

Anyway, I don't know what most of the scales you list are; what the
numbers you show mean; or what "Graham complexity cutoff" is.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 1:20:34 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
>
> Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
> headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
> mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
> are.

Name of temperament (sometimes spelled correctly), then wedgie, then
Graham complexity, then rms error.

> or in Herman's doc file. But "Keemun" does. It's a
> kind of tea and perhaps a region in China. What's the
> anecdote behind this name?

It's Paul's name, so he'd better tell it.

> Ideally your page above would not be limited to the
> 7-limit, and ideally it would be in alpha order by
> temperament name.

Well, that's a thought.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 1:26:02 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> Anyway, I don't know what most of the scales you list are; what the
> numbers you show mean; or what "Graham complexity cutoff" is.

7-limit Graham complexity is what you want for your purpose; If you
take a generator chain scale of n notes, then the number of tetrads of
each kind will be n - Graham. Hence septimal meantone, which has a
Graham complexity of 10 (extending from 0 to 10 generators to get 3,
5, and 7) will have 2=12-10 tetrads of each kind for Meantone[12]. The
other numbers are the rms error of the 7-limit consonancs in cents,
and the wedgie, which identifies the temperament.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/4/2006 1:28:03 PM

>> >Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
>>
>> Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
>> headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
>> mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
>> are.
>
>Name of temperament (sometimes spelled correctly), then wedgie,
>then Graham complexity, then rms error.

Aha. What threw me is, I thought wedgies supposed to be
in braket notation.

-Carl

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 1:33:26 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> Aha. What threw me is, I thought wedgies supposed to be
> in braket notation.

They are, but after getting Maple to print the file I forgot to edit it.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/4/2006 3:03:31 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...> writes:
>
> > I tried very hard to inform Rich of this limitation, but he seems
not
> > to have taken my pleas into account so far. He mentions me in
> > connection with 22-equal but seems not to have looked at what my
> > paper on 22-equal is really about -- the decatonic scales.
>
> Not so. The second page Gene referred to is almost entirely about
the
> decatonic scales.

I missed that, since there was no link from the first page stating
that it was continued on the second page.

> > I thought Meantone[12] got highest props on his page. Wait -- it
> > looks like he re-wrote it. What happened?
>
> Yes... I've rewritten it several times (though not very recently.)
>
> > But pajara *is* rank 2!
>
> I probably chose a bad title for the first of those pages.

Well, if you stated that it was continued on that second page, it
wouldn't be so bad.

> There I
> was limiting myself (initally through failure to recognize it as an
> unnecessary assumption) to octave-period scales.

> Is "linear" still the approved term for octave-period rank 2 scales?

Yes.

If you have your pages in something like a final form at some point,
I'd like an opportunity to proofread them. Also, it might be worth at
least mentioning the approach I took in my paper, that focuses on the
*kernel* of each of these temperaments, gleaning both the complexity
and the error (or damage) from the kernel, and doing a search over
all possible kernels within some bounds on complexity and error (and
then finally converting those that pass into period-generator-mapping
specifications of the corresponding temperaments). This seems like
the a more mathematically sophisticated approach than a search
stepping by fractions of a cent across generator sizes (and #s of
periods per octave) for "good" temperaments or scales, which is what
some of us used to do . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/4/2006 3:07:30 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> > Is "linear" still the approved term for octave-period rank 2 scales?
>
> I suppose. Paul likes it for historical reasons, and I like it because
> the distinction is useful. I'd suggest that "cylindrical" would be a
> much better term than "nonlinear" for rank two temperaments which are
> not linear, however.

George Secor agrees with you on this, Gene.

> Calling them "nonlinear" suggests they are going
> to break out into chaotic dynamics.

:) I agree, "nonlinear" isn't really getting the regular or uniform
nature of these systems across.

> It's a cylindrical shape of
> modulatory space:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulatory_space

Why would you call this modulatory space when absolutely no modulation
is required or need be involved? That seems to muddy the issue.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/4/2006 3:13:08 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...>
wrote:
>
> > Not so. The second page Gene referred to is almost entirely
about the
> > decatonic scales.
>
> Here's a listing in order of increasing rms error for various Graham
> complexity cutoff figures. I used rms error because TOP, Kees or NOT
> errors are likely to give two different temperaments the same value.

I think Graham is clamoring for us to use an rms (that is, L_2)
version of TOP, and possibly of Kees as well. Unlike the L_inf
versions, these should give unique values for a given temperament and
different values to different temperaments, yes? BTW, will rms-TOP
and rms-Kees always be stretched versions of one another?

> It looks to me that augene/tripletone is another one you might want
to
> look at. Also, if you go up to complexity 10, myna and meantone
become
> very attractive, with a much lower error than anything of less
> complexity. Going up to complexity 11 adds orwell to the list, with
a
> lower error yet. Complexity 12 sees valentine come into the picture,
> and complexity 13 sees miracle, which is an absolute killer; many
> people would not *want* a temperament more accurate than this, and
as
> an extra trick, it does the 11-limit. The only problem is that for
the
> size of scales you wanted, you can't get both complete tetrads and
a MOS.
>
> I'd add some discussion of all of these; not just pajara but augene,
> myna, meantone, orwell, valentine, and miracle. Otherwise it seems
to
> me a false picture has been presented of the problem.
>
> Graham complexity < 8
>
> Pajara [2, -4, -4, -11, -12, 2] 6 10.903177
> Negri [4, -3, 2, -14, -8, 13] 7 12.188571
> Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
> Blackwood [0, 5, 0, 8, 0, -14] 5 15.815353
> Augie [3, 0, 6, -7, 1, 14] 6 16.598678
> Diminished [4, 4, 4, -3, -5, -2] 4 19.136992
> Dominant seventh [1, 4, -2, 4, -6, -16] 6 20.163282
> Decimal [4, 2, 2, -6, -8, -1] 4 23.945252
>
> Graham complexity < 10
>
> Augene [3, 0, -6, -7, -18, -14] 9 8.100679
> Doublewide [8, 6, 6, -9, -13, -3] 8 10.132266
> Pajara [2, -4, -4, -11, -12, 2] 6 10.903177
> Injera [2, 8, 8, 8, 7, -4] 8 11.218941
> Negri [4, -3, 2, -14, -8, 13] 7 12.188571
> Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
> Godzilla [2, 8, 1, 8, -4, -20] 8 12.690079
> Blackwood [0, 5, 0, 8, 0, -14] 5 15.815353
> Augie [3, 0, 6, -7, 1, 14] 6 16.598678
> Mavila [1, -3, 5, -7, 5, 20] 8 18.584500
>
> Graham complexity < 12
>
> Orwell [7, -3, 8, -21, -7, 27] 11 2.589238
> Myna [10, 9, 7, -9, -17, -9] 10 3.320167
> Meantone [1, 4, 10, 4, 13, 12] 10 3.665035
> Beatles [2, -9, -4, -19, -12, 16] 11 6.245316
> Superpyth [1, 9, -2, 12, -6, -30] 11 6.410458
> Porcupine [3, 5, -6, 1, -18, -28] 11 6.808962
> Augene [3, 0, -6, -7, -18, -14] 9 8.100679
> Doublewide [8, 6, 6, -9, -13, -3] 8 10.132266
> Pajara [2, -4, -4, -11, -12, 2] 6 10.903177
> Injera [2, 8, 8, 8, 7, -4] 8 11.218941
>
> Graham complexity < 14
>
> Miracle [6, -7, -2, -25, -20, 15] 13 1.637405
> Orwell [7, -3, 8, -21, -7, 27] 11 2.589238
> Valentine [9, 5, -3, -13, -30, -21] 12 3.065962
> Myna [10, 9, 7, -9, -17, -9] 10 3.320167
> Mothra [3, 12, -1, 12, -10, -36] 13 3.579262
> Meantone [1, 4, 10, 4, 13, 12] 10 3.665035
> Superkleismic [9, 10, -3, -5, -30, -35] 13 4.052704
> Magic [5, 1, 12, -10, 5, 25] 12 4.139051
> Sensi [7, 9, 13, -2, 1, 5] 13 5.052931
> Beatles [2, -9, -4, -19, -12, 16] 11 6.245316
>

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/4/2006 3:19:03 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
>
> Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
> headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
> mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
> are.
>
> Now let's try to identify this temperament. "Kemun"
> doesn't occur on your page
>
> http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/sevnames.htm
>
> or in Herman's doc file. But "Keemun" does. It's a
> kind of tea and perhaps a region in China. What's the
> anecdote behind this name?

It was called "Keenan" after Dave, whose page

http://dkeenan.com/Music/ChainOfMinor3rds.htm

implies this temperament. Dave didn't like the name, but I didn't
want to have to redo my horagrams which were alphabetical, so Herman
suggested "Keemun" so as to preserve the alphabetical ordering.

> Ideally your page above would not be limited to the
> 7-limit,

A lot of Gene's names would then have more than one entry.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/4/2006 3:20:19 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> At 12:44 PM 1/4/2006, you wrote:
> >>Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
> >
> >Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
> >headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
> >mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
> >are.
>
> I assume the thing between [] is the map, but why the
> period and generator are apparently given on the same
> line....

They are? I don't see that. Where do you see period and generator?

Oh, the thing between [] is the wedgie, of course!

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/4/2006 4:00:52 PM

>> > Not so. The second page Gene referred to is almost entirely
>> > about the decatonic scales.
>>
>> Here's a listing in order of increasing rms error for various Graham
>> complexity cutoff figures. I used rms error because TOP, Kees or NOT
>> errors are likely to give two different temperaments the same value.
>
>I think Graham is clamoring for us to use an rms (that is, L_2)
>version of TOP, and possibly of Kees as well. Unlike the L_inf
>versions, these should give unique values for a given temperament and
>different values to different temperaments, yes? BTW, will rms-TOP
>and rms-Kees always be stretched versions of one another?

Hiya Paul - is there a name for this L_ notation that I could
look up somewhere?

-Carl

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/4/2006 4:07:07 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >> > Not so. The second page Gene referred to is almost entirely
> >> > about the decatonic scales.
> >>
> >> Here's a listing in order of increasing rms error for various
Graham
> >> complexity cutoff figures. I used rms error because TOP, Kees or
NOT
> >> errors are likely to give two different temperaments the same
value.
> >
> >I think Graham is clamoring for us to use an rms (that is, L_2)
> >version of TOP, and possibly of Kees as well. Unlike the L_inf
> >versions, these should give unique values for a given temperament
and
> >different values to different temperaments, yes? BTW, will rms-TOP
> >and rms-Kees always be stretched versions of one another?
>
> Hiya Paul - is there a name for this L_ notation that I could
> look up somewhere?

It's similar to that in the mathematical definitions here:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L1-Norm.html
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L2-Norm.html
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L-Infinity-Norm.html

except that we don't assume that the elements in the "vector" of
errors have to be linearly independent. And we're specifically
talking about the tunings that *minimize* the given "norm" on
the "vector" of errors.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/4/2006 4:07:30 PM

>> >Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
>>
>> Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
>> headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
>> mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
>> are.
>>
>> Now let's try to identify this temperament. "Kemun"
>> doesn't occur on your page
>>
>> http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/sevnames.htm
>>
>> or in Herman's doc file. But "Keemun" does. It's a
>> kind of tea and perhaps a region in China. What's the
>> anecdote behind this name?
>
>It was called "Keenan" after Dave, whose page
>
>http://dkeenan.com/Music/ChainOfMinor3rds.htm
>
>implies this temperament. Dave didn't like the name, but I didn't
>want to have to redo my horagrams which were alphabetical, so Herman
>suggested "Keemun" so as to preserve the alphabetical ordering.

Thanks.

>> Ideally your page above would not be limited to the
>> 7-limit,
>
>A lot of Gene's names would then have more than one entry.

That wouldn't bother me from a chart-organization point of view,
but perhaps you think it's inappropriate from an ontology point
of view. While in principle I would agree that different things
should have different names, I think some sort of family system
is desirable, and that names should reflect it (I realize all
the bugs with having the tunings be the same, etc, aren't worked
out yet)...

-Carl

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 4:27:32 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> Why would you call this modulatory space when absolutely no modulation
> is required or need be involved? That seems to muddy the issue.

I called it a modulatory space because other people did. The term was
not invented on Wikipedia, as a google search shows, but I don't know
its provinance. I suppose the idea is that it is a space you can
modulate in, as just changing octaves doesn't count as modulation.

If you can find a more widely used term I could rewrite the page and
move it, leaving a redirect.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 4:30:01 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> BTW, will rms-TOP
> and rms-Kees always be stretched versions of one another?

I doubt it. I'd need to write some code to find examples.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/4/2006 5:43:13 PM

Carl Lumma wrote:
>>Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
> > > Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
> headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
> mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
> are.

The numbers in brackets are the wedgie. That's usually the best way to identify temperaments; this sequence of numbers uniquely identifies this particular rank 2 temperament (one of the larger category of "kleismic" temperaments).

> Now let's try to identify this temperament. "Kemun"
> doesn't occur on your page
> > http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/sevnames.htm
> > or in Herman's doc file. But "Keemun" does. It's a
> kind of tea and perhaps a region in China. What's the
> anecdote behind this name?

It's just one of my favorite varieties of tea. Paul needed something that was alphabetized between "Injera" and "Lemba" for his paper, and that's the suggestion I came up with.

http://twiningsteashopusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=89

> Ideally your page above would not be limited to the
> 7-limit, and ideally it would be in alpha order by
> temperament name.
> > Herman -- what are the "catalog number"s in your Word
> file?

Those are from Gene's old list of 114 7-limit "linear temperaments" (as we were still calling them in those days). Almost all of the useful 7-limit ones are on that list somewhere (with a tiny handful of exceptions like "superpelog"), so it's convenient for referring to temperaments that don't yet have names.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/4/2006 6:38:42 PM

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

> 7-limit Graham complexity is what you want for your purpose; If you
> take a generator chain scale of n notes, then the number of tetrads of
> each kind will be n - Graham.

Ah, I see. Thanks.

> and the wedgie, which identifies the temperament.

Well, to some people, it does. I took a look at
<http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/wedgie.html>. Now, I've studied enough
math to believe I could figure out what that definition means if I were
to work at it for a few to several hours, but on the whole I'd rather
not. I'm sure the group theory connections, the jargon, and so on are
useful to you and to some other people, but to me they're just
obstacles.

(Or maybe I wouldn't be able to figure it out. I remember trying to
puzzle out a definition of wedge product some time ago, and not
succeeding. Though given a clearer definition than the one I was
looking at I probably would have gotten it.)

- Rich Holmes

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/4/2006 5:50:09 PM

Once again, Yahoo sent spam to my account, which was bounced by SpamCop, causing Yahoo to stop sending mail. So I've probably missed some of this discussion. There's really no excuse for Yahoo to do this sort of thing. Here's the reply I originally wrote before Yahoo bounced it.

Carl Lumma wrote:
>>Kemun [6, 5, 3, -6, -12, -7] 6 12.273810
> > > Another list of numbers from you, Gene, without column
> headings. :( I assume 12.27... is the rms error you
> mentioned. I can't say I know what the other numbers
> are.

The numbers in brackets are the wedgie. That's usually the best way to
identify temperaments; this sequence of numbers uniquely identifies this
particular rank 2 temperament (one of the larger category of "kleismic"
temperaments).

> Now let's try to identify this temperament. "Kemun"
> doesn't occur on your page
> > http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/sevnames.htm
> > or in Herman's doc file. But "Keemun" does. It's a
> kind of tea and perhaps a region in China. What's the
> anecdote behind this name?

It's just one of my favorite varieties of tea. Paul needed something
that was alphabetized between "Injera" and "Lemba" for his paper, and
that's the suggestion I came up with.

http://twiningsteashopusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=89

> Ideally your page above would not be limited to the
> 7-limit, and ideally it would be in alpha order by
> temperament name.
> > Herman -- what are the "catalog number"s in your Word
> file?

Those are from Gene's old list of 114 7-limit "linear temperaments" (as
we were still calling them in those days). Almost all of the useful
7-limit ones are on that list somewhere (with a tiny handful of
exceptions like "superpelog"), so it's convenient for referring to
temperaments that don't yet have names.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 7:15:05 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> (Or maybe I wouldn't be able to figure it out. I remember trying to
> puzzle out a definition of wedge product some time ago, and not
> succeeding. Though given a clearer definition than the one I was
> looking at I probably would have gotten it.)

The history of multilinear algebra on this group has beem that no one
liked it at first, when I introduced it to eliminate "torsion"
problems, but after a while people came to find it convenient. The
hump was gotten over, not much help to me, since by trying to make
things simple for people, and presenting a kind of dumbed-down
version, I apparently made it impossible to understand (since it was
just waving a magic wand, I suppose.) So, if you really want to get
into this stuff, it's useful.

However, as you no doubt already know, multilinear algebra is good for
you if you are a physicist, so it's not as if it would be a waste of
your time anyway. Studying its application to music would probably be
a good way to get up to speed with differential forms, where things
are more complicated. It's often remarked how much simpler Maxwell's
equations become if the shift is made to vector analysis notation, but
a similar simplification and clarification comes when the change is
made to differential forms, exterior derivatives, and the Hodge-*
operator. But here in music land, we've laid the groundwork--for
instance the complement of a wedge product (Hodge-* for people who
don't have to worry about differential topology) is something you
become familiar working with music applications.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/4/2006 8:03:48 PM

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

> The history of multilinear algebra on this group has beem that no one
> liked it at first, when I introduced it to eliminate "torsion"
> problems, but after a while people came to find it convenient.

All people? Or just the ones who didn't give up and go away?

> However, as you no doubt already know, multilinear algebra is good for
> you if you are a physicist, so it's not as if it would be a waste of
> your time anyway. Studying its application to music would probably be
> a good way to get up to speed with differential forms, where things
> are more complicated.

True maybe for theoretical physicists; I'm an experimentalist.
Differential forms aren't really very useful in designing data
acquisition systems or simulating Cerenkov detectors. In fact, not
only do I not know multilinear algebra is good for me, I don't even
know what multilinear algebra is.

Maybe there needs to be a tuning-simple-math group.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 8:28:56 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> True maybe for theoretical physicists; I'm an experimentalist.
> Differential forms aren't really very useful in designing data
> acquisition systems or simulating Cerenkov detectors. In fact, not
> only do I not know multilinear algebra is good for me, I don't even
> know what multilinear algebra is.

Multilinear algebra is where you start if you want to do determinants
and vector analysis in the right way. It's a pity it isn't more or
less a requirment for undergrad math and physics majors as a part of
the standard sophomore linear algebra course; in large measure that's
because of historical reasons. Grassmann confused the hell out of
people, whereas the approach of Gibbs seemed easier, and it *was* an
improvement over Hamilton's quaterion approach. But in the end, people
paid for it in lessened understanding and more complex notation.
Anyway, it isn't really non-simple mathematics, it's just that people
are not introduced to it as soon as they should be (I didn't learn
about it as an undergraduate, and as I say I think I should have.)

> Maybe there needs to be a tuning-simple-math group.

What is simple? To get rank two temperaments, stepping through
generator sizes sounds simple, but in practice it turns out to be
harder than the alternatives. Combining pairs of equal temperaments is
a good idea, and combining commas is a good idea, and working from
generators in an equal temperament is a good idea, but how do you
treat these all at once? Wedge products let you do so easily; anything
which saves effort is in some significant sense "simple".

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/4/2006 9:12:05 PM

We probably have to agree to disagree. By "simple" I mean simple
concepts, not ease of computation. As efficient and beautiful as you
think your approach may be, insisting on doing everything in terms of
the jargon and concepts you use can only frighten away a lot of people
who would like to, and could, learn some basic things about tuning
math but are not mathematically sophisticated and cannot be expected
to work at your conceptual level. As l said, I'm sure your approach
is useful to some here, and you're welcome to it; but to expect all
others to either use it or go away is unreasonable.

Actually I'm not even sure things like wedgies are not simple
concepts. It may be a matter of how they're explained. Can it be
done more clearly than <http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/wedgie.html>?
Paul Erlich has, I think, been pretty successful at making things like
periodicity blocks and TOP accessible to the novice. Maybe he or
someone else can do likewise (or already has) with wedgies.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/4/2006 9:17:04 PM

Obviously those pages weren't organized as well as they should have
been, and I've since added links between them and others. Perhaps now
it becomes more clear that they are not intended as any sort of
definitive and complete treatise; they're just notes on some of the
avenues of thought I've followed. If concepts are omitted it's
because they're concepts I haven't explored.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/4/2006 10:25:13 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> We probably have to agree to disagree. By "simple" I mean simple
> concepts, not ease of computation. As efficient and beautiful as you
> think your approach may be, insisting on doing everything in terms of
> the jargon and concepts you use can only frighten away a lot of people
> who would like to, and could, learn some basic things about tuning
> math but are not mathematically sophisticated and cannot be expected
> to work at your conceptual level.

Most people here who undersrand this stuff are not professional
mathematicians; they are like you.

As l said, I'm sure your approach
> is useful to some here, and you're welcome to it; but to expect all
> others to either use it or go away is unreasonable.

Tuning-math was created precisely to be a place where one could speak
math without hearing complaints.

> Actually I'm not even sure things like wedgies are not simple
> concepts.

They *are* simple concepts. If you want non-simple concepts used in
extreme math overkill mode, check out Mazzola's "The Topos of Music".
To understand that you'd need to study a whole lot of graduate-level
math, and if like me you *did* in fact learn it for some other reason,
you'd discover, alas, that it didn't matter. The math being used on
this group has a much more practical slant, though questions of purely
theoretical interest are asked and answered, no one introduces math
just for the sake of having more and more complicated math.

It may be a matter of how they're explained. Can it be
> done more clearly than <http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/wedgie.html>?

Everyone seems to think almost anything I say can be said more clearly.

> Paul Erlich has, I think, been pretty successful at making things like
> periodicity blocks and TOP accessible to the novice. Maybe he or
> someone else can do likewise (or already has) with wedgies.

Didn't Graham or Dave do something like that?

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/4/2006 11:56:52 PM

>> Now let's try to identify this temperament. "Kemun"
>> doesn't occur on your page
>>
>> http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/sevnames.htm
>>
>> or in Herman's doc file. But "Keemun" does. It's a
>> kind of tea and perhaps a region in China. What's the
>> anecdote behind this name?
>
>It's just one of my favorite varieties of tea.

I'm a tea nut -- I like it too. Also Yunnan Gold. And Pu-er.
But my favorite of all is Wenshan Baozhong oolong (from Taiwan).
Their first snow in 150 years ruined last year's crop of that,
though. :(

:)

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/5/2006 12:08:55 AM

>> The history of multilinear algebra on this group has beem that no
>> one liked it at first, when I introduced it to eliminate "torsion"
>> problems, but after a while people came to find it convenient.
>
>All people? Or just the ones who didn't give up and go away?

I'm afraid I never got over it, but all my attempts to find simple
alternatives have failed (based on generator sizes, etc.). I have
collected copious notes if I should ever find time to study it.

>Maybe there needs to be a tuning-simple-math group.

Here's to that!

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/5/2006 12:10:32 AM

...
>because of historical reasons.
>... But in the end, people
>paid for it in lessened understanding and more complex notation.
>Anyway, it isn't really non-simple mathematics, it's just that people
>are not introduced to it as soon as they should be

Lots of things in life like this...

-Carl

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/5/2006 7:56:08 AM

Herman Miller wrote:

> The numbers in brackets are the wedgie. That's usually the best way to > identify temperaments; this sequence of numbers uniquely identifies this > particular rank 2 temperament (one of the larger category of "kleismic" > temperaments).

In practical terms, the octave-equivalent wedgie is all you need to uniquely identify the temperament. That's the same as the generator mapping multiplied by the number of periods to an octave. I always prefer to give the full period and generator mapping to the wedgie and I don't see why anybody should have to read the linearized wedgie to identify a temperament.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/5/2006 7:56:00 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> The history of multilinear algebra on this group has beem that no one
> liked it at first, when I introduced it to eliminate "torsion"
> problems, but after a while people came to find it convenient. The
> hump was gotten over, not much help to me, since by trying to make
> things simple for people, and presenting a kind of dumbed-down
> version, I apparently made it impossible to understand (since it was
> just waving a magic wand, I suppose.) So, if you really want to get
> into this stuff, it's useful.

Not true in my case. I liked it at first (at least as soon as I understood it) but I'm still waiting for a practical use. Everything I can do with wedge products now I could do with matrices before. That includes eliminating torsion. Because I wrote my own Python code for wedge products, I don't need an external library. But I could have written matrix routines instead (I did for C++). Which method's easier largely depends on what you're already familiar with and have libraries for.

The wedge products may be useful for quantifying the complexity of regular temperaments. The "Graham complexity" used here only works for linear temperaments with an odd limit. There is an equivalent weighted primes measure that I'm getting to grips with. I don't know what Paul's doing in his paper, but it looks like it could relate to weighted wedgies. I'll look into it more, anyway. I think it can still be done easily enough without wedge products, but it's easiest to think of in that way, and the wedgies may come into their own for higher rank temperaments.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/5/2006 7:56:14 AM

Hiya Rich! I'll jump in here.

Rich Holmes wrote:
> We probably have to agree to disagree. By "simple" I mean simple
> concepts, not ease of computation. As efficient and beautiful as you
> think your approach may be, insisting on doing everything in terms of
> the jargon and concepts you use can only frighten away a lot of people
> who would like to, and could, learn some basic things about tuning
> math but are not mathematically sophisticated and cannot be expected
> to work at your conceptual level. As l said, I'm sure your approach
> is useful to some here, and you're welcome to it; but to expect all
> others to either use it or go away is unreasonable.

Wedgies are a simple concept, once you understand them. Gene's explanations aren't. They really seem to be pitched at professional mathematicians, to describe a branch of applied mathematics, which could prove very interesting but leaves the rest of us behind.

> Actually I'm not even sure things like wedgies are not simple
> concepts. It may be a matter of how they're explained. Can it be
> done more clearly than <http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/wedgie.html>?
> Paul Erlich has, I think, been pretty successful at making things like
> periodicity blocks and TOP accessible to the novice. Maybe he or
> someone else can do likewise (or already has) with wedgies.

I've typed out explanations on the list before, but they've probably been lost among the noise.

You'll have come across cross products somewhere? Wedge products are a generalized version of cross products, that work with any number of dimensions. Historically, wedge products were around first. That's what Gene was talking about with Grassman and Gibbs.

The basic property of wedge products is that they're antisymmetric, so

a^b = -b^a

most of the time. There are some objects it doesn't work for. I can't remember if the strict definition of exterior algebra excludes them, but for musical purposes assume that the relation holds.

It follows that the wedge product of a vector with itself is zero

a^a = -a^a = 0

So the wedge product is a test of linear independence. That's the simple concept behind it.

The reason multivectors come into it is that the wedge product a^b isn't the same thing as a and b. That's the simplification Gibbs brought in with the cross product. The cross product of two vectors in three dimensional space is another vector in three dimensional space. That means you can do your electromagnetism with only vectors and scalars, and not have to worry about multivectors.

The wedge product of two vectors in three dimensional space can be thought of in two different ways. One is that the result is the complement of a vector. You write the complement as a bar over the vector. For ASCII (and Python) simplification, I use a ~. Then the cross product can be defined in terms of the wedge product and complement:

aXb = ~(a^b)

In the special case of three dimensions, this means the cross product of two vectors is also a vector.

The other way of thinking of it is that you have two different spaces, a normal space and a dual space. The complement operation moves you between the two different spaces. So the wedge product of two vectors in three dimensional space is a vector in dual space. This way, you can leave the complements implicit but you have to remember which space you're in. Gene prefers dual spaces but I prefer explicit complements.

The complement is a bit like the transpose of a matrix. It doesn't alter the magnitude of the multivector. So we can define the magnitude of a vector as

|~(a^~a)|

then, substituting ~a for a gives

|~(~a^~~a)| = |~(a^~a)| = |~(~a^a)|

as reversing the order of the wedge product only changes the sign, and doing the complement twice gets you back where you started (give or take a change in sign). In general, this operation:

~(a^~b)

returns a scalar if a and b are the same kind of multivector. For simple vectors, this is the same as the dot product. So you can define a generalized dot product accordingly:

a*b = ~(a^~a)

And that's about all you need to know about the mathematics. You can dig an implementation out of my Python code at

http://x31eq.com/temper/

So the point of this for music theory is that any family of regular temperaments can be fully and uniquely defined by a wedge product. That wedge product could be arrived at as:

1) The wedge product of a set of commas that are tempered out.

2) The wedge product of a set of equal temperaments belonging to the family.

The two results are complements of each other. To see why this works, take an equal temperament mapping e and a comma c. If the temperament tempers out the comma, the dot product is zero:

e*c = 0

That's all we need for the 3-limit. It can be expanded as

~(e^~c) = 0

and simplified to

e^~c = 0

because the complement of 0 is still 0.

In the 5-limit, each equal temperament can temper out two linearly-independent commas:

e*c1 = 0 and e*c2 = 0

and, because the dot product is symmetric for simple vectors,

c1*e = 0 and c2*e = 0

it also happens that

(c1^c2)*e = 0

To show this, expand it as

~((c1^c2)^~e) = 0

And that's the same as

c1^(c2^~e) = 0

It isn't obvious that you can do that, but you can. Because c2^~e is zero, so is the whole thing. You can also write the equation as

c1^-(~e^c2) = 0

or

-(c1^~e)^c2 = 0

so it works if c1^~e is zero as well. As it happens,

(c1^c2)*e = 0

if e tempers out either c1 or c2, but

e*(c1^c2) = 0

requres e to temper out both c1 and c2. That's a bit more obscure, but the upshot is that

c1^c2 = +/- ~e or e = +/- ~(c1^c2)

if e tempers out both c1 and c2. It also works for any number of commas:

e = +/- ~(c1^c2^...^cm)

Now, take a lot of commas and a lot of equal temperament mappings. From similar reasoning as above,

e1^e2^...^en = +/- ~(c1^c2^...^cm)

if all the equal temperaments temper out all of the commas. So this demonstrates why the two wedgies are complements of each other. For linear temperaments, there are only two linearly independent equal temperament mappings:

e1^e2 = +/- ~(c1^c2^...^cm)

We're particularly interested in the octave-equivalent generator mapping. This is like defining an equal temperament with the octave as an additional comma, so it can be written as an equation with wedge products:

mapping = ~(octave^c1^c2^...^cm)
mapping = ~(octave^~(e1^e2))

That means the mapping can easily be derived from the wedgie, which is useful to know.

The lists of numbers Gene gives are one way of writing out the wedgie. To understand that you have to understand multivectors, which I'll leave for now. But I hope this gives you an idea of at least what the wedge products are for.

Graham

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/5/2006 9:34:47 AM

Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com> writes:

> Hiya Rich! I'll jump in here.

There's a lot more than I can instantly digest here, but I'll respond
to part.

> The reason multivectors come into it is that the wedge product a^b isn't

Definition of "multivector"?

> The wedge product of two vectors in three dimensional space can be
> thought of in two different ways. One is that the result is the
> complement of a vector....
> The other way of thinking of it is that you have two different spaces, a
> normal space and a dual space. The complement operation moves you
> between the two different spaces.

Neither one makes much sense to me so far.

> The complement is a bit like the transpose of a matrix.

In what way, and perhaps more importantly, in what way is it not?

You've talked about some properties of wedge products and vector
complements but I can't dig out from what you've said what the
complement represents, or how it differs from a vector, or the
definition of wedge product.

> And that's about all you need to know about the mathematics.

Sorry, but so far I'm still lost.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/5/2006 9:51:09 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> In practical terms, the octave-equivalent wedgie is all you need to
> uniquely identify the temperament.

In theoretical terms, it isn't. There are many temperaments each of
which goes to the same octave-equivalent one, and forcing someone to
sort it out simply adds an unneeded layer of agony and potential error.

To reconstruct septimal meantone from <1 4 10|, you can first find the
two-parameter family of possiblities, which is <<1 4 10 a b 4b-10a||.
*Any* of these is a theoretical temperament; now find the good one.

That's the same as the generator
> mapping multiplied by the number of periods to an octave. I always
> prefer to give the full period and generator mapping to the wedgie
and I
> don't see why anybody should have to read the linearized wedgie to
> identify a temperament.

When you read the wedgie, the first numbers are exactly what you
talked about--the octave equivalent part. So wedgies are not hard to read.

The full period and generator mapping is a good method of identifying
the temperament, but it isn't unique unless you constrain the
generator, for instance by making it the smallest choice greater than
one. To do that, you need to calculate it, first choosing a definition
of optimal tuning, and then finding which generator, using this
definition, is minimal among those greater than one. After this
rigamarole, you may find the generator selected isn't necessarily the
most interesting one; for certain you will find it takes time compared
to computing the wedgie, so if you are doing a massive hunt through
13-limit temperaments, doing this step when getting an initial
temperament list will slow you down.

You can wait until after you've gotten the list, with a complexity
cutoff (complexity being easy from the wedgie) and *then* doing it to
compute error and badness. Trying to work directly with periods and
generators simply makes things harder. Moreover, you don't necessarily
want to compute error and badness this way anyway. You can compute,
say, TOP error and Graham complexity directly from the wedgie, use
that to compute badness, sort everything out, and then after you have
your list finally compute the mapping.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/5/2006 10:10:57 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> The basic property of wedge products is that they're antisymmetric, so
>
> a^b = -b^a
>
> most of the time. There are some objects it doesn't work for. I can't
> remember if the strict definition of exterior algebra excludes them,
but
> for musical purposes assume that the relation holds.

The relationship holds for vectors, and everything else is a sum of
products of vectors, so the definition for vectors is all you need.

> The reason multivectors come into it is that the wedge product a^b
isn't
> the same thing as a and b. That's the simplification Gibbs brought in
> with the cross product. The cross product of two vectors in three
> dimensional space is another vector in three dimensional space.

I think historically Gibbs started from Hamilton and quaterions, not
Grassman. Mathematicians do have a use for antisymmetric products
which map vecors to vectors, in Lie algebras. But using the Lie
algebra o(3), which is what the cross-product is in mathematise, is
the wrong thing to do in most physics applications, leading to weird
concepts such as "pseudovectors". The "bivector", the wedge product of
two vectors, is a different animal than the vector, even though you
can relate it back to a vector. This appears to make things harder but
actually ends up removing some of the confusion in physics applications.

That
> means you can do your electromagnetism with only vectors and scalars,
> and not have to worry about multivectors.

And end up more confused and far less able to deal with it in terms of
relativity.

> The other way of thinking of it is that you have two different
spaces, a
> normal space and a dual space. The complement operation moves you
> between the two different spaces. So the wedge product of two vectors
> in three dimensional space is a vector in dual space.

Well, in three dimensions. But why only three?

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/5/2006 12:58:31 PM

Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com> writes:

> Hiya Rich! I'll jump in here.

OK, having looked at the Wikipedia entry for exterior algebra and
thought about it a bit, things seems a bit clearer.

> The basic property of wedge products is that they're antisymmetric, so
>
> a^b = -b^a
>
> most of the time. There are some objects it doesn't work for.

As I understand it, this is true for vectors, not for all elements of
the algebra defined by the vector space and the wedge product.

> It follows that the wedge product of a vector with itself is zero
>
> a^a = -a^a = 0
>
> So the wedge product is a test of linear independence.

Again paraphrasing from Wikipedia, the wedge product is bilinear and
associative, satisfies the antisymmetry requirement shown above, and
also a^b != 0 if a and b are linearly independent. Then it follows
that a^b^c..^z = 0 iff a, b, c, ... z are not linearly independent.

Then, I think, but this part's still hazy to me, the wedge product is
*defined* by the above requirements.

> The wedge product of two vectors in three dimensional space can be
> thought of in two different ways. One is that the result is the
> complement of a vector. ... The other way of thinking of it is that
> you have two different spaces, a normal space and a dual space. The
> complement operation moves you between the two different spaces. So
> the wedge product of two vectors in three dimensional space is a
> vector in dual space.

This is still murky but I think I'm getting used to it. The point is
that the wedge product of two vectors is a vector, but not a vector in
the same space as the two vectors. So if you have two vectors a and
b, you can't do, for example, the (ordinary vector) dot product of a
and a^b, because a^b is a vector in a different space from a.

Then the complements you speak of are a mapping from the vectors in
the dual space to vectors in the original space. So you *can* do the
dot product of a and ~(a^b), because both are vectors in the same
space. Yes?

In the case of 3 dimensional vectors with basis i, j, k:

a = a1i + a2j + a3k
b = b1i + b2j + b3k

a^b = (a1b2-a2b1)(i^j) + (a1b3-a3b1)(i^k) + (a2b3-a3b2)(j^k)

a vector in a space with basis i^j, i^k, j^k. (I was tempted to put a
minus sign in front of the second term, but Wikipedia says it's a plus
sign.) Presumably that formula is dictated by the requirements stated
above. The complement is

~(a^b) = (a2b3-a3b2)i - (a1b3-a3b1)j + (a1b2-a2b1)k
= a x b

the usual vector cross product. (Here there *is* a minus sign.)

> In general, this operation:
>
> ~(a^~b)
>
> returns a scalar if a and b are the same kind of multivector.

I still haven't seen a definition of multivector (well, I've seen the
one on Wikipedia but it doesn't help much). But I assume when you say
"same kind of multivector", vectors in the algebra's vector space are
the "same kind", wedge products of vectors are another "kind", and so
on. As for ~(a^~b) being a scalar if a and b are the same kind, I
hope that's not supposed to be obvious?

> So the point of this for music theory is that any family of regular
> temperaments can be fully and uniquely defined by a wedge product. That
> wedge product could be arrived at as:
>
> 1) The wedge product of a set of commas that are tempered out.

That is, each comma is represented by a vector and their wedge product
"fully and uniquely" defines a regular temperament? I presume the
vectors are the ones I've seen here before, with the nth component
being the exponent of the nth prime factor. By "fully and uniquely"
you mean the wedge product specifies exactly one regular temperament,
and two different wedge products specify two different temperaments?

> 2) The wedge product of a set of equal temperaments belonging to the family.

So each equal temperament is represented by a vector and their wedge
product "fully and uniquely" defines a regular temperament. And the
nth component of each vector is the number of ET steps corresponding
to the nth prime factor?

> The two results are complements of each other. To see why this works,
> take an equal temperament mapping e and a comma c. If the temperament
> tempers out the comma, the dot product is zero:
>
> e*c = 0
>
> That's all we need for the 3-limit. It can be expanded as
>
> ~(e^~c) = 0
>
> and simplified to
>
> e^~c = 0
>
> because the complement of 0 is still 0.

Let's see if I get the point here: e and c are vectors in two
different spaces -- comma space and ET space -- but these spaces are
dual to one another, so ~c is a vector in ET space, for instance; and
in particular, if e tempers out c, then ~c and e are not linearly
independent -- that is, ~c is equal to e (up to a constant factor).
Yes?

> In the 5-limit, each equal temperament can temper out two
> linearly-independent commas:
>
> e*c1 = 0 and e*c2 = 0
>
> and, because the dot product is symmetric for simple vectors,
>
> c1*e = 0 and c2*e = 0
>
> it also happens that
>
> (c1^c2)*e = 0
>
> To show this, expand it as
>
> ~((c1^c2)^~e) = 0
>
> And that's the same as
>
> c1^(c2^~e) = 0
>
> It isn't obvious that you can do that, but you can.

It's not? Isn't that just associativity?

> We're particularly interested in the octave-equivalent generator
> mapping. This is like defining an equal temperament with the octave as
> an additional comma, so it can be written as an equation with wedge
> products:
>
> mapping = ~(octave^c1^c2^...^cm)
> mapping = ~(octave^~(e1^e2))
>
> That means the mapping can easily be derived from the wedgie, which is
> useful to know.

You lost me there.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/5/2006 12:56:50 PM

Rich Holmes wrote:

> Definition of "multivector"?

A multivector's something you get by multiplying vectors. How about that?

The point is that it isn't indexed by a single number. If you think of a vector elementwize, it's a list of v[i]. A multivector needs more than one index. So a bivector's indexed as m[i,j]. A trivector as m[i,j,k] and so on.

For a bivector you get from a wedge product, you know that each v[i,i]=0 and v[i,j] = -v[j,i].

>>The wedge product of two vectors in three dimensional space can be >>thought of in two different ways. One is that the result is the >>complement of a vector....
>> The other way of thinking of it is that you have two different spaces, a >>normal space and a dual space. The complement operation moves you >>between the two different spaces. > > Neither one makes much sense to me so far.

Imagine a world populated by row and column vectors. The complement is the operation that turns a row into a column, and vice versa.

>>The complement is a bit like the transpose of a matrix. > > In what way, and perhaps more importantly, in what way is it not?

There similar in that the shape and numbers are the same, but the numbers move around. They're different in that the sign of some numbers changes

> You've talked about some properties of wedge products and vector
> complements but I can't dig out from what you've said what the
> complement represents, or how it differs from a vector, or the
> definition of wedge product.

Then perhaps you think it's more complicated than it really is. How do you like your algebras defined?

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/5/2006 1:46:44 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> Then, I think, but this part's still hazy to me, the wedge product is
> *defined* by the above requirements.

What more do you need? Mathmaticians have a way of "clarifying" that
which is probably guaranteed to confuse you much more if you are not a
mathematician, called a "universal property":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_property

but basically, it's pretty clear. You have a certain set of rules, and
no others. Those rules give you the wedge product.

> This is still murky but I think I'm getting used to it. The point is
> that the wedge product of two vectors is a vector, but not a vector in
> the same space as the two vectors.

Right. Though there is something called the exterior algebra (or in
more general situations a Clifford algebra) if you want to toss
everything into the same space, it doesn't seem to be useful for
musical purposes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exterior_algebra

> Then the complements you speak of are a mapping from the vectors in
> the dual space to vectors in the original space. So you *can* do the
> dot product of a and ~(a^b), because both are vectors in the same
> space. Yes?

Right. The dot product is a way of making something in the space act
like something in the dual space. But the above formula is only valid
in three dimensions.

> In the case of 3 dimensional vectors with basis i, j, k:
>
>
> a = a1i + a2j + a3k
> b = b1i + b2j + b3k
>
> a^b = (a1b2-a2b1)(i^j) + (a1b3-a3b1)(i^k) + (a2b3-a3b2)(j^k)
>
> a vector in a space with basis i^j, i^k, j^k. (I was tempted to put a
> minus sign in front of the second term, but Wikipedia says it's a plus
> sign.)

It's helpful to standardize the basis in some way, and the obvious way
is to put it into alphabetical order. The basis you wanted is
j^k, k^i, i^k which corresponds to i, j, k.

> That is, each comma is represented by a vector and their wedge product
> "fully and uniquely" defines a regular temperament?

The wedge product, projectivized to a "wedgie", fully and uniquely
defines a regular temperament. To do that, take the GCD of the terms
and divide out any common factors, and then make the first nonzero
entry positive.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/5/2006 3:15:44 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

> The full period and generator mapping is a good method of identifying
> the temperament, but it isn't unique unless you constrain the
> generator, for instance by making it the smallest choice greater than
> one. To do that, you need to calculate it, first choosing a definition
> of optimal tuning, and then finding which generator, using this
> definition, is minimal among those greater than one.

There is a way around this, which is purely algebraic and fast, but it
never became accepted; that is to define the standard mapping
identifier for a temperament to be Hermite reduced.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/5/2006 6:55:53 PM

Rich Holmes wrote:

> Actually I'm not even sure things like wedgies are not simple
> concepts. It may be a matter of how they're explained. Can it be
> done more clearly than <http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/wedgie.html>?
> Paul Erlich has, I think, been pretty successful at making things like
> periodicity blocks and TOP accessible to the novice. Maybe he or
> someone else can do likewise (or already has) with wedgies.

I have a brief description of wedgies at the bottom of my Zireen Music page. It doesn't go into much detail, and it's (deliberately) not technically precise, but it does describe some reasons why they can be useful for dealing with temperaments.

http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/zireen-music.html

Calculating wedgies is actually not that difficult; here's C code for wedging two "vals" (a kind of vector) of the same size (valsize), placing the result in the "wedgie" array.

wedgiesize = 0;
for (i = 0; i < valsize - 1; i++)
{
for (j = i + 1; j < valsize; j++)
{
wedgie[wedgiesize] = val1[i] * val2[j] - val2[i] * val1[j];
wedgiesize++;
}
}

These so-called "vals" are usually used to describe a tuning map, which specifies how many periods and generators (or any other two intervals, like tones and semitones) are used for approximating each of the prime number intervals (2/1, 3/1, 5/1, etc.) In the case of meantone, for instance, you have these two vals:

<1, 2, 4, 7] (for the period, an octave in the case of meantone)
<0, -1, -4, -10] (for the generator, a perfect fourth).

(You get a different set of vals if you use a fifth as the generator, but the end result is the same wedgie.) What this means is that:

2/1 is approximated by one octave up.
3/1 is approximated by two octaves up and one fourth down.
5/1 is approximated by 4 octaves up and 4 fourths down.
7/1 is approximated by 7 octaves up and 10 fourths down.

Wedge these vals and you end up with a so-called "bival", which identifies meantone temperament.

<<1, 4, 10, 4, 13, 12]]

You can also wedge commas, represented in vector form as the prime factorization of the comma ratio:

[-4, 4, -1> 81/80 (2^-4 * 3^4 * 5^-1)
[-5, 2, 2, -1> 225/224 (2^-5 * 3^2 * 5^2 * 7^-1)

[[12, -13, 4, 10, -4, 1>>

which after a bit of rearranging and sign flipping ends up with the same result.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/6/2006 6:13:42 AM

Herman Miller wrote:

> Calculating wedgies is actually not that difficult; here's C code for > wedging two "vals" (a kind of vector) of the same size (valsize), > placing the result in the "wedgie" array.
> > wedgiesize = 0;
> for (i = 0; i < valsize - 1; i++)
> {
> for (j = i + 1; j < valsize; j++)
> {
> wedgie[wedgiesize] = val1[i] * val2[j] - val2[i] * val1[j];
> wedgiesize++;
> }
> }

Oh, thanks! That is really simple. I can't currently do wedge products in C, and this is the most useful special case. So I'll borrow this code if that's okay.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/6/2006 6:13:53 AM

Rich Holmes wrote:
> Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com> writes:

>>We're particularly interested in the octave-equivalent generator >>mapping. This is like defining an equal temperament with the octave as >>an additional comma, so it can be written as an equation with wedge >>products:
>>
>>mapping = ~(octave^c1^c2^...^cm)
>>mapping = ~(octave^~(e1^e2))
>>
>>That means the mapping can easily be derived from the wedgie, which is >>useful to know.
> > > You lost me there.

You're getting the hang if it pretty well, so I think the best thing's to ponder it until it makes more sense.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/6/2006 6:13:38 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> > >>In practical terms, the octave-equivalent wedgie is all you need to >>uniquely identify the temperament. > > > In theoretical terms, it isn't. There are many temperaments each of
> which goes to the same octave-equivalent one, and forcing someone to
> sort it out simply adds an unneeded layer of agony and potential error.

It's a good thing I said "I always prefer to give the full period and generator mapping" below, isn't it?

Even theoretically, I don't know how two practically useful temperaments can have the same octave-equivalent definition. Nobody's produced any examples.

> When you read the wedgie, the first numbers are exactly what you
> talked about--the octave equivalent part. So wedgies are not hard to read.

Maybe not much harder than the full mapping, if you know what they are. Which most people don't.

> The full period and generator mapping is a good method of identifying
> the temperament, but it isn't unique unless you constrain the
> generator, for instance by making it the smallest choice greater than
> one. To do that, you need to calculate it, first choosing a definition
> of optimal tuning, and then finding which generator, using this
> definition, is minimal among those greater than one. After this
> rigamarole, you may find the generator selected isn't necessarily the
> most interesting one; for certain you will find it takes time compared
> to computing the wedgie, so if you are doing a massive hunt through
> 13-limit temperaments, doing this step when getting an initial
> temperament list will slow you down. For certain? Would you care to place money on that? This process is linear in the number of primes (with a suitable optimization) whereas the wedge product grows quadratically. There must be a prime limit in which the wedge product takes more time to calculate.

For simple cases like the 13-limit, yes, maybe it is faster. But neither is going to be very slow unless you use a slow optimization.

There's also the Hermite reduction, which you mentioned in another post. Interestingly you think that's fast, although I don't see it should be any faster than the things you say are slow. It's still a single pass over the primes.

> You can wait until after you've gotten the list, with a complexity
> cutoff (complexity being easy from the wedgie) and *then* doing it to
> compute error and badness. Trying to work directly with periods and
> generators simply makes things harder. Moreover, you don't necessarily
> want to compute error and badness this way anyway. You can compute,
> say, TOP error and Graham complexity directly from the wedgie, use
> that to compute badness, sort everything out, and then after you have
> your list finally compute the mapping.

A list??? Ordered by complexity I suppose? The Python code works a bit like this, but using a dictionary (implemented as a hash table). I reckoned when I moved to C that the hash lookups would be equivalent in complexity to the error calculation anyway. So I switched to keeping a small list ordered by badness. Currently I have to do a linear search to check for duplicates, because temperament families don't always have distinct badness the way I calculate it. Maybe that's avoidable.

It's pretty fast. Over a million linear temperaments in all odd limits from 5 to 21 in about thirty seconds. It gets a lot slower for higher limits, but I've shown that's mostly the time taken to find the seed equal temperaments. I haven't profiled it in the 13-limit yet. If the error calculation is a problem, it'll get faster when I switch to weighted primes.

I noticed you mentioned the TOP error calculation there, which is currently horribly slow by the method you suggested, and I don't plan on researching any further.

But yes, there's no need to calculate the octave-specific part of the mapping until you display the temperaments. The two seed ETs work fine as an octave specific mapping for the purposes of calculating the error. And if you don't think the octave-equivalent mapping is a practically unique key, adding the badness will make it so for any temperaments we'd care about distinguishing. So it all depends on which way is faster to calculate the octave-equivalent mapping. Or even easier, if you leave the display to a higher level language.

The wedge product's certainly worth considering. I think it would come into its own for rank 3 temperaments and beyond because there isn't a single octave-equivalent mapping to calculate the complexity from. Now I have a simple function from Herman I might give it a try.

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 8:50:48 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > Why would you call this modulatory space when absolutely no
modulation
> > is required or need be involved? That seems to muddy the issue.
>
> I called it a modulatory space because other people did. The term was
> not invented on Wikipedia, as a google search shows, but I don't know
> its provinance. I suppose the idea is that it is a space you can
> modulate in, as just changing octaves doesn't count as modulation.
>
> If you can find a more widely used term I could rewrite the page and
> move it, leaving a redirect.

In the "modulatory space" that other people defined, is each point a
note, a chord, or a key? At least some of the modulatory spaces I have
seen (such as Krumhansl's) plot each *key* as a point (with C major, C
minor, and A minor all at different points), which makes sense because
modulation means a change of key.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 8:51:31 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > BTW, will rms-TOP
> > and rms-Kees always be stretched versions of one another?
>
> I doubt it. I'd need to write some code to find examples.

I'd absolutely love to know about those. I'm sure Graham would too.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 8:59:11 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...> writes:
>
> > 7-limit Graham complexity is what you want for your purpose; If
you
> > take a generator chain scale of n notes, then the number of
tetrads of
> > each kind will be n - Graham.
>
> Ah, I see. Thanks.
>
> > and the wedgie, which identifies the temperament.
>
> Well, to some people, it does. I took a look at
> <http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/wedgie.html>. Now, I've studied
enough
> math to believe I could figure out what that definition means if I
were
> to work at it for a few to several hours, but on the whole I'd
rather
> not. I'm sure the group theory connections, the jargon, and so on
are
> useful to you and to some other people, but to me they're just
> obstacles.

Don't close your mind to something that may open it up greatly for
the future.

> (Or maybe I wouldn't be able to figure it out. I remember trying to
> puzzle out a definition of wedge product some time ago, and not
> succeeding. Though given a clearer definition than the one I was
> looking at I probably would have gotten it.)
>
> - Rich Holmes

I'm sure you can figure this all out with patience and our help. It
will be worth it.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 9:15:37 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> Maybe there needs to be a tuning-simple-math group.
>
> - Rich Holmes

It may take you a few years (as it took most of us), but after that,
I'm sure you'll think of wedgies as "simple". And I think you'll
correspondingly get a better sense of how to fully, economically and
mathematically tackle the kinds of scale searches you're interested in.
And probably teach us a few things as well!

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 9:26:03 AM

Hi Rich,

You know about the "cross product" in physics, right? That's a kind
of wedge product . . .

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> We probably have to agree to disagree. By "simple" I mean simple
> concepts, not ease of computation. As efficient and beautiful as
you
> think your approach may be, insisting on doing everything in terms
of
> the jargon and concepts you use can only frighten away a lot of
people
> who would like to, and could, learn some basic things about tuning
> math but are not mathematically sophisticated and cannot be expected
> to work at your conceptual level. As l said, I'm sure your approach
> is useful to some here, and you're welcome to it; but to expect all
> others to either use it or go away is unreasonable.
>
> Actually I'm not even sure things like wedgies are not simple
> concepts. It may be a matter of how they're explained. Can it be
> done more clearly than <http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/wedgie.html>?

This page sure is confusing -- and it seems to contradict what Gene
himself has said; he told me that frequency ratios (or "monzos" or
vectors in the JI lattice) cannot be wedgies; that wedgies are always
vals or multivals.

> Paul Erlich has, I think, been pretty successful at making things
like
> periodicity blocks and TOP accessible to the novice. Maybe he or
> someone else can do likewise (or already has) with wedgies.
>
> - Rich Holmes

I'd like to (not this instant though). But even Gene has written much
more readably about "what the numbers in the wedgie mean" as well as
how to compute the wedgie.

Anyway, a simple example would be to show how the wedgie for a
particular temperament can be arrived at by some simple calculations
(like the calculation of the cross product), resulting in the same
answer whether one starts with vanishing commas, ET mappings, or
period-generator mappings. Do it for two different-rank temperaments,
12-equal and meantone (both in the 5-limit case), and the power of
the approach begins to become clear . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 9:27:58 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> Obviously those pages weren't organized as well as they should have
> been, and I've since added links between them and others. Perhaps now
> it becomes more clear that they are not intended as any sort of
> definitive and complete treatise; they're just notes on some of the
> avenues of thought I've followed. If concepts are omitted it's
> because they're concepts I haven't explored.
>
> - Rich Holmes

Please let me know if you'd like me to give you comments on them (in
private or public). I don't want to if it'll only annoy you; I just
want to be helpful and keep everyone up to speed with the latest
information . . .

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/6/2006 10:46:28 AM

"wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@aya.yale.edu> writes:

> Anyway, a simple example would be to show how the wedgie for a
> particular temperament can be arrived at by some simple calculations
> (like the calculation of the cross product), resulting in the same
> answer whether one starts with vanishing commas, ET mappings, or
> period-generator mappings. Do it for two different-rank temperaments,
> 12-equal and meantone (both in the 5-limit case), and the power of
> the approach begins to become clear . . .

It would show you how different descriptions of the same temperament
lead to the same wedgie, while different temperaments lead to
different wedgies, I suppose. It wouldn't tell me how a wedgie can be
used, however.

It also is something I wouldn't be able to do until I learned just
what a wedgie *is*, which still is not clear, other than that it's
somehow related to a wedge product. I find it hard to understand why
clear definitions of these terms and examples of their use, which
people are insisting are required knowledge on this group, don't seem
to exist anywhere.

In particular: Way back a few days ago, I was complaining because Gene
Ward Smith was telling me "here, look at these tunings" and followed
that with a cryptic list of names and wedgies.

That sent me off on a tangent, but to return to the starting point:
Given a wedgie, how does one get e.g. a corresponding generator and
period for that tuning?

After all, I presume that's the sort of thing Gene expected me to do
with his list.

- Rich Holmes

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 10:46:55 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> The wedge products may be useful for quantifying the complexity of
> regular temperaments. The "Graham complexity" used here only works
for
> linear temperaments with an odd limit. There is an equivalent
weighted
> primes measure that I'm getting to grips with. I don't know what
Paul's
> doing in his paper,

Really? Why didn't you ask?

> but it looks like it could relate to weighted
> wedgies.

Yes, it's the weighted L_1 norm of the wedgie -- that's why it agrees
with (is proportional to) the Tenney Harmonic Distance of the
vanishing ratio in the codimension-1 case.

It's also extremely close to the "minimax Kees complexity", which is
defined similarly to Graham complexity, but uses a Kees-
expressibility or "log-of-odd-limit" weighting and in principle looks
over all intervals, not just some set of "consonances".

> I'll look into it more, anyway. I think it can still be done
> easily enough without wedge products, but it's easiest to think of
in
> that way, and the wedgies may come into their own for higher rank
> temperaments.

Sometimes, the wedgie has more elements than the full set of mapping
vectors, so it's inefficient, but certainly still valuable for a lot
of the calculation you might conceivably want to do.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 11:11:49 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> We're particularly interested in the octave-equivalent generator
> mapping. This is like defining an equal temperament with the
octave as
> an additional comma, so it can be written as an equation with wedge
> products:
>
> mapping = ~(octave^c1^c2^...^cm)
> mapping = ~(octave^~(e1^e2))
>
> That means the mapping can easily be derived from the wedgie, which
is
> useful to know.

But don't you have to also divide by the LCM (the LCM giving you the
number of periods per octave)?

> The lists of numbers Gene gives are one way of writing out the
wedgie.
> To understand that you have to understand multivectors, which I'll
leave
> for now. But I hope this gives you an idea of at least what the
wedge
> products are for.

I hope to provide some concrete examples later, if no one beats me to
it . . .

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/6/2006 11:18:04 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> Even theoretically, I don't know how two practically useful
temperaments
> can have the same octave-equivalent definition. Nobody's produced any
> examples.

It's tough, since the same generator mapping numbers need to go to two
different period mapping numbers. Hence the tuning for at least one
must be either atrocious, or the temperaments must be complex. It can
happen in a more or less practical context, however. I have an old
list of 32201 seven-limit temperaments I used as a preliminary list
before eliminaing almost all of them, and somewhere on that list is a
pair of temperaments with the same octave-equivalent numbers. Of
course if I had been using octave-equivalent numbers the whole thing
would have taken too long anyway; it's not a practical system for that
sort of thing.

> For certain? Would you care to place money on that? This process is
> linear in the number of primes (with a suitable optimization) whereas
> the wedge product grows quadratically. There must be a prime limit in
> which the wedge product takes more time to calculate.

It's not even well-defined anyway. You need to use something like a
Hermite reduction step. I'm not too worried about what happens in the
101-limit, and for low limits the whole business slows things down.
Moreover, as far as I can see it's likely to be quadratic also;
certainly rms will be, because the tonality diamond grows quadratically.

> There's also the Hermite reduction, which you mentioned in another
post.
> Interestingly you think that's fast, although I don't see it
should be
> any faster than the things you say are slow.

It's a kind of souped up Gaussian elimination, applied to a problem
where most of the work has been done already. Anyway, it's
well-defined; in theory smallest generator depends on your optimization.

> A list??? Ordered by complexity I suppose?

You've seen my lists ordered by various things--complexity, error,
badness.

Currently I have to do a linear search
> to check for duplicates, because temperament families don't always have
> distinct badness the way I calculate it. Maybe that's avoidable.

It should be avoidable by using rms error.

> It's pretty fast. Over a million linear temperaments in all odd limits
> from 5 to 21 in about thirty seconds.

I'm using Maple, which is much slower. I suppose writing C code would
be an alternative.

The two seed ETs work fine
> as an octave specific mapping for the purposes of calculating the
error.

But not as a means of uniquely naming the temperaments.

> The wedge product's certainly worth considering. I think it would come
> into its own for rank 3 temperaments and beyond because there isn't a
> single octave-equivalent mapping to calculate the complexity from.

You need a different complexity measure than Graham complexity,
certainly. The rank 3 temperaments can be defined by a wedgie, but
also by a Hermite reduced mapping.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 11:30:12 AM

Hi Rich, I think you were doing OK up to here:

> Let's see if I get the point here: e and c are vectors in two
> different spaces -- comma space and ET space -- but these spaces are
> dual to one another, so ~c is a vector in ET space, for instance; and
> in particular, if e tempers out c, then ~c and e are not linearly
> independent -- that is, ~c is equal to e (up to a constant factor).
> Yes?

This is only true in the 3-limit -- I don't know if you followed Graham
on that. More generally, if e tempers out c, it is true as Graham said
that e*c = 0 (wedge product of e and ~c equals zero), but in general
they're not equal up to a constant factor. Example: 12-equal tempers
out the syntonic comma:

<12 19 28|-4 4 -1> = 12*(-4) + 19*4 + 28*(-1) = 0

but clearly, <12 19 28] and [-4 4 -1> are not equal up to a constant
factor, even if you take the complement of one of them . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 11:38:59 AM

Personally, I'd use the concept of 2 or 4 different spaces to allow
all these operations to be understood a bit less abstractly. You have
tone-space, which is like the JI lattice -- each point is a note (or
interval). You have tuning-space, where each point is a "regular"
tuning system. In both cases, the axes are the primes. But in the
first case, the coordinate on a given axis tells you the number of
times you have to multiply by that prime to get to the note (or
interval) in question. In the second case, the coordinate on a given
axis tells you how that prime is tuned in the tuning system in
question. Then you have projective versions of both spaces, where
vectors from the original spaces that were scalar multiples of one
another are identified (thus the projective spaces have one fewer
dimension than the original spaces from which they were defined). If
you adopt these pictures, it's much more "tangible" what the various
vectors, wedge products, and complements "represent" . . .

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> Rich Holmes wrote:
>
> > Definition of "multivector"?
>
> A multivector's something you get by multiplying vectors. How
about that?
>
> The point is that it isn't indexed by a single number. If you
think of
> a vector elementwize, it's a list of v[i]. A multivector needs
more
> than one index. So a bivector's indexed as m[i,j]. A trivector as
> m[i,j,k] and so on.
>
> For a bivector you get from a wedge product, you know that each v
[i,i]=0
> and v[i,j] = -v[j,i].
>
> >>The wedge product of two vectors in three dimensional space can
be
> >>thought of in two different ways. One is that the result is the
> >>complement of a vector....
> >> The other way of thinking of it is that you have two different
spaces, a
> >>normal space and a dual space. The complement operation moves
you
> >>between the two different spaces.
> >
> > Neither one makes much sense to me so far.
>
> Imagine a world populated by row and column vectors. The
complement is
> the operation that turns a row into a column, and vice versa.
>
> >>The complement is a bit like the transpose of a matrix.
> >
> > In what way, and perhaps more importantly, in what way is it not?
>
> There similar in that the shape and numbers are the same, but the
> numbers move around. They're different in that the sign of some
numbers
> changes
>
> > You've talked about some properties of wedge products and vector
> > complements but I can't dig out from what you've said what the
> > complement represents, or how it differs from a vector, or the
> > definition of wedge product.
>
> Then perhaps you think it's more complicated than it really is.
How do
> you like your algebras defined?
>
>
> Graham
>

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 11:50:36 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
> >
> >
> >>In practical terms, the octave-equivalent wedgie is all you need
to
> >>uniquely identify the temperament.
> >
> >
> > In theoretical terms, it isn't. There are many temperaments each
of
> > which goes to the same octave-equivalent one, and forcing someone
to
> > sort it out simply adds an unneeded layer of agony and potential
error.
>
> It's a good thing I said "I always prefer to give the full period
and
> generator mapping" below, isn't it?
>
> Even theoretically, I don't know how two practically useful
temperaments
> can have the same octave-equivalent definition. Nobody's produced
any
> examples.

The 7-limit wedgies, treated as vectors in a six-dimensional space,
all lie in a four-dimensional subspace of that six-dimensional space.
There's also a three-dimensional subspace within that that
corresponds to zero error, so all the low-error temperaments lie
quite close to that three-dimensional subspace. This is why three
numbers is usually enough in the 7-limit case. But certainly there
are examples of high-error temperaments where the octave-equivalent
part of the two wedgies is the same.

> And if you don't think the octave-equivalent mapping is a
practically
> unique key, adding the badness will make it so for any temperaments
we'd
> care about distinguishing.

What sort of 'badness' do you propose to use for this, and why?
Badness is a function of both error and complexity, both of which can
be defined in several ways, as can the badness function itself. (For
those who didn't know . . .)

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 12:06:46 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...> writes:
>
> > Anyway, a simple example would be to show how the wedgie for a
> > particular temperament can be arrived at by some simple
calculations
> > (like the calculation of the cross product), resulting in the
same
> > answer whether one starts with vanishing commas, ET mappings, or
> > period-generator mappings. Do it for two different-rank
temperaments,
> > 12-equal and meantone (both in the 5-limit case), and the power
of
> > the approach begins to become clear . . .
>
> It would show you how different descriptions of the same temperament
> lead to the same wedgie, while different temperaments lead to
> different wedgies, I suppose. It wouldn't tell me how a wedgie can
be
> used, however.

It can be used, for example, to find out which ET results when you
temper a certain set of commas out, or to find out which comma is
tempered out by a certain set of ETs . . . Also it's very direct to
get a measure of a temperament's complexity from it.

> It also is something I wouldn't be able to do until I learned just
> what a wedgie *is*, which still is not clear, other than that it's
> somehow related to a wedge product.

It took a while for this to become clear to me too, but the wedgie as
I thought Gene had defined it can always be seen as an object in
projective tuning-space. For an ET, this object is simply a point.
For example, <12 19 28] tells you that the mappings/approximations
(in cents or any other logarithmic measure) of primes 2, 3, and 5 are
in the ratio 12:19:28, which means (a possibly stretched or
compressed) 12-equal, and this is a single point in the (in this case
2-dimensional) projective tuning space. For a 2D temperament, this
object is a line (and hence requires more numbers to parameterize it
if there are more than 3 primes involved). For a 3D temperament, this
object is a plane. These geometrical figures (or subspaces, to be
more precise) show us which particular "regular" tuning systems (up
to an overall stretching, since the space is projective) belong to
the temperament "family" that the wedgie represents.

More later . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 12:11:12 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
>
> > Even theoretically, I don't know how two practically useful
> temperaments
> > can have the same octave-equivalent definition. Nobody's
produced any
> > examples.
>
> It's tough, since the same generator mapping numbers need to go to
two
> different period mapping numbers. Hence the tuning for at least one
> must be either atrocious, or the temperaments must be complex. It
can
> happen in a more or less practical context, however. I have an old
> list of 32201 seven-limit temperaments I used as a preliminary list
> before eliminaing almost all of them, and somewhere on that list is
a
> pair of temperaments with the same octave-equivalent numbers.

I was going to mention that.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 12:13:38 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

> > The wedge product's certainly worth considering. I think it would
come
> > into its own for rank 3 temperaments and beyond because there isn't
a
> > single octave-equivalent mapping to calculate the complexity from.
>
> You need a different complexity measure than Graham complexity,
> certainly. The rank 3 temperaments can be defined by a wedgie, but
> also by a Hermite reduced mapping.

I didn't follow what you guys were saying here . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 12:15:06 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...> wrote:
>
> Hi Rich, I think you were doing OK up to here:
>
> > Let's see if I get the point here: e and c are vectors in two
> > different spaces -- comma space and ET space -- but these spaces
are
> > dual to one another, so ~c is a vector in ET space, for instance;
and
> > in particular, if e tempers out c, then ~c and e are not linearly
> > independent -- that is, ~c is equal to e (up to a constant
factor).
> > Yes?
>
> This is only true in the 3-limit -- I don't know if you followed
Graham
> on that. More generally, if e tempers out c, it is true as Graham
said
> that e*c = 0 (wedge product

Sorry, that's not a wedge product. It's been called a "dot product"
here, but Gene wouldn't let me get away with that in my paper --
technically it's a "bracket product".

> of e and ~c equals zero), but in general
> they're not equal up to a constant factor. Example: 12-equal
>tempers
> out the syntonic comma:
>
> <12 19 28|-4 4 -1> = 12*(-4) + 19*4 + 28*(-1) = 0
>
> but clearly, <12 19 28] and [-4 4 -1> are not equal up to a
constant
> factor, even if you take the complement of one of them . . .
>

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/6/2006 12:36:56 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> In the "modulatory space" that other people defined, is each point a
> note, a chord, or a key? At least some of the modulatory spaces I have
> seen (such as Krumhansl's) plot each *key* as a point (with C major, C
> minor, and A minor all at different points), which makes sense because
> modulation means a change of key.

Chords, but apparently I should add a section on keys. In effect,
there is not much difference, as the tonic chord defines the key.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/6/2006 12:47:59 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> This page sure is confusing -- and it seems to contradict what Gene
> himself has said; he told me that frequency ratios (or "monzos" or
> vectors in the JI lattice) cannot be wedgies; that wedgies are always
> vals or multivals.

This page seems to have been written for mathematicians; at one time I
was mostly trying to document the ideas. What I maybe should do is
write something easier, by taking what Herman wrote and adding more or
something.

But, nothing on the page says anything other than that wedgies are
multivals that I can see.

> I'd like to (not this instant though). But even Gene has written much
> more readably about "what the numbers in the wedgie mean" as well as
> how to compute the wedgie.

I could mess around with that and make it a web page. Dp you have
article numbers by any chance?

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/6/2006 12:52:47 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> This is only true in the 3-limit -- I don't know if you followed Graham
> on that. More generally, if e tempers out c, it is true as Graham said
> that e*c = 0 (wedge product of e and ~c equals zero)...

Inner product: <e|c> = 0.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/6/2006 1:11:59 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> The 7-limit wedgies, treated as vectors in a six-dimensional space,
> all lie in a four-dimensional subspace of that six-dimensional space.

Unfortunately, it's not a subspace, it's an algebraic variety--the
same sort of thing as for instance an ellipsoid in 3-space. If

<<x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6||

is a wedge product, then

x1*x6 - x2*x5 + x3*x4 = 0.

This defines a hypersurface in 6-space. But wedgies are projective;
you go through a step of taking out the GCD and picking the right
sign. Hence, you want to look at the above as a 4-D projective variety
in 5-D real projective space.

> There's also a three-dimensional subspace within that that
> corresponds to zero error, so all the low-error temperaments lie
> quite close to that three-dimensional subspace.

Once again, it's more complicated than that. I think you are thinking
of something else: the lattice of intervals, living inside something
like TOP space.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/6/2006 1:26:55 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> It took a while for this to become clear to me too, but the wedgie as
> I thought Gene had defined it can always be seen as an object in
> projective tuning-space.

These objects in projective tuning space are in 1-1 correspondence
with wedgies, but except for vals are not wedgies themselves. The
k-dimensional subspaces of an n-dimensional space are called the
Grassmanians, Grassmann varities, or Grassmann manifolds G_k(n); in
case k is 1, these are the lines through the origin, or in other words
projective space. G_k(n) is a generalization of projective space. The
Plucker map maps the elements of G_k(n) to another space; it is simply
what you get by taking k-fold wedge products of a basis for the
subspaces in G_k(n) and projectivizing. The image under the Plucker
map is identical as an abstract algebraic variety with the
Grassmannian and so is also called the Grassmannian;
"homogenous coordinates" or "Plucker coordinates" or "Grassmann
coordinates" for the Grassmannian.

Fortunately, we don't actually need to know this...

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/6/2006 1:29:44 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> Really? Why didn't you ask?

I only started looking at this a few days ago, and I haven't checked if my hunch was correct yet. Anyway, here I am with a new subject line.

>>but it looks like it could relate to weighted >>wedgies.
> > Yes, it's the weighted L_1 norm of the wedgie -- that's why it agrees > with (is proportional to) the Tenney Harmonic Distance of the > vanishing ratio in the codimension-1 case.

That's the sum-abs? And weighted? That's what I guessed you were doing, anyway. Being told doesn't make it that much clearer :P

> It's also extremely close to the "minimax Kees complexity", which is > defined similarly to Graham complexity, but uses a Kees-
> expressibility or "log-of-odd-limit" weighting and in principle looks > over all intervals, not just some set of "consonances".

What I'm doing now is taking the max-min of the weighted generator mapping (times the number of periods per octave if that's already been divided out). That's the nearest thing to odd-limit complexity without actually using odd-limits. Taking the straight weighted mean or minimax doesn't work, because it makes things like miracle look far too good.

So it happens that my definition of the weighted-prime complexity is very similar to that of the TOP error of an equal temperament.

> Sometimes, the wedgie has more elements than the full set of mapping > vectors, so it's inefficient, but certainly still valuable for a lot > of the calculation you might conceivably want to do.

The wedgie gets dramatically larger the further you go beyond the 11-limit for rank 2 temperaments. But it doesn't look unmanageably large for rank 3 temperaments with sensible prime limits. And it might mean the code can be made general for any rank.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/6/2006 1:30:09 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> It's tough, since the same generator mapping numbers need to go to two
> different period mapping numbers. Hence the tuning for at least one
> must be either atrocious, or the temperaments must be complex. It can
> happen in a more or less practical context, however. I have an old
> list of 32201 seven-limit temperaments I used as a preliminary list
> before eliminaing almost all of them, and somewhere on that list is a
> pair of temperaments with the same octave-equivalent numbers. Of
> course if I had been using octave-equivalent numbers the whole thing
> would have taken too long anyway; it's not a practical system for that
> sort of thing.

I've added an assertion to the C code, and it shows that all apparent duplicates have the same badness to four figure accuracy. If they are different, they're not significantly so. These are only being compared with the current best 100 though.

>>For certain? Would you care to place money on that? This process is >>linear in the number of primes (with a suitable optimization) whereas >>the wedge product grows quadratically. There must be a prime limit in >>which the wedge product takes more time to calculate.
> > It's not even well-defined anyway. You need to use something like a
> Hermite reduction step. I'm not too worried about what happens in the
> 101-limit, and for low limits the whole business slows things down.
> Moreover, as far as I can see it's likely to be quadratic also;
> certainly rms will be, because the tonality diamond grows quadratically. What's not defined?

You don't need the Hermite reduction if you can get the optimum error. It'd make sense to put off the optimization if you don't need it 90% of the time. That sounds unlikely to me.

No, RMS of a tonality diamond is cubic. The tonality diamond itself grows quadratically, and you also have to loop over the primes for each interval. The RMS of the primes themselves however is linear. So when choosing my suitable optimization I obviously wouldn't go for one that involves tonality diamonds.

We're talking about:

- find the generator mapping (linear time plus the inverse modulus)
- find the period mapping (linear time)
- find the complexity (linear time with floating point)
- check the hcf of the generator mapping (linear time)
- optimize (linear time with floating point)
- find the error (linear time with floating point)
- adjust the period mapping (linear time)
- use the full mapping as a unique identifier (linear time for each comparison)

as compared to

- find the wedgie (quadratic time)
- check the hcf of the wedgie (quadratic time)
- extract the generator mapping (linear time)
- maybe check the hcf of the generator mapping anyway (linear time)
- find the complexity (linear time with floating point)
- use the wedgie as a unique identifier (quadratic time for each comparison)
- optimize at some later stage (same as above when you get round to it)

So yes, there may be fewer steps if you use wedgies, but three of them are quadratic time. That hardly makes it obvious that the process will be faster, even for sensible prime limits. You also have to consider the extra memory to store all the candidates, which may exhuast the cache.

If you use a wedgie-based complexity measure, you lose two linear steps for another quadratic one.

> It's a kind of souped up Gaussian elimination, applied to a problem
> where most of the work has been done already. Anyway, it's
> well-defined; in theory smallest generator depends on your optimization.

For temperaments from commas the mapping depends only on the chromatic unison vectors(s) and so will be consistent within a given search. For linear from equal temperaments, the initial generator is usually fairly sensible. You don't need to get the smallest generator, only one of the pair within the period. Then you constrain the generator mapping to start with a positive number.

>>A list??? Ordered by complexity I suppose? > > You've seen my lists ordered by various things--complexity, error,
> badness.

The point is that searching a list will be harder than searching a set, and all you need is a set, but you nonchalantly threw this inefficiency in. You don't have error or badness yet. Complexity ordering will give a lot of collisions, that you will have to resolve by checking the wedgie.

> Currently I have to do a linear search > >>to check for duplicates, because temperament families don't always have >>distinct badness the way I calculate it. Maybe that's avoidable.
> > It should be avoidable by using rms error.

Yes. The thing is I need to be consistent between different implementations, with some weird results. But I'll look into it one day.

> The two seed ETs work fine >>as an octave specific mapping for the purposes of calculating the
> error. > > But not as a means of uniquely naming the temperaments.

Indeed.

>>The wedge product's certainly worth considering. I think it would come >>into its own for rank 3 temperaments and beyond because there isn't a >>single octave-equivalent mapping to calculate the complexity from.
> > You need a different complexity measure than Graham complexity,
> certainly. The rank 3 temperaments can be defined by a wedgie, but
> also by a Hermite reduced mapping.

Yes. This is in a different thread now.

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 1:38:59 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > In the "modulatory space" that other people defined, is each point
a
> > note, a chord, or a key? At least some of the modulatory spaces I
have
> > seen (such as Krumhansl's) plot each *key* as a point (with C
major, C
> > minor, and A minor all at different points), which makes sense
because
> > modulation means a change of key.
>
> Chords,

So why not call it "chord space"? Or better yet, "triad space", "tetrad
space", or whatever particular chords you're using.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 1:41:41 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > This page sure is confusing -- and it seems to contradict what
Gene
> > himself has said; he told me that frequency ratios (or "monzos"
or
> > vectors in the JI lattice) cannot be wedgies; that wedgies are
always
> > vals or multivals.
>
> This page seems to have been written for mathematicians; at one
time I
> was mostly trying to document the ideas. What I maybe should do is
> write something easier, by taking what Herman wrote and adding more
or
> something.
>
> But, nothing on the page says anything other than that wedgies are
> multivals that I can see.

You talk about 16/15 being a wedgie.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/6/2006 1:45:07 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> What's not defined?

If you try to uniquely define the mapping in terms of the smallest
generator, that is not well-defined unless you also give your
opitimization method for determing the optimal tuning and hence the
exact size of the generator. In practice it would be.

> > You've seen my lists ordered by various things--complexity, error,
> > badness.
>
> The point is that searching a list will be harder than searching a set,
> and all you need is a set, but you nonchalantly threw this inefficiency
> in.

Well, I never search lists, unless it's a list which came from ordering
a set.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 1:53:31 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > The 7-limit wedgies, treated as vectors in a six-dimensional
space,
> > all lie in a four-dimensional subspace of that six-dimensional
space.
>
> Unfortunately, it's not a subspace, it's an algebraic variety--the
> same sort of thing as for instance an ellipsoid in 3-space.

Sorry -- I should have said "subset" instead of "subspace", right?

> If
>
> <<x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6||
>
> is a wedge product, then
>
> x1*x6 - x2*x5 + x3*x4 = 0.
>
> This defines a hypersurface in 6-space. But wedgies are projective;
> you go through a step of taking out the GCD and picking the right
> sign. Hence, you want to look at the above as a 4-D projective
variety
> in 5-D real projective space.

OK, so I should have said a 4-D subset of the 5-D projective space
that comes from the full 6-D vector space . . . yes?

> > There's also a three-dimensional subspace within that that
> > corresponds to zero error, so all the low-error temperaments lie
> > quite close to that three-dimensional subspace.
>
> Once again, it's more complicated than that.

I see I said something wrong. Could you correct it then?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 1:57:33 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > It took a while for this to become clear to me too, but the
wedgie as
> > I thought Gene had defined it can always be seen as an object in
> > projective tuning-space.
>
> These objects in projective tuning space are in 1-1 correspondence
> with wedgies, but except for vals are not wedgies themselves.

Is it just that the wedgies have all integers and GCD = 1? But then
you wouldn't have made an exception for vals. So I don't understand
why you say this.

> The
> k-dimensional subspaces of an n-dimensional space are called the
> Grassmanians, Grassmann varities, or Grassmann manifolds G_k(n); in
> case k is 1, these are the lines through the origin, or in other
words
> projective space. G_k(n) is a generalization of projective space.
The
> Plucker map maps the elements of G_k(n) to another space; it is
simply
> what you get by taking k-fold wedge products of a basis for the
> subspaces in G_k(n) and projectivizing. The image under the Plucker
> map is identical as an abstract algebraic variety with the
> Grassmannian and so is also called the Grassmannian;
> "homogenous coordinates" or "Plucker coordinates" or "Grassmann
> coordinates" for the Grassmannian.
>
> Fortunately, we don't actually need to know this...

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 2:02:40 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> > Really? Why didn't you ask?
>
> I only started looking at this a few days ago, and I haven't
checked if
> my hunch was correct yet. Anyway, here I am with a new subject
line.
>
> >>but it looks like it could relate to weighted
> >>wedgies.
> >
> > Yes, it's the weighted L_1 norm of the wedgie -- that's why it
agrees
> > with (is proportional to) the Tenney Harmonic Distance of the
> > vanishing ratio in the codimension-1 case.
>
> That's the sum-abs? And weighted? That's what I guessed you were
> doing, anyway.

Good!

> Being told doesn't make it that much clearer :P

OK, let me know what would make it clearer, then . . .

> > It's also extremely close to the "minimax Kees complexity", which
is
> > defined similarly to Graham complexity, but uses a Kees-
> > expressibility or "log-of-odd-limit" weighting and in principle
looks
> > over all intervals, not just some set of "consonances".
>
> What I'm doing now is taking the max-min of the weighted generator
> mapping (times the number of periods per octave if that's already
been
> divided out).

Isn't the min always zero (because the octave takes zero generators)?

> That's the nearest thing to odd-limit complexity without
> actually using odd-limits. Taking the straight weighted mean or
>minimax

You mean maximum?

> doesn't work, because it makes things like miracle look far too
>good.

Can you elaborate? I don't see that my numbers, which are virtually
identical to max Kees-weighted complexity according to Gene, make
miracle look far too good . . .

> So it happens that my definition of the weighted-prime complexity
is
> very similar to that of the TOP error of an equal temperament.

I've noticed some things along these lines, and posted them in '04,
but never got an explanation for them . . .

> > Sometimes, the wedgie has more elements than the full set of
mapping
> > vectors, so it's inefficient, but certainly still valuable for a
lot
> > of the calculation you might conceivably want to do.
>
> The wedgie gets dramatically larger the further you go beyond the
> 11-limit for rank 2 temperaments. But it doesn't look unmanageably
> large for rank 3 temperaments with sensible prime limits. And it
might
> mean the code can be made general for any rank.

Go for it!

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/6/2006 2:08:35 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> Complexity ordering will give
> a lot of collisions, that you will have to resolve by checking the >
wedgie.

Why do you say that? I don't see how complexity collisions would be
possible if you use Tenney-weighted L_1 (or even L_inf) wedgie
complexity.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/6/2006 4:09:04 PM

>> Hiya Paul - is there a name for this L_ notation that I could
>> look up somewhere?
>
>It's similar to that in the mathematical definitions here:
>
>http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L1-Norm.html
>http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L2-Norm.html
>http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L-Infinity-Norm.html
>
>except that we don't assume that the elements in the "vector" of
>errors have to be linearly independent. And we're specifically
>talking about the tunings that *minimize* the given "norm" on
>the "vector" of errors.

I'm trying to remember a post in which you stated there's a
difference between this sort of choice and choosing between...
something else. Bah, it was recent, but I have no idea how
to find it.

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/6/2006 4:12:01 PM

This is great, Herman. Maybe even the best explanation I've
seen. I wish you'd flesh it out more!

-Carl

At 06:55 PM 1/5/2006, you wrote:
>Rich Holmes wrote:
>
>> Actually I'm not even sure things like wedgies are not simple
>> concepts. It may be a matter of how they're explained. Can it be
>> done more clearly than <http://66.98.148.43/~xenharmo/wedgie.html>?
>> Paul Erlich has, I think, been pretty successful at making things like
>> periodicity blocks and TOP accessible to the novice. Maybe he or
>> someone else can do likewise (or already has) with wedgies.
>
>I have a brief description of wedgies at the bottom of my Zireen Music
>page. It doesn't go into much detail, and it's (deliberately) not
>technically precise, but it does describe some reasons why they can be
>useful for dealing with temperaments.
>
>http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/zireen-music.html
>
>Calculating wedgies is actually not that difficult; here's C code for
>wedging two "vals" (a kind of vector) of the same size (valsize),
>placing the result in the "wedgie" array.
>
>wedgiesize = 0;
>for (i = 0; i < valsize - 1; i++)
>{
> for (j = i + 1; j < valsize; j++)
> {
> wedgie[wedgiesize] = val1[i] * val2[j] - val2[i] * val1[j];
> wedgiesize++;
> }
>}
>
>These so-called "vals" are usually used to describe a tuning map, which
>specifies how many periods and generators (or any other two intervals,
>like tones and semitones) are used for approximating each of the prime
>number intervals (2/1, 3/1, 5/1, etc.) In the case of meantone, for
>instance, you have these two vals:
>
><1, 2, 4, 7] (for the period, an octave in the case of meantone)
><0, -1, -4, -10] (for the generator, a perfect fourth).
>
>(You get a different set of vals if you use a fifth as the generator,
>but the end result is the same wedgie.) What this means is that:
>
>2/1 is approximated by one octave up.
>3/1 is approximated by two octaves up and one fourth down.
>5/1 is approximated by 4 octaves up and 4 fourths down.
>7/1 is approximated by 7 octaves up and 10 fourths down.
>
>Wedge these vals and you end up with a so-called "bival", which
>identifies meantone temperament.
>
><<1, 4, 10, 4, 13, 12]]
>
>You can also wedge commas, represented in vector form as the prime
>factorization of the comma ratio:
>
>[-4, 4, -1> 81/80 (2^-4 * 3^4 * 5^-1)
>[-5, 2, 2, -1> 225/224 (2^-5 * 3^2 * 5^2 * 7^-1)
>
>[[12, -13, 4, 10, -4, 1>>
>
>which after a bit of rearranging and sign flipping ends up with the same
>result.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/6/2006 6:09:03 PM

"wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@aya.yale.edu> writes:

> It can be used, for example, to find out which ET results when you
> temper a certain set of commas out, or to find out which comma is
> tempered out by a certain set of ETs . . . Also it's very direct to
> get a measure of a temperament's complexity from it.

Fine, but how?

> > It also is something I wouldn't be able to do until I learned just
> > what a wedgie *is*, which still is not clear, other than that it's
> > somehow related to a wedge product.
>
> It took a while for this to become clear to me too, but the wedgie as
> I thought Gene had defined it can always be seen as an object in
> projective tuning-space.

I may not have been clear; I wasn't talking about what the wedgie's
definition *implies* or *means*, but what its definition *is*. I
still haven't seen a definition -- none that I can make any sense of,
anyway.

> More later . . .

I look forward to it.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/6/2006 7:28:30 PM

Graham Breed wrote:

> Oh, thanks! That is really simple. I can't currently do wedge products > in C, and this is the most useful special case. So I'll borrow this > code if that's okay.

Sure, no problem; feel free to use this. I didn't really have any need for the general case, so I just did the easy version.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/6/2006 7:31:17 PM

Carl Lumma wrote:
> This is great, Herman. Maybe even the best explanation I've
> seen. I wish you'd flesh it out more!

I probably ought to write up a general page on regular temperaments. Maybe if I have some time over the weekend....

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/7/2006 12:09:28 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> OK, so I should have said a 4-D subset of the 5-D projective space
> that comes from the full 6-D vector space . . . yes?

Right.

> > > There's also a three-dimensional subspace within that that
> > > corresponds to zero error, so all the low-error temperaments lie
> > > quite close to that three-dimensional subspace.
> >
> > Once again, it's more complicated than that.
>
> I see I said something wrong. Could you correct it then?

Two wedgies can be right next to each other in projective space and
have competely different error properties, so this isn't a good point
of view. You can use wedge products, of course. If you wedge a 7-limit
val with <1 log2(3) log2(5) log2(7)| then you get a 6-D object which
denotes relative error; multiplying it by 1200/n, where n is the equal
division, gives cents vales. The first three are the errors of the primes.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/7/2006 6:46:58 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> The 7-limit wedgies, treated as vectors in a six-dimensional space, > all lie in a four-dimensional subspace of that six-dimensional space. > There's also a three-dimensional subspace within that that > corresponds to zero error, so all the low-error temperaments lie > quite close to that three-dimensional subspace. This is why three > numbers is usually enough in the 7-limit case. But certainly there > are examples of high-error temperaments where the octave-equivalent > part of the two wedgies is the same.

If there are examples, why can't anybody find one?

But this is interesting to know, anyway. What are the effective numbers of dimensions in higher limits?

I can't really visualize what distinct, practical temperaments with the same octave-equivalent mapping(s) (including octave division) but different period mappings would look like. Maybe there are some borderline cases where an interval approximates close to the period, like with inconsistent ETs. But why should we care about them?

>> And if you don't think the octave-equivalent mapping is a > practically >>unique key, adding the badness will make it so for any temperaments > we'd >>care about distinguishing. > > What sort of 'badness' do you propose to use for this, and why? > Badness is a function of both error and complexity, both of which can > be defined in several ways, as can the badness function itself. (For > those who didn't know . . .)

I'm using error*complexity for equal temperaments, and error*error*complexity for rank 2 temperaments. Along with fudges to differentiate temperaments with zero complexity, or identical error and complexity (which may never happen if the prime intervals are linearly independent). I'd have to use less fudge for them to be one-one with a temperament.

Error and complexity are what we're talking about elsewhere. If the complexity only depends on the generator mapping, naturally two temperaments with the same generator mapping will have the same complexity.

But with any badness, you can always substitute the better temperament when you have an apparent duplicate. If the mappings are the same, why would you care about the poorer one?

With contorsion, two temperaments have the same octave-equivalent mapping and optimal error. But they also have the same wedgie, so this doesn't help.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/7/2006 6:47:10 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> If you try to uniquely define the mapping in terms of the smallest
> generator, that is not well-defined unless you also give your
> opitimization method for determing the optimal tuning and hence the
> exact size of the generator. In practice it would be.

You're arguing on a false predicate there. You don't have to use the smallest generator, as I've already said. You could use the one within a period that makes the first non-zero term of the generator mapping positive.

It's also not true that you need to optimize the tuning to get a standard generator size. I've already said this as well. If you're generating the temperament from commas, you have to supply a chromatic unison vector (CUV). The generator size is determined by the CUV. As long as you always use the same CUVs, you'll always get the same generators. And all this works with matrices -- no need for wedgies.

It's very unlikely that temperaments generated from equal temperaments won't get the generator right to the nearest period. With sufficiently inconsistent ETs, it is possible, but you could always do the optimization for those rare occasions where the generator-mapping matches but the period-mapping doesn't. It'll have a negligible effect on the running speed.

> Well, I never search lists, unless it's a list which came from ordering > a set.

Unfortunately, my C library does use a list to hold the temperaments, on the assumption that it never gets too big. That means it takes a long time to search for duplicates if I do want to remember them. So far, I can only confirm that there are none amongst the 10,536 7-limit temperaments returned by searching for a maximum complexity of 100 and a maximum error of 120 cents, derived from 100 equal temperaments with a worst error of 0.6 scale steps.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/7/2006 6:48:31 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> Isn't the min always zero (because the octave takes zero generators)?

No, it's usually negative because some intervals approximate different ways.

>>That's the nearest thing to odd-limit complexity without >>actually using odd-limits. Taking the straight weighted mean or >>minimax > > You mean maximum?

Er, yes.

> Can you elaborate? I don't see that my numbers, which are virtually > identical to max Kees-weighted complexity according to Gene, make > miracle look far too good . . .

Miracle has the mapping (6, -7, -2, 15, -3). Using 13-limit weighting, that becomes (12, -7, -2, 15, -3). A max-abs of those numbers gives the complexity as 15. The true complexity is 22. So you have to do max-min, not max(abs). Other kinds of average and weighting have the same problem. There's a 13-limit meantone with mapping (1,4,10,18,15) so ther the max(abs) is the same as the max(min). Under max-abs, it's no simpler than miracle although it clearly is. (As it happens, this is currently the best 13-limit temperament in my general weighted-prime RMS search. The results are substantially different to the worst case odd-limit search.)

>>So it happens that my definition of the weighted-prime complexity > is >>very similar to that of the TOP error of an equal temperament.
> > I've noticed some things along these lines, and posted them in '04, > but never got an explanation for them . . .

Oh, I can't have been following it then. I remember looking a lot at geometric complexity and not being able to understand it.

They're both octave-equivalent prime-based measures. So you have to correct for 15:8 and 5:3 having different octave-specific complexities. Either tempering the octaves or considering the full wedgie gives you a proper octave-specific measure.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/7/2006 6:47:15 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> > >>Complexity ordering will give >>a lot of collisions, that you will have to resolve by checking the > > > wedgie.
> > Why do you say that? I don't see how complexity collisions would be > possible if you use Tenney-weighted L_1 (or even L_inf) wedgie > complexity.

Probably, yes. So I said that because I hadn't thought of t'other.

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/7/2006 11:07:56 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> If there are examples, why can't anybody find one?

I gave you infinitely many a few days ago. You can find your own;
simply take the same generator map with a different octaves map, and
check it doesn't lead to the same wedgie.

> I can't really visualize what distinct, practical temperaments with the
> same octave-equivalent mapping(s) (including octave division) but
> different period mappings would look like.

Who said there are any? I only found one pair out of 32201 wedgies
which I picked to be reasonable starting points; that's a long way
from saying they were all practical.

You *could* therefore use the octave equivalent map to name
temperaments, but the question is if we want to, since then we have to
go through a calculation to get the whole wedgie and/or full mapping
back again. If, however, this is acceptable, it saves a lot of space
as it grows linearly, not quadratically.

Here's an algorithm for going from an oe map to the full wedgie, which
should be much faster than a brute force search. Take the oe map, and
use it to get the generator map and an octave map with indeterminates
in the odd primes places to solve for. Wedge these two together, and
then wedge the result with <1 log2(3) log2(5) ... log2(p)|. Now take
the coefficients of this, and solve for the least squares minimum
value; that is, take the sum of the squares, take derivatives, and
solve the resulting linear equation, subsituting the result back into
the wedge product of the generator map and the generic octave map. The
result should give coefficients close to integers, particularly if the
temperament is a good one. Round these off, reduce to the standard
form if needed, and you have your wedgie. I'll implement the code
myself, so at least I can do it. I don't imagine Graham will have any
problem.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/7/2006 11:11:41 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> It's also not true that you need to optimize the tuning to get a
> standard generator size. I've already said this as well. If you're
> generating the temperament from commas, you have to supply a chromatic
> unison vector (CUV). The generator size is determined by the CUV.

(1) No you don't

(2) How do you select the CUV?

As
> long as you always use the same CUVs, you'll always get the same
> generators.

What in the world does "the same CUVs" mean?

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/7/2006 12:07:35 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

> Here's an algorithm for going from an oe map to the full wedgie, which
> should be much faster than a brute force search.

I tried this out on a list of 7-limit temperaments, and the only
problem I had is that using floating point values, rather than
rational approximations, to the logarithms base two can lead to a
sitation where the computer thinks there isn't a solution but there
is, since it's set the cutoff too finely. Substiting rational number
approximations seems to cure the problem, which arose for diminised
([4, 4, 4] oe.)

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/7/2006 12:36:59 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>If there are examples, why can't anybody find one?
> > I gave you infinitely many a few days ago. You can find your own;
> simply take the same generator map with a different octaves map, and
> check it doesn't lead to the same wedgie.

That must have bounced, as I can only receive finite email.

>>I can't really visualize what distinct, practical temperaments with the >>same octave-equivalent mapping(s) (including octave division) but >>different period mappings would look like. > > Who said there are any? I only found one pair out of 32201 wedgies
> which I picked to be reasonable starting points; that's a long way
> from saying they were all practical.

You did, that's where this whole discussion started.

> You *could* therefore use the octave equivalent map to name
> temperaments, but the question is if we want to, since then we have to
> go through a calculation to get the whole wedgie and/or full mapping
> back again. If, however, this is acceptable, it saves a lot of space
> as it grows linearly, not quadratically.

What does "name" mean? They're useful as a tag, but it's useful to remember what you were tagging.

> Here's an algorithm for going from an oe map to the full wedgie, which
> should be much faster than a brute force search. Take the oe map, and
> use it to get the generator map and an octave map with indeterminates
> in the odd primes places to solve for. Wedge these two together, and
> then wedge the result with <1 log2(3) log2(5) ... log2(p)|. Now take
> the coefficients of this, and solve for the least squares minimum
> value; that is, take the sum of the squares, take derivatives, and
> solve the resulting linear equation, subsituting the result back into
> the wedge product of the generator map and the generic octave map. The
> result should give coefficients close to integers, particularly if the
> temperament is a good one. Round these off, reduce to the standard
> form if needed, and you have your wedgie. I'll implement the code
> myself, so at least I can do it. I don't imagine Graham will have any
> problem.

Sounds good, yes.

Anyway, my big C search did get some results. Here's a fairly simple duplicate pair:

3/7

401.6 cents period
152.6 cents generator

mapping by period and generator:
[(3, 0), (5, -1), (7, 0), (10, -4)]

mapping by steps:
[(15, 6), (23, 9), (35, 14), (42, 16)]

complexity measure: 4.274
RMS weighted error: 0.014266
max weighted error: 0.024524
TOP damage 20.743

7/8

397.3 cents period
340.1 cents generator

mapping by period and generator:
[(3, 0), (4, 1), (7, 0), (5, 4)]

mapping by steps:
[(21, 3), (34, 5), (49, 7), (59, 9)]

complexity measure: 4.274
RMS weighted error: 0.008632
max weighted error: 0.014490
TOP damage 12.565

and here's a relatively undamaged one:

4/9

133.7 cents period
56.0 cents generator

mapping by period and generator:
[(9, 0), (15, -2), (23, -5), (26, -2)]

mapping by steps:
[(63, 18), (99, 28), (146, 41), (176, 50)]

complexity measure: 19.380
RMS weighted error: 0.003128
max weighted error: 0.004483
TOP damage 4.464

5/6

133.0 cents period
109.3 cents generator

mapping by period and generator:
[(9, 0), (16, -2), (25, -5), (27, -2)]

mapping by steps:
[(45, 9), (72, 14), (105, 20), (127, 25)]

complexity measure: 19.380
RMS weighted error: 0.002763
max weighted error: 0.003993
TOP damage 3.953

There are lots more, too many to list here. None of them are any good.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/7/2006 12:38:40 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>It's also not true that you need to optimize the tuning to get a >>standard generator size. I've already said this as well. If you're >>generating the temperament from commas, you have to supply a chromatic >>unison vector (CUV). The generator size is determined by the CUV. > > (1) No you don't

Don't I? How not?

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/7/2006 2:16:58 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> > Who said there are any? I only found one pair out of 32201 wedgies
> > which I picked to be reasonable starting points; that's a long way
> > from saying they were all practical.
>
> You did, that's where this whole discussion started.

Did not.

> > You *could* therefore use the octave equivalent map to name
> > temperaments, but the question is if we want to, since then we have to
> > go through a calculation to get the whole wedgie and/or full mapping
> > back again. If, however, this is acceptable, it saves a lot of space
> > as it grows linearly, not quadratically.
>
> What does "name" mean? They're useful as a tag, but it's useful to
> remember what you were tagging.

A "name" is a unique identifier. A mapping to primes isn't a "name"
because more than one mapping denotes the same temperament. Same with
N&M, where N and M are vals or numbers denoting divisions of the octave.

> Anyway, my big C search did get some results. Here's a fairly simple
> duplicate pair:

> mapping by period and generator:
> [(3, 0), (5, -1), (7, 0), (10, -4)]
>
> mapping by steps:
> [(15, 6), (23, 9), (35, 14), (42, 16)]

> mapping by period and generator:
> [(3, 0), (4, 1), (7, 0), (5, 4)]
>
> mapping by steps:
> [(21, 3), (34, 5), (49, 7), (59, 9)]

Using the algorithm I suggested you get

<<3 0 12 -6.97 10.60 27.86||

as the thing to round off. Rounding 10.6 to 11 gives the first system,
rounding it to 10 the second.

> and here's a relatively undamaged one:

> mapping by period and generator:
> [(9, 0), (15, -2), (23, -5), (26, -2)]
>
> mapping by steps:
> [(63, 18), (99, 28), (146, 41), (176, 50)]

> mapping by period and generator:
> [(9, 0), (16, -2), (25, -5), (27, -2)]
>
> mapping by steps:
> [(45, 9), (72, 14), (105, 20), (127, 25)]

Doing the same thing, the pre-wedgie looks like

<<18 45 18 29.53 -22.00 -84.54||

The wedgie for the first warped ennealimmal is

<<18 45 18 29 -22 -84||

and for the second is

<<18 45 18 30 -22 -85||

> There are lots more, too many to list here. None of them are any good.

There's a limit on how good they can be; in fact the difference
between the pre-wedgie and the nearest integer values serves as a (non
logflat) badness measure.

Incidentially, in the algorithm I gave I suppose you should check when
done that you actually have a wedgie. If you tried to round off to
either <<18 45 18 29 -22 85|| or <<18 45 18 30 -22 84|| it's *not* a
wedgie.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/7/2006 2:18:58 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >
> >>It's also not true that you need to optimize the tuning to get a
> >>standard generator size. I've already said this as well. If you're
> >>generating the temperament from commas, you have to supply a
chromatic
> >>unison vector (CUV). The generator size is determined by the CUV.
> >
> > (1) No you don't
>
> Don't I? How not?

You don't need to pick a CUV, since you can choose a generator on
other grounds, such as Hermite generators or smallest generators.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/8/2006 2:25:09 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

> Two wedgies can be right next to each other in projective space and
> have competely different error properties, so this isn't a good point
> of view. You can use wedge products, of course. If you wedge a 7-limit
> val with <1 log2(3) log2(5) log2(7)| then you get a 6-D object which
> denotes relative error; multiplying it by 1200/n, where n is the equal
> division, gives cents vales. The first three are the errors of the
primes.

I screwed up my answer to this; since by "error properties" I had
error relative to complexity on the brain, in other words, badness.
You can get arbitrarily close to a good temperament and be arbitrarily
bad, because of complexity. But even there it's not as bad as I was
thinking.

The second part of what I said shows how to approach what Paul wants;
do the same thing with the bival as I said to do with the val, namely
wedge it with <1 log2(3) log2(5) log2(7)|. The result will be a 4-D
object, and squaring the coordinates will give a quadric hypersurface,
where wedgies on the wedgie hypersurface which get close to this
hypersurface will do what Paul wants, namely be more or less good.
Appropriately weighting things can even improve the metric here.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/8/2006 3:54:16 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> You don't need to pick a CUV, since you can choose a generator on
> other grounds, such as Hermite generators or smallest generators.

Is this "Hermite generators" like Hermite normal form? I think I was thrown before because "Hermite reduction" has a different meaning. Hermite normal form, anyway, is the same as using the smallest linearly independent odd prime as the CUV.

You may be able to find the smallest generators without using a CUV, but I can't, and won't likely be able to until you tell me how.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/8/2006 3:54:23 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> > >>>Who said there are any? I only found one pair out of 32201 wedgies
>>>which I picked to be reasonable starting points; that's a long way
>>>from saying they were all practical.
>>
>>You did, that's where this whole discussion started.
> > > Did not.

6th Jan 2006
"""
It's tough, since the same generator mapping numbers need to go to two
different period mapping numbers. Hence the tuning for at least one
must be either atrocious, or the temperaments must be complex. It can
happen in a more or less practical context, however. I have an old
list of 32201 seven-limit temperaments I used as a preliminary list
before eliminaing almost all of them, and somewhere on that list is a
pair of temperaments with the same octave-equivalent numbers. Of
course if I had been using octave-equivalent numbers the whole thing
would have taken too long anyway; it's not a practical system for that
sort of thing.
"""

Okay, "more or less practical"

> A "name" is a unique identifier. A mapping to primes isn't a "name"
> because more than one mapping denotes the same temperament. Same with
> N&M, where N and M are vals or numbers denoting divisions of the octave.

So your "name" isn't Gene?

The generator mapping (including hcf) uniquely identifies all temperaments of practical interest.

> There's a limit on how good they can be; in fact the difference
> between the pre-wedgie and the nearest integer values serves as a (non
> logflat) badness measure. Ah, now we're getting somewhere! So it's possible to theoretically that ambiguous temperaments aren't practically interesting?

> Incidentially, in the algorithm I gave I suppose you should check when
> done that you actually have a wedgie. If you tried to round off to
> either <<18 45 18 29 -22 85|| or <<18 45 18 30 -22 84|| it's *not* a
> wedgie.

It's good that it works, anyway. Is a good temperament more likely to round off to a true wedgie?

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/8/2006 12:25:36 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> You may be able to find the smallest generators without using a CUV,
but
> I can't, and won't likely be able to until you tell me how.

Eh? You know how--once you have the period and any generator, then
(speaking additively) make the generator positive, subtract off as
many periods as divide the generator with remainder, then take the
smallest between g and p-g, where g is your penultimate generator.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/8/2006 12:57:36 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> Okay, "more or less practical"

I said the *context* was more or less practical, not the temperaments
in question.

> Ah, now we're getting somewhere! So it's possible to theoretically
that
> ambiguous temperaments aren't practically interesting?

The only problem might be in Herman Miller type low complexity
temperaments. Anything at all high with a decent badness cutoff will
be too good to be ambiguous.

On the other hand, start with tempering out 9/8 and 7/6, which gives
you wedgie <<0 2 0 3 0 -5||. The pre-wedgie for <0 2 0| is
<<0 2 0 2*log2(3) 0 2*log2(7)||, which is about <<0 2 0 3.17 0 -5.61||
Rounding off to the nearest integer gives <<0 2 0 3 0 -6||, which
checks out as being a wedgie. In fact, it is the wedgie for the
temperament tempering out 8/7 and 9/7. These kinds of examples are all
over the place in extremely low complexity.

> It's good that it works, anyway. Is a good temperament more likely to
> round off to a true wedgie?

Any decent temperament must round off to a true wedgie, by most
notions of "decent". If you define "decent" to simply mean the
pre-wedgie rounds off to the correct wedgie, that would be a
tautology, and then the question would be what can you show about
"decent" temperaments. I don't think we would lose anything of value
by defining rank one temperaments to simply be those in which the
pre-wedgie rounds off to the wedgie; this would at least take away the
murky boundry. It is analogous to defining an equal temperament in a
given p-limit as by definition a standard val.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/9/2006 12:12:27 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>You may be able to find the smallest generators without using a CUV,
> but >>I can't, and won't likely be able to until you tell me how.
> > Eh? You know how--once you have the period and any generator, then
> (speaking additively) make the generator positive, subtract off as
> many periods as divide the generator with remainder, then take the
> smallest between g and p-g, where g is your penultimate generator.

Whoa! Where did this period and generator come from? I use the CUV to find the period and generator. I'm asking you how to find the period and generator without a CUV, and you tell me I've already got them???

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/9/2006 12:12:41 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> The only problem might be in Herman Miller type low complexity
> temperaments. Anything at all high with a decent badness cutoff will
> be too good to be ambiguous.
> > On the other hand, start with tempering out 9/8 and 7/6, which gives
> you wedgie <<0 2 0 3 0 -5||. The pre-wedgie for <0 2 0| is > <<0 2 0 2*log2(3) 0 2*log2(7)||, which is about <<0 2 0 3.17 0 -5.61||
> Rounding off to the nearest integer gives <<0 2 0 3 0 -6||, which
> checks out as being a wedgie. In fact, it is the wedgie for the
> temperament tempering out 8/7 and 9/7. These kinds of examples are all
> over the place in extremely low complexity. They're in the realm where a scale large enough to play the chords you're optimizing for is going to be less accurate than the same sized equal temperament. That's the kind of thing I'd call "not a practical temperament".

> Any decent temperament must round off to a true wedgie, by most
> notions of "decent". If you define "decent" to simply mean the
> pre-wedgie rounds off to the correct wedgie, that would be a
> tautology, and then the question would be what can you show about
> "decent" temperaments. I don't think we would lose anything of value
> by defining rank one temperaments to simply be those in which the
> pre-wedgie rounds off to the wedgie; this would at least take away the
> murky boundry. It is analogous to defining an equal temperament in a
> given p-limit as by definition a standard val.

How standard does a standard val have to be? Insisting on rounding to a correct wedgie is like insisting on consistency. There's plenty of life in inconsistent temperaments. Having only one temperament per octave-equivalent mapping is the same as having only one equal temperament for a given octave division. Which is fine most of the time, different inconsistent ET mappings are useful in my linear temperament search. Perhaps I'd find indecent linear temperaments also become important when searching for planar temperaments. 24 and 34 in the 7-limit as well.

What do you mean by "rank one temperaments"? I thought "rank 2" was the new name for linear temperaments, so wouldn't rank one temperaments be equal temperaments?

Anyway, I switched my wedgie search to using the full wedgie as a the unique key, and I found one ambiguous pair got into a top 100. This one:

(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 46, 0)

It's the 76th best inconsistently generated 31-limit temperament. But it looks exactly the same as number 33 in the same list. I don't know what the mappings are, but I have reason to believe the TOP error of the poor one is the same as that for 92-equal. The moral is that good 31-limit temperaments are hard to find, and you soon end up amongst the noise. Quite possibly the whole idea of 31-limit linear temperament's absurd, but here's one that stands out:

261/286

1200.0 cents period
1095.1 cents generator

mapping by period and generator:
[(1, 0), (39, -41), (37, -38), (53, -55), (50, -51), (11, -8), (5, -1), (59, -60), (10, -6), (66, -67), (88, -91)]

mapping by steps:
[(183, 103), (290, 163), (425, 239), (514, 289), (633, 356), (677, 381), (748, 421), (777, 437), (828, 466), (889, 500), (907, 510)]

complexity measure: 25.868
RMS weighted error: 0.000274
max weighted error: 0.000517

And with odd-limit values:

25/286, 104.9 cent generator

basis:
(1.0, 0.087419227697998383)

mapping by period and generator:
[(1, 0), (-2, 41), (-1, 38), (-2, 55), (-1, 51), (3, 8), (4, 1), (-1, 60), (4, 6), (-1, 67), (-3, 91)]

mapping by steps:
[(183, 103), (290, 163), (425, 239), (514, 289), (633, 356), (677, 381), (748, 421), (777, 437), (828, 466), (889, 500), (907, 510)]

highest interval width: 123
complexity measure: 123 (183 for smallest MOS)
highest error: 0.003727 (4.473 cents)

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/9/2006 1:55:19 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> 261/286
>
> 1200.0 cents period
> 1095.1 cents generator

Cool. It has a nonstandard 286 val:

<286 453 664 803 989 1058 1169 1214 1294 1389 1417|

The mapping for 19 differs, and is worse; however it leads to lower
complexity. The generator is 17/16, so it doesn't make sense unless
you go at least that high, and up to the 17-limit we are in standard
val territory; it's 80&103 in terms of standard vals, 286 is standard
also.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 3:49:23 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >> Hiya Paul - is there a name for this L_ notation that I could
> >> look up somewhere?
> >
> >It's similar to that in the mathematical definitions here:
> >
> >http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L1-Norm.html
> >http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L2-Norm.html
> >http://mathworld.wolfram.com/L-Infinity-Norm.html
> >
> >except that we don't assume that the elements in the "vector" of
> >errors have to be linearly independent. And we're specifically
> >talking about the tunings that *minimize* the given "norm" on
> >the "vector" of errors.
>
> I'm trying to remember a post in which you stated there's a
> difference between this sort of choice and choosing between...
> something else.

Different choices for how to weight the various intervals?

> Bah, it was recent, but I have no idea how
> to find it.
>
> -Carl

I think it was on MMM.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 3:53:27 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...> writes:
>
> > It can be used, for example, to find out which ET results when
you
> > temper a certain set of commas out, or to find out which comma is
> > tempered out by a certain set of ETs . . . Also it's very direct
to
> > get a measure of a temperament's complexity from it.
>
> Fine, but how?

For the former, just wedge . . . For the latter, what I used in my
paper was a weighted sum of the absolute values of the elements in
the wedgie. The weight on each component of the wedgie is inversely
proportional to the product of the logs of the associated primes. We
can discuss this in more detail if you wish . . .

> > > It also is something I wouldn't be able to do until I learned
just
> > > what a wedgie *is*, which still is not clear, other than that
it's
> > > somehow related to a wedge product.
> >
> > It took a while for this to become clear to me too, but the
wedgie as
> > I thought Gene had defined it can always be seen as an object in
> > projective tuning-space.
>
> I may not have been clear; I wasn't talking about what the wedgie's
> definition *implies* or *means*, but what its definition *is*. I
> still haven't seen a definition -- none that I can make any sense
of,
> anyway.

Be patient -- we'll get there!

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 4:09:22 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > OK, so I should have said a 4-D subset of the 5-D projective
space
> > that comes from the full 6-D vector space . . . yes?
>
> Right.
>
> > > > There's also a three-dimensional subspace within that that
> > > > corresponds to zero error, so all the low-error temperaments
lie
> > > > quite close to that three-dimensional subspace.
> > >
> > > Once again, it's more complicated than that.
> >
> > I see I said something wrong. Could you correct it then?
>
> Two wedgies can be right next to each other in projective space and
> have competely different error properties, so this isn't a good
point
> of view.

But I wasn't talking about a projective space there . . .

> You can use wedge products, of course. If you wedge a 7-limit
> val with <1 log2(3) log2(5) log2(7)| then you get a 6-D object which
> denotes relative error;

Defined how? I'm wondering if there's something here I didn't know
before and need to learn . . .

> multiplying it by 1200/n, where n is the equal
> division,

What equal division? Which equal division?

> gives cents vales. The first three are the errors of the primes.

What does this have to do with low-error wedgies being or not being
near a particular hypersurface?

P.S. NONE OF MY QUESTIONS ARE RHETORICAL.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 4:30:28 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> > Isn't the min always zero (because the octave takes zero
generators)?
>
> No, it's usually negative because some intervals approximate
different ways.

Oh, you're looking at signed generator mappings . . .

> >>That's the nearest thing to odd-limit complexity without
> >>actually using odd-limits. Taking the straight weighted mean or
> >>minimax
> >
> > You mean maximum?
>
> Er, yes.
>
> > Can you elaborate? I don't see that my numbers, which are
virtually
> > identical to max Kees-weighted complexity according to Gene, make
> > miracle look far too good . . .
>
> Miracle has the mapping (6, -7, -2, 15, -3). Using 13-limit
weighting,
> that becomes (12, -7, -2, 15, -3). A max-abs of those numbers
gives the
> complexity as 15. The true complexity is 22. So you have to do
> max-min, not max(abs).

I don't know what you're comparing here or why. This bears no
similarity to my complexity calculation . . . I think you must be
talking to someone else here :)

> Other kinds of average and weighting have the
> same problem. There's a 13-limit meantone with mapping
(1,4,10,18,15)
> so ther the max(abs) is the same as the max(min). Under max-abs,
it's
> no simpler than miracle although it clearly is.

Again, I see no resemblance with my calculations . . .

> (As it happens, this is
> currently the best 13-limit temperament in my general weighted-
prime RMS
> search. The results are substantially different to the worst case
> odd-limit search.)

Perhaps you could offer some 7-limit examples so we can use my paper
to compare?

> They're both octave-equivalent prime-based measures. So you have
to
> correct for 15:8 and 5:3 having different octave-specific
complexities.

I don't know what context I'm supposed to take the above in. My
complexity numbers are virtually identical to the max-Kees complexity
(according to Gene), which is an octave-equivalent measure despite my
measure being octave-specific.

> Either tempering the octaves or considering the full wedgie gives
you
> a proper octave-specific measure.

?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 4:37:59 PM

BTW, a chromatic unison (vector) is supposed to be a small interval
that functions as a sharp or flat in a diatonic-like scale. Not a
fifth, not a fourth, not a third, not a second, but a *unison* --
thus the name. How this term came to mean something completely
different (which has no recognizable relationship with the term
itself) which can include fifths or even octaves is baffling to me;
hence I continue to rail against this random act of ridiculousness.

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
>
> > It's also not true that you need to optimize the tuning to get a
> > standard generator size. I've already said this as well. If
you're
> > generating the temperament from commas, you have to supply a
chromatic
> > unison vector (CUV). The generator size is determined by the
CUV.
>
> (1) No you don't
>
> (2) How do you select the CUV?
>
> As
> > long as you always use the same CUVs, you'll always get the same
> > generators.
>
> What in the world does "the same CUVs" mean?
>

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 4:49:11 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
> wrote:
>
> > Two wedgies can be right next to each other in projective space
and
> > have competely different error properties, so this isn't a good
point
> > of view. You can use wedge products, of course. If you wedge a 7-
limit
> > val with <1 log2(3) log2(5) log2(7)| then you get a 6-D object
which
> > denotes relative error; multiplying it by 1200/n, where n is the
equal
> > division, gives cents vales. The first three are the errors of the
> primes.
>
> I screwed up my answer to this; since by "error properties" I had
> error relative to complexity on the brain, in other words, badness.
> You can get arbitrarily close to a good temperament and be
arbitrarily
> bad, because of complexity. But even there it's not as bad as I was
> thinking.
>
> The second part of what I said shows how to approach what Paul
wants;
> do the same thing with the bival as I said to do with the val,
namely
> wedge it with <1 log2(3) log2(5) log2(7)|. The result will be a 4-D
> object, and squaring the coordinates will give a quadric
hypersurface,
> where wedgies on the wedgie hypersurface which get close to this
> hypersurface will do what Paul wants, namely be more or less good.
> Appropriately weighting things can even improve the metric here.

So how can we alter my original statement so that it becomes correct?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 4:53:42 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>
> > You don't need to pick a CUV, since you can choose a generator on
> > other grounds, such as Hermite generators or smallest generators.
>
> Is this "Hermite generators" like Hermite normal form? I think I was
> thrown before because "Hermite reduction" has a different meaning.
> Hermite normal form, anyway, is the same as using the smallest
linearly
> independent odd prime as the CUV.

How can a small odd prime be a chromatic unison vector? Chromatic
unison vectors are how things like sharps and flats are represented in
the lattice. This is crazy!

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/10/2006 4:58:03 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> > You can use wedge products, of course. If you wedge a 7-limit
> > val with <1 log2(3) log2(5) log2(7)| then you get a 6-D object which
> > denotes relative error;
>
> Defined how? I'm wondering if there's something here I didn't know
> before and need to learn . . .

The above *is* a defintion, isn't it?

Let's say I do this with <12 19 28 34|; I get

<cents(2) cents(3) cents(5) cents(7)|^<12 19 28 34| =
<<-23.46 164.24 374.09 314.78 658.78 407.54||

These are what I was calling "relative cents" until you objected from
one point of view, though they are in fact the absolute size in cents
of two-prime commas of 12-et. Dividing through by 12, we get absolute
cents:

<<-1.955 13.686 31.714 26.232 54.898 33.962||

The first three coefficients are the errors in cents of 3, 5, and 7 in
terms of an equal division of the octave into 12 parts.

> What equal division? Which equal division?

The one the val is for.

> What does this have to do with low-error wedgies being or not being
> near a particular hypersurface?

The point is you can do something analogous for wedgies.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/10/2006 5:19:33 PM

"wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@aya.yale.edu> writes:

> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
> >
> > I may not have been clear; I wasn't talking about what the wedgie's
> > definition *implies* or *means*, but what its definition *is*. I
> > still haven't seen a definition -- none that I can make any sense
> of,
> > anyway.
>
> Be patient -- we'll get there!

Patience, my ass... I've got that part figured out, finally.

But when Gene Ward Smith says something like

> Negri <<4, -3, 2, -14, -8, 13|| 7 12.188571

(I fixed the brackets) it's still not clear to me what I'm supposed to
do with that information.

Or more generally: if all I know about a temperament is its wedgie,
what can I extract from it?

- Rich Holmes

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 5:44:31 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > > You can use wedge products, of course. If you wedge a 7-limit
> > > val with <1 log2(3) log2(5) log2(7)| then you get a 6-D object
which
> > > denotes relative error;
> >
> > Defined how? I'm wondering if there's something here I didn't
know
> > before and need to learn . . .
>
> The above *is* a defintion, isn't it?

See below . . .

> Let's say I do this with <12 19 28 34|; I get
>
> <cents(2) cents(3) cents(5) cents(7)|^<12 19 28 34| =
> <<-23.46 164.24 374.09 314.78 658.78 407.54||
>
> These are what I was calling "relative cents" until you objected
from
> one point of view, though they are in fact the absolute size in
cents
> of two-prime commas of 12-et. Dividing through by 12, we get
absolute
> cents:
>
> <<-1.955 13.686 31.714 26.232 54.898 33.962||
>
> The first three coefficients are the errors in cents of 3, 5, and 7
in
> terms of an equal division of the octave into 12 parts.

Now see, when you said "Relative error", and I said "Defined how?",
you could have given this definition of relative error instead of
saying "The above *is* a defintion, isn't it?" There's a long, long
distance between the ease of understanding a definition that's stated
in terms of the errors of primes in an ET vs. a definition that's
stated in terms of a 6-dimensional wedge product. For most purposes,
I would think the former is preferable, and if the latter happens to
be equal to that, that should be taken as a mathematical *result*,
not a definition . . .

So, what about the other three coefficients?

>> What equal division? Which equal division?

>The one the val is for.

Oh, OK. I goofed. But in this case, aren't you interpreting that
object more as a "tuning map" and less as a "val"? Since it seems
you're specifically identifying it with pure-octaves 12-equal . . .

> > What does this have to do with low-error wedgies being or not
being
> > near a particular hypersurface?
>
> The point is you can do something analogous for wedgies.

I wish I could say I was enlightened. Graham responded to my
hypersurface description which you said was wrong, and I still don't
know how to respond to his response, since I don't know how to
correct my description.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/10/2006 4:40:14 PM

At 03:49 PM 1/10/2006, you wrote:
>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>>
>> >> Hiya Paul - is there a name for this L_ notation that I could
>> >> look up somewhere?
//
>> I'm trying to remember a post in which you stated there's a
>> difference between this sort of choice and choosing between...
>> something else.
>
>Different choices for how to weight the various intervals?

I don't think so...

>> Bah, it was recent, but I have no idea how
>> to find it.
>>
>> -Carl
>
>I think it was on MMM.

Oh, thanks! Maybe it was this (though I thought what I'm
remembering was addressed to me, perhaps back when we were
talking about hexagons vs. circles on tuning, whereas this
was addressed to Gene):

>>Because different people have different tastes, this is a question
>>with no answer, I think. The minimax tuning for porcupine has a
>>stronger theoretical claim, but I think porcupine actually sounds
>>better in 22-et.
//
>Minimax vs. RMS vs. Sum-abs is another dimension along which one can
>vary the definition of "optimal", in addition to the dimension I was
>referring to above, and others. So one example is not enough to
>determine what exactly it is about our "optimality" criteria that we
>wish to change. Anyway, let's continue on tuning-math or tuning.

How is minimax in the 1st paragraph different from that in the 2nd?

-Carl

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 6:00:23 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...> writes:
>
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...>
wrote:
> > >
> > > I may not have been clear; I wasn't talking about what the
wedgie's
> > > definition *implies* or *means*, but what its definition *is*.
I
> > > still haven't seen a definition -- none that I can make any
sense
> > of,
> > > anyway.
> >
> > Be patient -- we'll get there!
>
> Patience, my ass... I've got that part figured out, finally.
>
> But when Gene Ward Smith says something like
>
> > Negri <<4, -3, 2, -14, -8, 13|| 7 12.188571
>
> (I fixed the brackets) it's still not clear to me what I'm supposed
to
> do with that information.

Especially if he doesn't label the columns :)

> Or more generally: if all I know about a temperament is its wedgie,
> what can I extract from it?

Everything! But in many cases, it would indeed be more convenient to
give the mapping from generator and period to the primes instead;
it's a bit of work to derive this from the wedgie.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/10/2006 6:02:57 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> At 03:49 PM 1/10/2006, you wrote:
> >--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
> >>
> >> >> Hiya Paul - is there a name for this L_ notation that I could
> >> >> look up somewhere?
> //
> >> I'm trying to remember a post in which you stated there's a
> >> difference between this sort of choice and choosing between...
> >> something else.
> >
> >Different choices for how to weight the various intervals?
>
> I don't think so...
>
> >> Bah, it was recent, but I have no idea how
> >> to find it.
> >>
> >> -Carl
> >
> >I think it was on MMM.
>
> Oh, thanks! Maybe it was this (though I thought what I'm
> remembering was addressed to me, perhaps back when we were
> talking about hexagons vs. circles on tuning, whereas this
> was addressed to Gene):
>
> >>Because different people have different tastes, this is a question
> >>with no answer, I think. The minimax tuning for porcupine has a
> >>stronger theoretical claim, but I think porcupine actually sounds
> >>better in 22-et.
> //
> >Minimax vs. RMS vs. Sum-abs is another dimension along which one
can
> >vary the definition of "optimal", in addition to the dimension I
was
> >referring to above, and others. So one example is not enough to
> >determine what exactly it is about our "optimality" criteria that
we
> >wish to change. Anyway, let's continue on tuning-math or tuning.
>
> How is minimax in the 1st paragraph different from that in the 2nd?
>
> -Carl

Why do you think it's different?

🔗bfowol <pkroser@netzero.net>

1/10/2006 8:37:20 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...> wrote:
>
[snip]
> > Patience, my ass... I've got that part figured out, finally.
> >
> > But when Gene Ward Smith says something like
> >
> > > Negri <<4, -3, 2, -14, -8, 13|| 7 12.188571
> >
> > (I fixed the brackets) it's still not clear to me what I'm supposed to
> > do with that information.
>
> Especially if he doesn't label the columns :)
>
> > Or more generally: if all I know about a temperament is its wedgie,
> > what can I extract from it?
>
> Everything! But in many cases, it would indeed be more convenient to
> give the mapping from generator and period to the primes instead;
> it's a bit of work to derive this from the wedgie.

Delurking briefly to say that so far I've seen a lot of postings containing wedgies for
various temperaments, and defining what a wedgie is, but so far haven't seen what I'd
consider the most useful bit of information: how to take a wedgie and extract enough info
from it to form a usable scale. Any takers?

🔗Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@gmail.com>

1/10/2006 9:39:56 PM

bfowol wrote:
> Delurking briefly to say that so far I've seen a lot of postings containing wedgies for > various temperaments, and defining what a wedgie is, but so far haven't seen what I'd > consider the most useful bit of information: how to take a wedgie and extract enough info > from it to form a usable scale. Any takers?

See the thread "Understanding wedgies". Gene gave a pretty good explanation of this. I'd be happy to clarify anything, now that I understand it.

Keenan

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/10/2006 11:31:06 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> > <<-1.955 13.686 31.714 26.232 54.898 33.962||
> >
> > The first three coefficients are the errors in cents of 3, 5, and 7
> in
> > terms of an equal division of the octave into 12 parts.

> So, what about the other three coefficients?

The first three can be written 100*(19*log2(2)-12*log2(3)),
100*(28*log2(2)-12*log2(5)), 100*(34*log2(2)-12*log2(7)), giving the
error in cents. The next three are 100*(28*log2(3)-19*log2(5)),
100*(34*log2(3)-19*log2(7)), 100*(34*log2(5)-28*log2(7)); more or less
they are weighted errors.

> Oh, OK. I goofed. But in this case, aren't you interpreting that
> object more as a "tuning map" and less as a "val"? Since it seems
> you're specifically identifying it with pure-octaves 12-equal . . .

Yes, you may certainly view this as wedging the tuning map with the
JIP and getting the error.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/10/2006 11:36:47 PM

At 06:02 PM 1/10/2006, you wrote:
>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>>
>> At 03:49 PM 1/10/2006, you wrote:
>> >--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> >> Hiya Paul - is there a name for this L_ notation that I could
>> >> >> look up somewhere?
>> //
>> >> I'm trying to remember a post in which you stated there's a
>> >> difference between this sort of choice and choosing between...
>> >> something else.
>> >
>> >Different choices for how to weight the various intervals?
>>
>> I don't think so...
>>
>> >> Bah, it was recent, but I have no idea how
>> >> to find it.
>> >>
>> >> -Carl
>> >
>> >I think it was on MMM.
>>
>> Oh, thanks! Maybe it was this (though I thought what I'm
>> remembering was addressed to me, perhaps back when we were
>> talking about hexagons vs. circles on tuning, whereas this
>> was addressed to Gene):
>>
>> >>Because different people have different tastes, this is a question
>> >>with no answer, I think. The minimax tuning for porcupine has a
>> >>stronger theoretical claim, but I think porcupine actually sounds
>> >>better in 22-et.
>> //
>> >Minimax vs. RMS vs. Sum-abs is another dimension along which one
>> >can vary the definition of "optimal", in addition to the dimension
>> >I was referring to above, and others. So one example is not enough
>> >to determine what exactly it is about our "optimality" criteria
>> >that we wish to change. Anyway, let's continue on tuning-math or
>> >tuning.
>>
>> How is minimax in the 1st paragraph different from that in the 2nd?
>>
>> -Carl
>
>Why do you think it's different?

"Minimax vs. RMS vs. Sum-abs is another dimension along which one
can vary the definition of "optimal", in addition to the dimension
I was referring to above, and others."

-Carl

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/11/2006 6:23:44 AM

Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@gmail.com> writes:

> bfowol wrote:
> > Delurking briefly to say that so far I've seen a lot of postings containing wedgies for
> > various temperaments, and defining what a wedgie is, but so far haven't seen what I'd
> > consider the most useful bit of information: how to take a wedgie and extract enough info
> > from it to form a usable scale. Any takers?
>
> See the thread "Understanding wedgies". Gene gave a pretty good explanation of
> this. I'd be happy to clarify anything, now that I understand it.

I don't think I understood every bit of that post, but it looks like
it did not tell you how to do anything with a wedgie if you don't
already know the period and generator.

If it did, then I need clarification.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/11/2006 9:40:22 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> I don't think I understood every bit of that post, but it looks like
> it did not tell you how to do anything with a wedgie if you don't
> already know the period and generator.

What things do you want to do?

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/11/2006 12:54:16 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> BTW, a chromatic unison (vector) is supposed to be a small interval > that functions as a sharp or flat in a diatonic-like scale. Not a > fifth, not a fourth, not a third, not a second, but a *unison* -- > thus the name. How this term came to mean something completely > different (which has no recognizable relationship with the term > itself) which can include fifths or even octaves is baffling to me; > hence I continue to rail against this random act of ridiculousness.

We had this discussion before, and I don't think it got anywhere. Certainly nobody convinced me that there was a better term than "unison vector" for unison vectors (and I note you didn't propose one there).

The earliest reference I have in English is this from Fokker:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html

"All pairs of notes differing by octaves only are considered unisons. There are other pairs of notes which in musical practice are considered to be unisonous...The vectors, which in the harmonic note lattice connect such notes taken for unisons will be called unison vectors."

Nothing about them being small, and almost includes octaves (not quite because they aren't vectors in Fokker's scheme). So that's your answer about how they "came to mean something completely different" -- it's people making the entirely reasonable assumption that chromatic unison vectors are unison vectors.

At least, saying "you don't need a chromatic unison vector because you can use a vector too large to count as a unison" is evading the question.

Now, the "chromatic" part of "chromatic unison vector" is wrong. They're considered to be unisonous in a diatonic scale, and so should be "diatonic unison vectors". Although in this context it doesn't matter if they lead to a diatonic or chromatic scale. But if you want to claim ownership of "chromatic unison vector" I'll switch to "diatonic unison vector" and reclaim Fokker's original meaning.

It also follows that commas and octaves can be classed as "enharmonic unison vectors".

Graham

🔗Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@gmail.com>

1/11/2006 1:09:27 PM

Rich Holmes wrote:
> I don't think I understood every bit of that post, but it looks like
> it did not tell you how to do anything with a wedgie if you don't
> already know the period and generator.
> > If it did, then I need clarification.
> > - Rich Holmes

But that's the point, you can use any period and generator (really just two independent generators) you want. For example, meantone is generated by the octave and the fifth, or the octave and the fourth, or the fifth and the fourth, or the fourth and the whole tone. The only intervals that can't be generators are multiples of other intervals, for example the minor seventh can't be a generator because it's twice a fourth.

The wedgie is so useful because it describes a temperament independantly of its generators.

Keenan

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/11/2006 3:11:11 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@g...>
wrote:

> The wedgie is so useful because it describes a temperament
independantly of its
> generators.

You can also compute the tuning map from the wedgie independently of
generators, and it's the tuning map which tells you how to tune
things. It's also extremely easy directly from the wedgie to find the
ets which support the temperament in question, and easy to find commas
for it.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/11/2006 5:50:24 PM

Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@gmail.com> writes:

> But that's the point, you can use any period and generator (really just two
> independent generators) you want.

Either I'm completely misunderstanding something, or this is
incorrect.

> For example, meantone is generated by the
> octave and the fifth, or the octave and the fourth, or the fifth and the fourth,
> or the fourth and the whole tone.

But not the octave and the whole tone. Nor the octave and the semitone.

> The only intervals that can't be generators
> are multiples of other intervals, for example the minor seventh can't be a
> generator because it's twice a fourth.

Since every interval is twice some other interval, I suspect this
needs to be stated more carefully.

Obviously I'm not understanding something, either because you've
misstated it or because I've misunderstood what you're saying.
Clarification welcome.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/11/2006 5:53:05 PM

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

> You can also compute the tuning map from the wedgie independently of
> generators, and it's the tuning map which tells you how to tune
> things. It's also extremely easy directly from the wedgie to find the
> ets which support the temperament in question, and easy to find commas
> for it.

Which answers your question about what I want to know how to do with a
wedgie. I think I understand how to find commas. The rest I'd like
to see an explanation of.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@gmail.com>

1/11/2006 6:58:42 PM

Rich Holmes wrote:
> Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@gmail.com> writes:
> > >>But that's the point, you can use any period and generator (really just two >>independent generators) you want. > > > Either I'm completely misunderstanding something, or this is
> incorrect.

What I meant was: Pick any meantone interval that's not a multiple of another meantone interval. Then you can find some other interval that generates all of meantone together with that one.

>>For example, meantone is generated by the >>octave and the fifth, or the octave and the fourth, or the fifth and the fourth, >>or the fourth and the whole tone. > > > But not the octave and the whole tone. Nor the octave and the semitone.

Right, you can't pick any pair of intervals, but you can pick one and then there will be many (I think infinitely many?) choices for the other one. I think the determinant of the matrix has to be 1 or something? I haven't even taken linear algebra yet, give me a break!

>>The only intervals that can't be generators >>are multiples of other intervals, for example the minor seventh can't be a >>generator because it's twice a fourth.
> > > Since every interval is twice some other interval, I suspect this
> needs to be stated more carefully.

Not twice some _meantone_ interval.

> Obviously I'm not understanding something, either because you've
> misstated it or because I've misunderstood what you're saying.
> Clarification welcome.
> > - Rich Holmes

My point was just that there are a heck of a lot of generators, so it doesn't make sense to ask for a way to get "the generator" from a wedgie.

Keenan

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/11/2006 7:01:26 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> Which answers your question about what I want to know how to do with a
> wedgie. I think I understand how to find commas. The rest I'd like
> to see an explanation of.

Suppose T is a wedgie, and v is an equal temperament val. Then
v supports T if and only if T^v = 0.

What an optimal tuning map is depends on how you define "optimal", so
various algorithms are required if we want to consider these various
notions of optimality. However, suppose s is a set of intervals and
you wish to find the least squares optimum with respect to s. Then you
may take a generic tuning map--in the 7-limit limit, m = <1200 a b c|.
Them we must have T^m = 0; the coefficients therefore give us linear
equations, which we can solve and substitute back to get M, with one
indeterminate. Now take the sum of squares of the error for each
element of s using this M, differentiate and solve; you now have a
least squares tuning map. This actually works for any rank of
temperament. It's actually not hard to find exact solutions, in fact.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/11/2006 8:03:33 PM

bfowol wrote:

> Delurking briefly to say that so far I've seen a lot of postings containing wedgies for > various temperaments, and defining what a wedgie is, but so far haven't seen what I'd > consider the most useful bit of information: how to take a wedgie and extract enough info > from it to form a usable scale. Any takers?

You can solve the wedgie equations to find a tuning map, if you specify certain conditions for the mapping (e.g., an integer number of periods and no generators to produce an octave). We had a discussion of this a couple years ago, but I don't remember the details. From the tuning map you can determine the size of the period and generator. So you could use the wedgie as an intermediate step between commas and tuning maps. Take 81/80 and 225/224, wedge to get [[12, -13, 4, 10, -4, 1>>, take the complement <<1, 4, 10, 4, 13, 12]], and the first 3 numbers are part of the tuning map if you define the period as an octave. So the tuning map is something like:

<1, x, y, z] (periods)
<0, 1, 4, 10] (generators)

Because zero generators are used in the approximation of the octave, the first three numbers of the wedgie come from the generator map multiplied by the number of periods in an octave.

(If the first three numbers of a 7-limit wedgie have a common factor, factor it out and use it for the period mapping.) Then solve the wedgie equations for x, y, and z.

4x - y = 4
10x - z = 13
10y - 4z = 12

Possible solutions include:

x = 0, y = -4, z = -13
x = 1, y = 0, z = -3
x = 2, y = 4, z = 7

etc. You'll have to try a few of them to find one with an appropriate size generator. Take the last one: 3/1 is approximated by two periods (i.e., two octaves) and one generator. This results in a fourth downward as the size of the generator (you can negate the sign of the generator map to make it a fourth upward).

<1, 2, 4, 7] (octaves)
<0, -1, -4, -10] (fourths)

This is cheating a bit, since I started with a pair of commas that I knew would turn out to give meantone temperament. But it's an example of the sort of thing you can do with wedgies.

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/11/2006 8:19:04 PM

Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@gmail.com> writes:

> What I meant was: Pick any meantone interval that's not a multiple of another
> meantone interval. Then you can find some other interval that generates all of
> meantone together with that one.

OK, that makes more sense to me. But... it requires knowledge of the
meantone intervals. If I knew nothing about meantone other than its
wedgie, how then would I find a period/generator? Or equivalently (I
guess), how would I construct a meantone scale knowing only the
wedgie?

> My point was just that there are a heck of a lot of generators, so it doesn't
> make sense to ask for a way to get "the generator" from a wedgie.

Sure, sorry, I knew that and should've said "a period/generator pair".

- Rich Holmes

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/11/2006 8:41:39 PM

Rich Holmes<rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu> writes:

> OK, that makes more sense to me. But... it requires knowledge of the
> meantone intervals. If I knew nothing about meantone other than its
> wedgie, how then would I find a period/generator? Or equivalently (I
> guess), how would I construct a meantone scale knowing only the
> wedgie?

Looks like Herman's answered this. Thanks!

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/11/2006 10:01:23 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> OK, that makes more sense to me. But... it requires knowledge of the
> meantone intervals. If I knew nothing about meantone other than its
> wedgie, how then would I find a period/generator?

Herman already gave an answer to this, so I'll give a completely
different one. If T is the wedgie, then take the "v" product with all
the primes in the p-limit; recall that Tvc, where c is a "monzo"
(prime exponents vector) representing an interval, then Tvc = ~(~T^c).
These give a set of vals; you can take out the GCD at this point and
make them reduced, though it isn't required. Now reduce this set of
vals, written as a row matrix of vals, to Hermite normal form, which
works a lot like Gaussian elimination. Take the two rows which aren't
all zeros, and those are your period and generator.

> Or equivalently (I
> guess), how would I construct a meantone scale knowing only the
> wedgie?

Compute a tuning map, take a JI scale, and reduce to meantone using
this scale. If you want to use Fokker blocks with 81/80 used in
contructing the block, that would make sense. If the number of steps
in the scale is n and the standard n-val v supports T, as shown by
T^v = 0, then you'll likely get a Fokker block. Even if you don't get
a Fokker block, you *will* get a meantone scale.

On the other hand, if you want a MOS you should proably go ahead and
compute a period-generator pair.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/12/2006 11:13:22 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

> If the number of steps
> in the scale is n and the standard n-val v supports T, as shown by
> T^v = 0, then you'll likely get a Fokker block.

Sorry, I meant DE scale.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/12/2006 11:19:54 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> Oh, you're looking at signed generator mappings . . .

Yes.

> I don't know what you're comparing here or why. This bears no > similarity to my complexity calculation . . . I think you must be > talking to someone else here :)

Perhaps when you look back throught the thread, you'll see I was always talking about max-min of the weighted generator mapping, and not whatever calculations you were doing.

> Perhaps you could offer some 7-limit examples so we can use my paper > to compare?

Here are some. The "OE Complexity" column is the octave-equivalent complexity, where you do the max-min of the weighted generator mapping. Then there are two different values for the wedgie complexity. The first one is divided through by the number of primes. That means it scales up roughly proportional to the octave equivalent complexity, and the complexity of an equal temperament is roughly the number of notes to the octave. The other wedige complexity is the raw sum-abs which agrees with your paper. Then there are the optimal TOP and weighted-primes RMS errors in cents/octave.

Some temperaments may be wrong. I originally found representative ETs with the odd-limit program. Now, I notice that a different value for 7-equal is optimal in the prime limit so I had to stop it being used. There may be others I missed.

Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
Blacksmith 2.153 1.619 6.475 7.240 5.393
Dimisept 2.524 1.979 7.917 5.872 4.918
Dominant 2.435 1.989 7.956 6.144 4.715
August 2.137 2.076 8.305 5.871 4.733
Pajara 2.985 2.601 10.402 3.107 2.572
Semaphore 3.445 2.801 11.204 3.669 2.755
Meantone 3.562 2.941 11.765 1.699 1.382
Injera 3.445 2.979 11.918 3.583 3.138
Negrisept 3.816 3.031 12.125 3.187 2.575
Augene 4.030 3.031 12.125 2.940 2.228
Keemun 3.786 3.102 12.409 3.834 2.583
Catler 4.274 3.210 12.840 3.557 2.690
Hedgehog 4.307 3.297 13.190 3.107 2.780
Superpyth 4.589 3.608 14.431 2.404 1.917
Sensisept 4.631 3.615 14.459 1.610 1.323
Lemba 4.647 3.657 14.627 3.762 3.200
Porcupine 4.291 3.699 14.796 3.278 2.531
Flattone 4.929 3.844 15.376 2.536 2.117
Magic 4.274 3.884 15.536 1.277 1.074
Doublewide 5.047 3.899 15.596 3.278 2.483
Nautilus 4.307 3.906 15.623 3.480 3.248
Beatles 5.138 4.219 16.877 2.896 2.301
Liese 5.168 4.372 17.490 2.625 2.219
Cynder 5.524 4.612 18.448 1.805 1.425
Orwell 5.709 4.995 19.980 0.946 0.748
Garibaldi 5.618 5.073 20.292 0.913 0.726
Myna 6.309 5.081 20.326 1.460 0.952
Miracle 6.800 5.275 21.102 0.631 0.515
Ennealimmal 11.628 9.957 39.829 0.036 0.030

But I don't know why you want 7-limit tables to investigate a 13-limit phenomenon. Here are some more relevant results:

Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
Mystery 12.490 15.671 94.027 0.652 0.512
Diaschismic 9.369 11.950 71.702 1.268 0.826
Cassandra1 11.635 14.225 85.348 0.969 0.696
Cassandra2 6.306 8.103 48.617 2.032 1.517

Mystery is 29&58, with mapping
[(29, 0), (46, 0), (67, 1), (81, 1), (100, 1), (107, 1)]
and a 13 or 15-limit complexity of 29.

Diaschismic is the 46&58 temperament with mapping
[(2, 0), (3, 1), (5, -2), (7, -8), (9, -12), (10, -15)]
and a 13 or 15-limit complexity of 34.

Cassandra1 is 41%53 with mapping
[(1, 0), (2, -1), (-1, 8), (-3, 14), (13, -23), (12, -20)]
and a 13 or 15-limit complexity of 37.

So in either the 13 or 15 limits, Mystery is the simplest of the three. But in the weighted 13-limit, Mystery is the most complex.

>>They're both octave-equivalent prime-based measures. So you have > to >>correct for 15:8 and 5:3 having different octave-specific > complexities. > > I don't know what context I'm supposed to take the above in. My > complexity numbers are virtually identical to the max-Kees complexity > (according to Gene), which is an octave-equivalent measure despite my > measure being octave-specific.

So what's the formula for max-Kees complexity?

>> Either tempering the octaves or considering the full wedgie gives > you >>a proper octave-specific measure.
> > ?

The worst weighted error won't be the TOP error if you don't optimize your octaves properly, will it? And the sum-abs of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie won't give equivalent results to the sum-abs of the full wedgie either. It happens that the formula for the TOP error of unweighted octaves is similar to the octave-equivalent complexity formula.

5-limit
Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
Father 1185.9 1181.3 447.4 448.9 14.131 13.194
Bug 1185.8 1200.0 246.1 260.4 14.176 11.574
Dicot 1207.7 1206.4 353.2 350.5 7.658 7.095
Meantone 1201.7 1201.4 504.1 504.3 1.700 1.582
Augmented 399.0 399.0 88.5 93.1 2.940 2.400
Mavila 1206.6 1208.4 521.5 523.8 6.549 6.065
Porcupine 1196.9 1199.6 162.3 163.9 3.094 2.678
Blackwood 238.9 238.9 66.9 80.0 5.666 4.626
Dimipent 299.2 299.7 101.7 99.4 3.359 3.104
Srutal 599.6 599.4 104.7 104.8 0.889 0.835
Magic 1201.3 1201.2 380.8 380.5 1.279 1.110
Ripple 1203.3 1200.3 102.0 100.9 3.324 2.819
Hanson 1200.3 1200.2 317.1 317.1 0.291 0.274
Negripent 1201.8 1202.3 126.1 126.0 1.823 1.690
Tetracot 1201.7 1201.4 348.8 348.5 1.699 1.582
Superpyth 1197.6 1197.7 489.4 489.0 2.404 2.112
Helmholtz 1200.1 1200.1 498.3 498.3 0.066 0.057
Sensipent 1199.6 1199.9 443.0 443.0 0.413 0.356
Passion 1198.3 1197.8 98.4 98.5 1.686 1.567
Wuerschmidt 1199.7 1199.7 387.6 387.7 0.309 0.262
Compton 100.1 100.1 13.7 15.1 0.617 0.504
Amity 1199.9 1199.9 339.5 339.5 0.150 0.140
Orson 1200.2 1200.3 271.7 271.7 0.240 0.215
Vishnu 600.0 600.0 71.1 71.1 0.051 0.047
Luna 1200.0 1200.0 193.2 193.2 0.018 0.015

Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
Father 1.062 0.716 2.149 14.967 13.194
Bug 1.292 0.851 2.554 14.176 11.574
Dicot 1.262 0.836 2.508 7.658 7.095
Meantone 1.723 1.147 3.441 1.699 1.582
Augmented 1.893 1.265 3.795 3.557 2.400
Mavila 1.923 1.275 3.825 6.548 6.065
Porcupine 2.153 1.439 4.318 3.216 2.678
Blackwood 2.153 1.442 4.327 5.666 4.626
Dimipent 2.524 1.687 5.062 3.557 3.104
Srutal 2.985 1.991 5.974 0.889 0.835
Magic 3.155 2.101 6.303 1.277 1.110
Ripple 3.445 2.291 6.872 3.324 2.819
Hanson 3.786 2.523 7.569 0.291 0.274
Negripent 3.816 2.540 7.620 1.823 1.690
Tetracot 3.445 2.294 6.881 1.699 1.582
Superpyth 3.876 2.589 7.768 2.404 2.112
Helmholtz 4.076 2.717 8.152 0.065 0.057
Sensipent 4.417 2.945 8.836 0.412 0.356
Passion 4.877 3.256 9.768 1.686 1.567
Wuerschmidt 5.047 3.366 10.097 0.428 0.262
Compton 5.168 3.444 10.331 0.617 0.504
Amity 5.599 3.733 11.199 0.303 0.140
Orson 5.709 3.805 11.415 0.240 0.215
Vishnu 8.833 5.889 17.667 0.051 0.047
Luna 10.325 6.884 20.651 0.109 0.015

7-limit
Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
Blacksmith 239.2 239.4 67.0 87.0 7.240 5.393
Dimisept 298.5 299.1 101.5 99.2 5.872 4.918
Dominant 1195.2 1195.4 495.9 496.5 4.771 4.715
August 400.0 399.1 107.3 103.8 5.871 4.733
Pajara 598.4 598.9 106.6 106.8 3.107 2.572
Semaphore 1203.7 1203.9 252.5 253.4 3.670 2.755
Meantone 1201.7 1201.2 504.1 504.0 1.700 1.382
Injera 600.9 600.7 93.6 94.5 3.583 3.138
Negrisept 1203.2 1203.5 124.8 126.0 3.188 2.575
Augene 399.0 398.8 88.5 90.5 2.940 2.228
Keemun 1203.2 1202.6 317.8 317.2 3.188 2.583
Catler 99.8 99.9 14.6 26.8 3.557 2.690
Hedgehog 598.4 599.6 162.3 164.2 3.107 2.780
Superpyth 1197.6 1197.1 489.4 488.5 2.404 1.917
Sensisept 1198.4 1199.7 443.2 443.3 1.611 1.323
Lemba 601.7 601.5 230.9 232.7 3.741 3.200
Porcupine 1196.9 1197.8 162.3 162.6 3.094 2.531
Flattone 1202.5 1203.6 507.1 507.8 2.537 2.117
Magic 1201.3 1201.1 380.8 380.7 1.279 1.074
Doublewide 599.3 600.0 327.0 325.7 3.269 2.483
Nautilus 1202.7 1202.2 83.0 82.7 3.481 3.248
Beatles 1197.1 1196.6 354.7 354.9 2.897 2.301
Liese 1202.6 1201.6 569.0 568.3 2.625 2.219
Cynder 1201.7 1200.9 232.5 232.4 1.699 1.425
Orwell 1199.5 1200.0 271.5 271.5 0.947 0.748
Garibaldi 1200.8 1200.1 498.1 498.0 0.914 0.726
Myna 1198.8 1199.3 309.9 310.0 1.172 0.952
Miracle 1200.6 1200.8 116.7 116.8 0.632 0.515
Ennealimmal 133.3 133.3 49.0 49.0 0.036 0.030

Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
Blacksmith 2.153 1.619 6.475 7.240 5.393
Dimisept 2.524 1.979 7.917 5.872 4.918
Dominant 2.435 1.989 7.956 6.144 4.715
August 2.137 2.076 8.305 5.871 4.733
Pajara 2.985 2.601 10.402 3.107 2.572
Semaphore 3.445 2.801 11.204 3.669 2.755
Meantone 3.562 2.941 11.765 1.699 1.382
Injera 3.445 2.979 11.918 3.583 3.138
Negrisept 3.816 3.031 12.125 3.187 2.575
Augene 4.030 3.031 12.125 2.940 2.228
Keemun 3.786 3.102 12.409 3.834 2.583
Catler 4.274 3.210 12.840 3.557 2.690
Hedgehog 4.307 3.297 13.190 3.107 2.780
Superpyth 4.589 3.608 14.431 2.404 1.917
Sensisept 4.631 3.615 14.459 1.610 1.323
Lemba 4.647 3.657 14.627 3.762 3.200
Porcupine 4.291 3.699 14.796 3.278 2.531
Flattone 4.929 3.844 15.376 2.536 2.117
Magic 4.274 3.884 15.536 1.277 1.074
Doublewide 5.047 3.899 15.596 3.278 2.483
Nautilus 4.307 3.906 15.623 3.480 3.248
Beatles 5.138 4.219 16.877 2.896 2.301
Liese 5.168 4.372 17.490 2.625 2.219
Cynder 5.524 4.612 18.448 1.805 1.425
Orwell 5.709 4.995 19.980 0.946 0.748
Garibaldi 5.618 5.073 20.292 0.913 0.726
Myna 6.309 5.081 20.326 1.460 0.952
Miracle 6.800 5.275 21.102 0.631 0.515
Ennealimmal 11.628 9.957 39.829 0.036 0.030

11-limit
Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
Miracle 1200.6 1200.8 116.7 116.7 0.632 0.484
Diaschismic 599.4 599.4 103.8 103.6 1.268 0.905
Orwell 1201.2 1200.6 271.4 271.6 1.364 1.151
Shrutar 599.8 599.8 52.4 52.7 1.425 1.146
Schismic 1201.4 1200.2 497.9 497.7 1.790 1.310
Microschismic 1200.8 1200.3 498.1 498.0 0.914 0.673
Magic 1200.7 1200.1 380.9 380.7 1.678 1.226
Meantone 1201.6 1200.8 504.0 503.4 1.740 1.439
Vicentino1 1201.7 1201.2 348.8 348.8 1.701 1.471
Vicentino2 1201.7 1201.8 348.8 348.7 1.699 1.396
Mystery 41.4 41.4 16.1 16.0 0.652 0.539
Hemiennialimmal 66.7 66.7 17.6 17.6 0.049 0.038

Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
Miracle 7.351 7.675 38.375 0.631 0.484
Diaschismic 8.199 8.847 44.237 1.268 0.905
Orwell 5.709 5.704 28.520 1.363 1.151
Shrutar 8.432 7.989 39.946 1.425 1.146
Schismic 5.834 6.656 33.280 1.785 1.310
Microschismic 11.635 10.936 54.678 0.913 0.673
Magic 6.587 6.530 32.649 1.676 1.226
Meantone 5.203 5.332 26.661 1.805 1.439
Vicentino1 7.364 6.461 32.306 1.699 1.471
Vicentino2 7.124 6.563 32.813 1.699 1.396
Mystery 12.490 14.128 70.642 0.652 0.539
Hemiennialimmal 23.257 25.608 128.040 0.049 0.038

13-limit
Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
Mystery 41.4 41.4 16.1 15.9 0.652 0.512
Diaschismic 599.4 599.4 103.8 103.6 1.268 0.826
Cassandra1 1200.4 1200.2 498.1 498.0 0.971 0.696
Cassandra2 1201.5 1200.3 497.9 497.6 2.035 1.517

Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
Mystery 12.490 15.671 94.027 0.652 0.512
Diaschismic 9.369 11.950 71.702 1.268 0.826
Cassandra1 11.635 14.225 85.348 0.969 0.696
Cassandra2 6.306 8.103 48.617 2.032 1.517

17-limit
Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
Mystery 41.4 41.4 16.1 16.2 1.219 0.852
Diaschismic 599.4 599.6 103.9 103.7 1.351 0.890

Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
Mystery 12.490 16.974 118.820 1.219 0.852
Diaschismic 9.369 13.912 97.383 1.351 0.890

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/13/2006 5:00:17 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > > <<-1.955 13.686 31.714 26.232 54.898 33.962||
> > >
> > > The first three coefficients are the errors in cents of 3, 5,
and 7
> > in
> > > terms of an equal division of the octave into 12 parts.
>
> > So, what about the other three coefficients?
>
> The first three can be written 100*(19*log2(2)-12*log2(3)),
> 100*(28*log2(2)-12*log2(5)), 100*(34*log2(2)-12*log2(7)), giving the
> error in cents. The next three are 100*(28*log2(3)-19*log2(5)),
> 100*(34*log2(3)-19*log2(7)), 100*(34*log2(5)-28*log2(7)); more or
less
> they are weighted errors.

I don't understand the weighting or why it arises. Can you provide
some insight?

> > Oh, OK. I goofed. But in this case, aren't you interpreting that
> > object more as a "tuning map" and less as a "val"? Since it seems
> > you're specifically identifying it with pure-octaves 12-
equal . . .
>
> Yes, you may certainly view this as wedging the tuning map with the
> JIP and getting the error.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/13/2006 5:02:46 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> At 06:02 PM 1/10/2006, you wrote:
> >--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
> >>
> >> At 03:49 PM 1/10/2006, you wrote:
> >> >--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...>
wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> >> Hiya Paul - is there a name for this L_ notation that I
could
> >> >> >> look up somewhere?
> >> //
> >> >> I'm trying to remember a post in which you stated there's a
> >> >> difference between this sort of choice and choosing between...
> >> >> something else.
> >> >
> >> >Different choices for how to weight the various intervals?
> >>
> >> I don't think so...
> >>
> >> >> Bah, it was recent, but I have no idea how
> >> >> to find it.
> >> >>
> >> >> -Carl
> >> >
> >> >I think it was on MMM.
> >>
> >> Oh, thanks! Maybe it was this (though I thought what I'm
> >> remembering was addressed to me, perhaps back when we were
> >> talking about hexagons vs. circles on tuning, whereas this
> >> was addressed to Gene):
> >>
> >> >>Because different people have different tastes, this is a
question
> >> >>with no answer, I think. The minimax tuning for porcupine has a
> >> >>stronger theoretical claim, but I think porcupine actually
sounds
> >> >>better in 22-et.
> >> //
> >> >Minimax vs. RMS vs. Sum-abs is another dimension along which one
> >> >can vary the definition of "optimal", in addition to the
dimension
> >> >I was referring to above, and others. So one example is not
enough
> >> >to determine what exactly it is about our "optimality" criteria
> >> >that we wish to change. Anyway, let's continue on tuning-math or
> >> >tuning.
> >>
> >> How is minimax in the 1st paragraph different from that in the
2nd?
> >>
> >> -Carl
> >
> >Why do you think it's different?
>
> "Minimax vs. RMS vs. Sum-abs is another dimension along which one
> can vary the definition of "optimal", in addition to the dimension
> I was referring to above, and others."
>
> -Carl

So? Seems like the same sense of Minimax (L_inf) is used there, as
it's being contrasted against RMS (L_2) and Sum-abs (L_1) . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/13/2006 5:12:07 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > BTW, a chromatic unison (vector) is supposed to be a small
interval
> > that functions as a sharp or flat in a diatonic-like scale. Not a
> > fifth, not a fourth, not a third, not a second, but a *unison* --
> > thus the name. How this term came to mean something completely
> > different (which has no recognizable relationship with the term
> > itself) which can include fifths or even octaves is baffling to
me;
> > hence I continue to rail against this random act of
ridiculousness.
>
> We had this discussion before, and I don't think it got anywhere.
> Certainly nobody convinced me that there was a better term
than "unison
> vector" for unison vectors (and I note you didn't propose one
there).

A perfect fifth is no kind of unison vector.

> The earliest reference I have in English is this from Fokker:
>
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html
>
> "All pairs of notes differing by octaves only are considered
unisons.
> There are other pairs of notes which in musical practice are
considered
> to be unisonous...The vectors, which in the harmonic note lattice
> connect such notes taken for unisons will be called unison vectors."
>
> Nothing about them being small,

What do you think "unisonious" means??

> and almost includes octaves (not quite
> because they aren't vectors in Fokker's scheme). So that's your
answer
> about how they "came to mean something completely different" --
it's
> people making the entirely reasonable assumption that chromatic
unison
> vectors are unison vectors.

Again, it's entirely unreasonable to assume a fifth is a unison.

> At least, saying "you don't need a chromatic unison vector because
you
> can use a vector too large to count as a unison" is evading the
question.

It is?

> Now, the "chromatic" part of "chromatic unison vector" is wrong.
> They're considered to be unisonous in a diatonic scale, and so
should be
> "diatonic unison vectors".

Relative to the diatonic scale, they create chromatic alterations.
The term musicians use is "augmented unison", and musicians also call
any augmented or diminished intervals "chromatic". "Diatonic unison
vector" seems like, at best, it could refer to either a chromatic
unison vector or a commatic unison vector.

> Although in this context it doesn't matter
> if they lead to a diatonic or chromatic scale. But if you want to
claim
> ownership of "chromatic unison vector" I'll switch to "diatonic
unison
> vector" and reclaim Fokker's original meaning.

It still won't be "unisonious" contrary to Fokker's description.

> It also follows that commas and octaves can be classed
>as "enharmonic
> unison vectors".

Commas? Sure.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/13/2006 5:14:53 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@g...>
wrote:
>
> Rich Holmes wrote:
> > I don't think I understood every bit of that post, but it looks
like
> > it did not tell you how to do anything with a wedgie if you don't
> > already know the period and generator.
> >
> > If it did, then I need clarification.
> >
> > - Rich Holmes
>
> But that's the point, you can use any period and generator (really
just two
> independent generators) you want.

Not really.

> For example, meantone is generated by the
> octave and the fifth, or the octave and the fourth, or the fifth
and the fourth,
> or the fourth and the whole tone.

Yes, but meantone is *not* generated by the octave and whole tone. So
you can't just use any two independent intervals.

> The only intervals that can't be generators
> are multiples of other intervals, for example the minor seventh
can't be a
> generator because it's twice a fourth.

This is not so. The whole tone in meantone is not a multiple of any
other interval. Yet the octave and whole tone don't work as a basis
for meantone.

> The wedgie is so useful because it describes a temperament
independantly of its
> generators.

Yes, but only certain pairs of intervals can generate a given
temperament.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/13/2006 5:18:55 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Keenan Pepper <keenanpepper@g...>
wrote:

> My point was just that there are a heck of a lot of generators, so it
doesn't
> make sense to ask for a way to get "the generator" from a wedgie.

It does if you insist that "the other generator", or "the period",
generates the octave all by itself. Then there are only two possible
choices for "the generator" which are smaller than the period, and in
fact these two add up to the period. If you have your optimization
criteria fixed, you can then use a convention such as always choosing
the smaller value for "the generator".

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/13/2006 5:25:39 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...>
wrote:
>
> > OK, that makes more sense to me. But... it requires knowledge of
the
> > meantone intervals. If I knew nothing about meantone other than
its
> > wedgie, how then would I find a period/generator?
>
> Herman already gave an answer to this, so I'll give a completely
> different one. If T is the wedgie, then take the "v" product with
all
> the primes in the p-limit; recall that Tvc, where c is a "monzo"
> (prime exponents vector) representing an interval, then Tvc = ~
(~T^c).

Is this the interior or regressive product? I'd write this as T\/c to
avoid confusion.

> These give a set of vals; you can take out the GCD at this point and
> make them reduced, though it isn't required. Now reduce this set of
> vals, written as a row matrix of vals, to Hermite normal form, which
> works a lot like Gaussian elimination. Take the two rows which
aren't
> all zeros, and those are your period and generator.
>
> > Or equivalently (I
> > guess), how would I construct a meantone scale knowing only the
> > wedgie?
>
> Compute a tuning map, take a JI scale, and reduce to meantone using
> this scale.

This may give funny results, especially for systems other than
meantone. And JI scales are poor relatives of tempered scales. I
would think it makes more sense to start with one note per period,
and then keep building more notes on each of these using the
generator, iteratively. Useful stopping points for a scale would be
those where a distributionally even scale (or equivalently, one with
two step sizes) results.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/13/2006 5:30:26 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
> wrote:
>
> > If the number of steps
> > in the scale is n and the standard n-val v supports T, as shown by
> > T^v = 0, then you'll likely get a Fokker block.
>
> Sorry, I meant DE scale.

Aha. This is a good thing to point out to people, and I missed it
entirely when it read "Fokker block". But that could be seen as correct
too, if you add "tempered" in front of "Fokker", because of my
Hypothesis . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/13/2006 5:44:13 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> > Oh, you're looking at signed generator mappings . . .
>
> Yes.
>
> > I don't know what you're comparing here or why. This bears no
> > similarity to my complexity calculation . . . I think you must be
> > talking to someone else here :)
>
> Perhaps when you look back throught the thread, you'll see I was
always
> talking about max-min of the weighted generator mapping, and not
> whatever calculations you were doing.

OK. But Gene said that max Kees-weighted complexity was nearly
identical to my calculations. Is something not checking up right here?

> > Perhaps you could offer some 7-limit examples so we can use my
paper
> > to compare?
>
> Here are some. The "OE Complexity" column is the octave-equivalent
> complexity, where you do the max-min of the weighted generator
mapping.
> Then there are two different values for the wedgie complexity.
The
> first one is divided through by the number of primes. That means
it
> scales up roughly proportional to the octave equivalent complexity,
and
> the complexity of an equal temperament is roughly the number of
notes to
> the octave. The other wedige complexity is the raw sum-abs which
agrees
> with your paper. Then there are the optimal TOP and weighted-
primes RMS
> errors in cents/octave.
>
> Some temperaments may be wrong. I originally found representative
ETs
> with the odd-limit program. Now, I notice that a different value
for
> 7-equal is optimal in the prime limit so I had to stop it being
used.
> There may be others I missed.
>
> Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
> Blacksmith 2.153 1.619 6.475 7.240 5.393
> Dimisept 2.524 1.979 7.917 5.872 4.918
> Dominant 2.435 1.989 7.956 6.144 4.715
> August 2.137 2.076 8.305 5.871 4.733
> Pajara 2.985 2.601 10.402 3.107 2.572
> Semaphore 3.445 2.801 11.204 3.669 2.755
> Meantone 3.562 2.941 11.765 1.699 1.382
> Injera 3.445 2.979 11.918 3.583 3.138
> Negrisept 3.816 3.031 12.125 3.187 2.575
> Augene 4.030 3.031 12.125 2.940 2.228
> Keemun 3.786 3.102 12.409 3.834 2.583
> Catler 4.274 3.210 12.840 3.557 2.690
> Hedgehog 4.307 3.297 13.190 3.107 2.780
> Superpyth 4.589 3.608 14.431 2.404 1.917
> Sensisept 4.631 3.615 14.459 1.610 1.323
> Lemba 4.647 3.657 14.627 3.762 3.200
> Porcupine 4.291 3.699 14.796 3.278 2.531
> Flattone 4.929 3.844 15.376 2.536 2.117
> Magic 4.274 3.884 15.536 1.277 1.074
> Doublewide 5.047 3.899 15.596 3.278 2.483
> Nautilus 4.307 3.906 15.623 3.480 3.248
> Beatles 5.138 4.219 16.877 2.896 2.301
> Liese 5.168 4.372 17.490 2.625 2.219
> Cynder 5.524 4.612 18.448 1.805 1.425
> Orwell 5.709 4.995 19.980 0.946 0.748
> Garibaldi 5.618 5.073 20.292 0.913 0.726
> Myna 6.309 5.081 20.326 1.460 0.952
> Miracle 6.800 5.275 21.102 0.631 0.515
> Ennealimmal 11.628 9.957 39.829 0.036 0.030
>
>
> But I don't know why you want 7-limit tables to investigate a 13-
limit
> phenomenon. Here are some more relevant results:
>
> Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
> Mystery 12.490 15.671 94.027 0.652 0.512
> Diaschismic 9.369 11.950 71.702 1.268 0.826
> Cassandra1 11.635 14.225 85.348 0.969 0.696
> Cassandra2 6.306 8.103 48.617 2.032 1.517

I don't see any disagreement in the complexity rankings . . .

> Mystery is 29&58, with mapping
> [(29, 0), (46, 0), (67, 1), (81, 1), (100, 1), (107, 1)]
> and a 13 or 15-limit complexity of 29.
>
> Diaschismic is the 46&58 temperament with mapping
> [(2, 0), (3, 1), (5, -2), (7, -8), (9, -12), (10, -15)]
> and a 13 or 15-limit complexity of 34.
>
> Cassandra1 is 41%53 with mapping
> [(1, 0), (2, -1), (-1, 8), (-3, 14), (13, -23), (12, -20)]
> and a 13 or 15-limit complexity of 37.
>
> So in either the 13 or 15 limits, Mystery is the simplest of the
three.
> But in the weighted 13-limit, Mystery is the most complex.

Weighted vs. unweighted? I think it's fair to weight the simpler
intervals more heavily in the complexity calculation, but that's a
different issue. I thought the issue here was weighted vs. weighted
(under different definitions of complexity).

> >>They're both octave-equivalent prime-based measures. So you have
> > to
> >>correct for 15:8 and 5:3 having different octave-specific
> > complexities.
> >
> > I don't know what context I'm supposed to take the above in. My
> > complexity numbers are virtually identical to the max-Kees
complexity
> > (according to Gene), which is an octave-equivalent measure
despite my
> > measure being octave-specific.
>
> So what's the formula for max-Kees complexity?

I think it's just the maximum, over all ratios, of the number of
generators needed to reach the ratio (times the number of periods per
octave), divided by the expressibility (log of the "odd limit") of
the ratio. Gene?

> >> Either tempering the octaves or considering the full wedgie
gives
> > you
> >>a proper octave-specific measure.
> >
> > ?
>
> The worst weighted error won't be the TOP error if you don't
optimize
> your octaves properly, will it?

How did we get from complexity to error?

> And the sum-abs of the weighted
> octave-equivalent wedgie won't give equivalent results to the sum-
abs of
> the full wedgie either.

Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use the
max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?

> It happens that the formula for the TOP error
> of unweighted octaves is similar to the octave-equivalent
complexity
> formula.

OK, but is this demostrated in the tables below? What do they
demonstrate? (I think you switched the second and third columns or
something, BTW . . .)

> 5-limit
> Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
> Father 1185.9 1181.3 447.4 448.9 14.131 13.194
> Bug 1185.8 1200.0 246.1 260.4 14.176 11.574
> Dicot 1207.7 1206.4 353.2 350.5 7.658 7.095
> Meantone 1201.7 1201.4 504.1 504.3 1.700 1.582
> Augmented 399.0 399.0 88.5 93.1 2.940 2.400
> Mavila 1206.6 1208.4 521.5 523.8 6.549 6.065
> Porcupine 1196.9 1199.6 162.3 163.9 3.094 2.678
> Blackwood 238.9 238.9 66.9 80.0 5.666 4.626
> Dimipent 299.2 299.7 101.7 99.4 3.359 3.104
> Srutal 599.6 599.4 104.7 104.8 0.889 0.835
> Magic 1201.3 1201.2 380.8 380.5 1.279 1.110
> Ripple 1203.3 1200.3 102.0 100.9 3.324 2.819
> Hanson 1200.3 1200.2 317.1 317.1 0.291 0.274
> Negripent 1201.8 1202.3 126.1 126.0 1.823 1.690
> Tetracot 1201.7 1201.4 348.8 348.5 1.699 1.582
> Superpyth 1197.6 1197.7 489.4 489.0 2.404 2.112
> Helmholtz 1200.1 1200.1 498.3 498.3 0.066 0.057
> Sensipent 1199.6 1199.9 443.0 443.0 0.413 0.356
> Passion 1198.3 1197.8 98.4 98.5 1.686 1.567
> Wuerschmidt 1199.7 1199.7 387.6 387.7 0.309 0.262
> Compton 100.1 100.1 13.7 15.1 0.617 0.504
> Amity 1199.9 1199.9 339.5 339.5 0.150 0.140
> Orson 1200.2 1200.3 271.7 271.7 0.240 0.215
> Vishnu 600.0 600.0 71.1 71.1 0.051 0.047
> Luna 1200.0 1200.0 193.2 193.2 0.018 0.015
>
> Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
> Father 1.062 0.716 2.149 14.967 13.194
> Bug 1.292 0.851 2.554 14.176 11.574
> Dicot 1.262 0.836 2.508 7.658 7.095
> Meantone 1.723 1.147 3.441 1.699 1.582
> Augmented 1.893 1.265 3.795 3.557 2.400
> Mavila 1.923 1.275 3.825 6.548 6.065
> Porcupine 2.153 1.439 4.318 3.216 2.678
> Blackwood 2.153 1.442 4.327 5.666 4.626
> Dimipent 2.524 1.687 5.062 3.557 3.104
> Srutal 2.985 1.991 5.974 0.889 0.835
> Magic 3.155 2.101 6.303 1.277 1.110
> Ripple 3.445 2.291 6.872 3.324 2.819
> Hanson 3.786 2.523 7.569 0.291 0.274
> Negripent 3.816 2.540 7.620 1.823 1.690
> Tetracot 3.445 2.294 6.881 1.699 1.582
> Superpyth 3.876 2.589 7.768 2.404 2.112
> Helmholtz 4.076 2.717 8.152 0.065 0.057
> Sensipent 4.417 2.945 8.836 0.412 0.356
> Passion 4.877 3.256 9.768 1.686 1.567
> Wuerschmidt 5.047 3.366 10.097 0.428 0.262
> Compton 5.168 3.444 10.331 0.617 0.504
> Amity 5.599 3.733 11.199 0.303 0.140
> Orson 5.709 3.805 11.415 0.240 0.215
> Vishnu 8.833 5.889 17.667 0.051 0.047
> Luna 10.325 6.884 20.651 0.109 0.015
>
> 7-limit
> Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
> Blacksmith 239.2 239.4 67.0 87.0 7.240 5.393
> Dimisept 298.5 299.1 101.5 99.2 5.872 4.918
> Dominant 1195.2 1195.4 495.9 496.5 4.771 4.715
> August 400.0 399.1 107.3 103.8 5.871 4.733
> Pajara 598.4 598.9 106.6 106.8 3.107 2.572
> Semaphore 1203.7 1203.9 252.5 253.4 3.670 2.755
> Meantone 1201.7 1201.2 504.1 504.0 1.700 1.382
> Injera 600.9 600.7 93.6 94.5 3.583 3.138
> Negrisept 1203.2 1203.5 124.8 126.0 3.188 2.575
> Augene 399.0 398.8 88.5 90.5 2.940 2.228
> Keemun 1203.2 1202.6 317.8 317.2 3.188 2.583
> Catler 99.8 99.9 14.6 26.8 3.557 2.690
> Hedgehog 598.4 599.6 162.3 164.2 3.107 2.780
> Superpyth 1197.6 1197.1 489.4 488.5 2.404 1.917
> Sensisept 1198.4 1199.7 443.2 443.3 1.611 1.323
> Lemba 601.7 601.5 230.9 232.7 3.741 3.200
> Porcupine 1196.9 1197.8 162.3 162.6 3.094 2.531
> Flattone 1202.5 1203.6 507.1 507.8 2.537 2.117
> Magic 1201.3 1201.1 380.8 380.7 1.279 1.074
> Doublewide 599.3 600.0 327.0 325.7 3.269 2.483
> Nautilus 1202.7 1202.2 83.0 82.7 3.481 3.248
> Beatles 1197.1 1196.6 354.7 354.9 2.897 2.301
> Liese 1202.6 1201.6 569.0 568.3 2.625 2.219
> Cynder 1201.7 1200.9 232.5 232.4 1.699 1.425
> Orwell 1199.5 1200.0 271.5 271.5 0.947 0.748
> Garibaldi 1200.8 1200.1 498.1 498.0 0.914 0.726
> Myna 1198.8 1199.3 309.9 310.0 1.172 0.952
> Miracle 1200.6 1200.8 116.7 116.8 0.632 0.515
> Ennealimmal 133.3 133.3 49.0 49.0 0.036 0.030
>
> Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
> Blacksmith 2.153 1.619 6.475 7.240 5.393
> Dimisept 2.524 1.979 7.917 5.872 4.918
> Dominant 2.435 1.989 7.956 6.144 4.715
> August 2.137 2.076 8.305 5.871 4.733
> Pajara 2.985 2.601 10.402 3.107 2.572
> Semaphore 3.445 2.801 11.204 3.669 2.755
> Meantone 3.562 2.941 11.765 1.699 1.382
> Injera 3.445 2.979 11.918 3.583 3.138
> Negrisept 3.816 3.031 12.125 3.187 2.575
> Augene 4.030 3.031 12.125 2.940 2.228
> Keemun 3.786 3.102 12.409 3.834 2.583
> Catler 4.274 3.210 12.840 3.557 2.690
> Hedgehog 4.307 3.297 13.190 3.107 2.780
> Superpyth 4.589 3.608 14.431 2.404 1.917
> Sensisept 4.631 3.615 14.459 1.610 1.323
> Lemba 4.647 3.657 14.627 3.762 3.200
> Porcupine 4.291 3.699 14.796 3.278 2.531
> Flattone 4.929 3.844 15.376 2.536 2.117
> Magic 4.274 3.884 15.536 1.277 1.074
> Doublewide 5.047 3.899 15.596 3.278 2.483
> Nautilus 4.307 3.906 15.623 3.480 3.248
> Beatles 5.138 4.219 16.877 2.896 2.301
> Liese 5.168 4.372 17.490 2.625 2.219
> Cynder 5.524 4.612 18.448 1.805 1.425
> Orwell 5.709 4.995 19.980 0.946 0.748
> Garibaldi 5.618 5.073 20.292 0.913 0.726
> Myna 6.309 5.081 20.326 1.460 0.952
> Miracle 6.800 5.275 21.102 0.631 0.515
> Ennealimmal 11.628 9.957 39.829 0.036 0.030
>
> 11-limit
> Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
> Miracle 1200.6 1200.8 116.7 116.7 0.632 0.484
> Diaschismic 599.4 599.4 103.8 103.6 1.268 0.905
> Orwell 1201.2 1200.6 271.4 271.6 1.364 1.151
> Shrutar 599.8 599.8 52.4 52.7 1.425 1.146
> Schismic 1201.4 1200.2 497.9 497.7 1.790 1.310
> Microschismic 1200.8 1200.3 498.1 498.0 0.914 0.673
> Magic 1200.7 1200.1 380.9 380.7 1.678 1.226
> Meantone 1201.6 1200.8 504.0 503.4 1.740 1.439
> Vicentino1 1201.7 1201.2 348.8 348.8 1.701 1.471
> Vicentino2 1201.7 1201.8 348.8 348.7 1.699 1.396
> Mystery 41.4 41.4 16.1 16.0 0.652 0.539
> Hemiennialimmal 66.7 66.7 17.6 17.6 0.049 0.038
>
> Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
> Miracle 7.351 7.675 38.375 0.631 0.484
> Diaschismic 8.199 8.847 44.237 1.268 0.905
> Orwell 5.709 5.704 28.520 1.363 1.151
> Shrutar 8.432 7.989 39.946 1.425 1.146
> Schismic 5.834 6.656 33.280 1.785 1.310
> Microschismic 11.635 10.936 54.678 0.913 0.673
> Magic 6.587 6.530 32.649 1.676 1.226
> Meantone 5.203 5.332 26.661 1.805 1.439
> Vicentino1 7.364 6.461 32.306 1.699 1.471
> Vicentino2 7.124 6.563 32.813 1.699 1.396
> Mystery 12.490 14.128 70.642 0.652 0.539
> Hemiennialimmal 23.257 25.608 128.040 0.049 0.038
>
> 13-limit
> Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
> Mystery 41.4 41.4 16.1 15.9 0.652 0.512
> Diaschismic 599.4 599.4 103.8 103.6 1.268 0.826
> Cassandra1 1200.4 1200.2 498.1 498.0 0.971 0.696
> Cassandra2 1201.5 1200.3 497.9 497.6 2.035 1.517
>
> Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
> Mystery 12.490 15.671 94.027 0.652 0.512
> Diaschismic 9.369 11.950 71.702 1.268 0.826
> Cassandra1 11.635 14.225 85.348 0.969 0.696
> Cassandra2 6.306 8.103 48.617 2.032 1.517
>
> 17-limit
> Temperament TOP basis RMS basis Errors
> Mystery 41.4 41.4 16.1 16.2 1.219 0.852
> Diaschismic 599.4 599.6 103.9 103.7 1.351 0.890
>
> Temperament OE Complexity Wedgie Complex. Errors
> Mystery 12.490 16.974 118.820 1.219 0.852
> Diaschismic 9.369 13.912 97.383 1.351 0.890
>
>
>
>
> Graham
>

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/13/2006 6:21:26 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> > The only intervals that can't be generators
> > are multiples of other intervals, for example the minor seventh
> can't be a
> > generator because it's twice a fourth.
>
> This is not so. The whole tone in meantone is not a multiple of any
> other interval. Yet the octave and whole tone don't work as a basis
> for meantone.

Yet 9/8 does work as a generator: for instance, with 16/15.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/13/2006 7:06:39 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> > Herman already gave an answer to this, so I'll give a completely
> > different one. If T is the wedgie, then take the "v" product with
> all
> > the primes in the p-limit; recall that Tvc, where c is a "monzo"
> > (prime exponents vector) representing an interval, then Tvc = ~
> (~T^c).
>
> Is this the interior or regressive product? I'd write this as T\/c to
> avoid confusion.

Interior product. I don't think your notation is very clear on Yahoo.

> > Compute a tuning map, take a JI scale, and reduce to meantone using
> > this scale.
>
> This may give funny results, especially for systems other than
> meantone.

Eh? The whole point of your "hypothesis" is that you can get DE scales
in exactly this way.

And JI scales are poor relatives of tempered scales. I
> would think it makes more sense to start with one note per period,
> and then keep building more notes on each of these using the
> generator, iteratively. Useful stopping points for a scale would be
> those where a distributionally even scale (or equivalently, one with
> two step sizes) results.

The question was, do we need to first compute the period and generator
to get to the scales, and the answer is, no we don't. That doesn't
mean computing them isn't a good idea anyway.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/13/2006 7:14:34 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> I think it's just the maximum, over all ratios, of the number of
> generators needed to reach the ratio (times the number of periods per
> octave), divided by the expressibility (log of the "odd limit") of
> the ratio. Gene?

Right, but it's just a finite computation. If T[1] through T[n] is the
OE part of the wedgie, then take the maximum of |T[i]/p_i| and
|T[i]/p_j - T[j]/p_j|, where p_i is the ith odd prime.

> Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use the
> max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?

That's the Kees complexity.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/13/2006 10:01:00 PM

>> My point was just that there are a heck of a lot of generators, so
>> it doesn't make sense to ask for a way to get "the generator" from
>> a wedgie.
>
>It does if you insist that "the other generator", or "the period",
>generates the octave all by itself. Then there are only two possible
>choices for "the generator" which are smaller than the period, and in
>fact these two add up to the period. If you have your optimization
>criteria fixed, you can then use a convention such as always choosing
>the smaller value for "the generator".

Are there any named temperaments which require both "period" and
"generator" to map the octave? I'd always thought such cases would
make distinguishing one of the generators as a "period" inappropriate.

-Carl

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/14/2006 3:27:58 AM

Carl Lumma wrote:

> Are there any named temperaments which require both "period" and
> "generator" to map the octave? I'd always thought such cases would
> make distinguishing one of the generators as a "period" inappropriate.

I don't think that makes sense. If both generators divide the octave, you can divide the octave into more parts and get an equal temperament. So it means you don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.

Graham

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/14/2006 3:32:29 AM

>> Are there any named temperaments which require both "period" and
>> "generator" to map the octave? I'd always thought such cases would
>> make distinguishing one of the generators as a "period" inappropriate.
>
>I don't think that makes sense. If both generators divide the octave,
>you can divide the octave into more parts and get an equal temperament.
> So it means you don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.
>
>
> Graham

Why is the octave special in this regard?

-Carl

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/14/2006 3:45:05 AM

Carl Lumma wrote:

>>I don't think that makes sense. If both generators divide the octave, >>you can divide the octave into more parts and get an equal temperament. >> So it means you don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.
> > > Why is the octave special in this regard?

Because we made it the equivalence interval, and so defined the period such that it always divides the octave.

Graham

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/14/2006 4:13:50 AM

>Carl Lumma wrote:
>
>>>I don't think that makes sense. If both generators divide the octave,
>>>you can divide the octave into more parts and get an equal temperament.
>>> So it means you don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.
>>
>> Why is the octave special in this regard?
>
>Because we made it the equivalence interval, and so defined the period
>such that it always divides the octave.
>
> Graham

This sounds circular to me.

-Carl

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/14/2006 7:17:33 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> A perfect fifth is no kind of unison vector.

If an octave, why not a fifth?

>>http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html
>>
>>"All pairs of notes differing by octaves only are considered > unisons. >>There are other pairs of notes which in musical practice are > considered >>to be unisonous...The vectors, which in the harmonic note lattice >>connect such notes taken for unisons will be called unison vectors."
>>Nothing about them being small,
> > What do you think "unisonious" means??

As he doesn't define it or use it anywhere else we can both take it to mean whatever we want it to mean. The next part of the ... is

"Three major thirds, from the origin 0,0,0 lead to a note 0,3,0. On the ordinary key-instruments this note is taken to be identical with the octave 0,0,0. It should be 125/128 flat. As a rule no attention is paid to the difference of c (-2,0,0) and /c (2,-1,0)."

So that implies that "unisonous" means "identical on ordinary key-instruments" for "musical practice" and that "as a rule no attention is paid to the difference".

> Again, it's entirely unreasonable to assume a fifth is a unison.

Why are you still arguing this? I've given you a quote from the originator of the term that shows that unison vectors are like octaves but also vectors in octave-equivalent space. You haven't even acknowledged this let alone redefined your term to acknowledge that unison vectors don't have to be small.

>>At least, saying "you don't need a chromatic unison vector because > you >>can use a vector too large to count as a unison" is evading the > question.
> > It is?

The point is that Gene claimed that you need to define a optimize the generator to get a unique octave-equivalent mapping, or do a reduction. I said that's not the case. If you start from equal temperaments it's extremely unlikely that you'll get an unreasonable generator from them (I couldn't find any examples with a huge search). A reasonable equal temperament will have its primes in the right order.

If you start from commmas then the mapping depends on the additional unison vector you use to get a representative ET. That mapping (or even the original representative ET mapping) will do fine as a supplement to the generator mapping as a unique key to distinguish temperaments produced by a search through commas, given that you'll always use the same additional unison vectors within that search.

It also happens that I don't know how to go from commas to mapping without an additional unison vector. If Gene has a way of doing this it would be useful to know. All he's said, in another thread, is a vague "solve for x and y" without detailing the method. If there is a faster method than using an additional unison vector it would mean that a result which depends on that vector isn't of practical importance. But insisting on a strict definition of "unison vector" so that excludes some useful vectors outside it isn't at all helpful.

It may be that the other methods also give unique mappings. It should be obvious that any deterministic wedgie-to-mapping algorithm will always give the same mapping for the same wedgie. But that's still somewhat irrelevant as the idea is to get rid of wedgies altogether. Hence the big point is that unless you go beyond linear temperaments (which nobody is interested in doing in a systematic way) there's nothing you can do with wedgies that you can't do as easily without them.

> Relative to the diatonic scale, they create chromatic alterations. > The term musicians use is "augmented unison", and musicians also call > any augmented or diminished intervals "chromatic". "Diatonic unison > vector" seems like, at best, it could refer to either a chromatic > unison vector or a commatic unison vector.

Yes, it could be either. But if it were a commatic unison vector there'd be no point in specifying it as a unison vector of the diatonic scale.

I agree that 25:24 is both a chromatic interval and a unison. But it isn't both at the same time. And if we're going to be strict about the terminology it isn't a "chromatic unison vector" of the usual musical system. I can understand where the name comes from but it doesn't make sense when I think it through.

Musicians also talk about "the chromatic scale". And they talk about instruments that can play all and only 12 notes as chromatic. On such instruments, two notes differing by 25:24 don't share a note. They do on a diatonic instrument (or would if you ever tried to play both).

The term "augmented unison" follows diatonic naming. The "unison" has the same status as "second", "third", etc. as defining an interval on a diatonic scale. It doesn't carry any connotations of chromaticism.

So what about these "chromatic intervals"? I'm not sure if they relate to unison vectors at all. The best I can think of is that a chromatic interval must be the same as either a chromatic or diatonic interval on a chromatic scale. Also, a chromatic interval always differs from a diatonic interval by a chromatic semitone. So if the chromatic semitone were a unison vector, there wouldn't be any need to talk about "chromatic intervals" because they wouldn't be any different from diatonic ones. But maybe you can make the opposite argument. I think it's a red herring. Perhaps it shows that musical usages aren't consistent on this but they weren't mathematically based in the first place.

I'm not a musician, but I think this is why I was originally confused by the term "chromatic unison vector". I was always thinking of it in terms of a chromatic scale when it really generates a diatonic scale.

>>Although in this context it doesn't matter >>if they lead to a diatonic or chromatic scale. But if you want to > claim >>ownership of "chromatic unison vector" I'll switch to "diatonic > unison >>vector" and reclaim Fokker's original meaning.
> > It still won't be "unisonious" contrary to Fokker's description.

Why not?

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/14/2006 7:17:59 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> OK. But Gene said that max Kees-weighted complexity was nearly > identical to my calculations. Is something not checking up right here?

I don't see anything wrong. We have three different complexity measures:

1) sum-abs of the weighted wedgie
2) max-min of the weighted generator mapping
3) max Kees-weighted complexity

They may all relate to each other but the definitions, at least, aren't the same. I'd hope that (2) and (3) are identical but I don't know how to prove it.

It also that I don't have an equivalent of (2) using means instead of max and min. But as there's nothing to optimize for it probably doesn't matter. I also don't have an equivalent of (2) for higher rank temperaments. In that case it doesn't matter because nobody seems to be interested in them.

> Weighted vs. unweighted? I think it's fair to weight the simpler > intervals more heavily in the complexity calculation, but that's a > different issue. I thought the issue here was weighted vs. weighted > (under different definitions of complexity).

Yes, the weighting's doing what we asked it to. The issue is that the odd-limit complexity I was happy with won't work without an odd-limit. The max-min of the weighted mapping is the nearest weighted equivalent to the odd limit complexity. But in practice it seems to give more divergent results than changing to weighted errors. I'm not saying it's wrong, or even that I don't like the results, but I'm pointing out that the 13-limit R2 landscale looks a lot different as a result. A temperament that used to be the clear number 1 now doesn't even make the top 10 (although that may be partly because the cutoffs are different).

In other limits the weighting doesn't make much difference to the ordering. Schismic is the best 5-limit R2T, then Hanson I think and meantone. In the 7-limit, it's meantone, orwell, schismic, then Orwell I think. Ennealimmal beats them if you allow it through. In the 11-limit, miracle still comes first, and meantone and schismic variants are in the top 10. Also, my 7-limit neutral thirds mapping is the number 1 11-limit planar temperament (strictly defined -- there's an R3 temperament that beats it, but it uses half-octaves, and so wouldn't work as a lattice).

In case it isn't obvious, the odd-limit complexity is a max-min as well. You need to do harmonics rather than primes. For the 9-limit, you take the maximum steps for 1:1, 3:1, 5:1, 7:1 and 9:1 and add the the maximum steps for 1:1, 1:3, 5:1, 7:1 and 9:1 to get the maximum steps for the full tonality diamond. As the maximum of one is minus the minumum of the other, that's the same as a maximum-minumum of the same list. And it's the same as a max-min of the primes if you give 3:1 a weight of 2 (or 0.5 depending on how you define the weighting) because 9:1 has twice the error of 3:1. That breaks down in the 15-limit, but still the log prime weighted max-min is an approximation to arbitrary prime-limited tonality diamond.

>>So what's the formula for max-Kees complexity?
> > I think it's just the maximum, over all ratios, of the number of > generators needed to reach the ratio (times the number of periods per > octave), divided by the expressibility (log of the "odd limit") of > the ratio. Gene?

That's a definition, not a formula. I can't calculate a maximum over all ratios.

>>The worst weighted error won't be the TOP error if you don't > optimize >>your octaves properly, will it?
> > How did we get from complexity to error?

I'm just saying the formulae are similar. And conjecturing that this is because there are deep similarities between the two problems.

>>And the sum-abs of the weighted >>octave-equivalent wedgie won't give equivalent results to the sum-
> abs of >>the full wedgie either.
> > Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use the > max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?

No. The max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie doesn't relate to anything. Neither does the max-abs. But the max-abs of the octave-specific wedgie probably has something to do with the max-min of the generator mapping (all properly weighted).

>>It happens that the formula for the TOP error >>of unweighted octaves is similar to the octave-equivalent > complexity >>formula.
> > OK, but is this demostrated in the tables below? What do they > demonstrate? (I think you switched the second and third columns or > something, BTW . . .)

Er, yes, the basis labels are wrong. What you have is:

TOP period, RMS period, TOP generator, RMS generator

But no, the tables don't demonstrate that the formulae are similar. Only the formulae do:

Octave specific TOP error = max(w, -w) - 1 = max(abs(e))
Octave equivalent TOP error = (max(w) - min(w))/(max(w)+min(w))
Approximate TOP error = (max(e) - min(e))/2
Wedgie complexity = max(W, -W) = max(abs(W))
Octave-equivalent complexity = max(M) - min(M)

Where:

w is the set of weighted primes
e is the set of signed, weighted errors where e = w-1
W are the elements of the weighted wedgie in vector form
M are the elements of the weighted generator mapping

Note that M is not the same as the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie contrary to loose remarks I may have made in other places. The generator mapping has to include a zero to show that there are zero generators to an octave. You have to add this zero to the octave-equivalent wedgie for the formula to work.

It's just struck me that any mapping might do in place of M. I wonder...

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/14/2006 12:39:58 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> The point is that Gene claimed that you need to define a optimize the
> generator to get a unique octave-equivalent mapping, or do a reduction.

What I said was that you needed to define an optimization method to
produce a precise definition.

> I said that's not the case. If you start from equal temperaments
it's
> extremely unlikely that you'll get an unreasonable generator from them
> (I couldn't find any examples with a huge search).

You were looking for temperaments where two different optization
methods led to different minimal generators?

A reasonable equal
> temperament will have its primes in the right order.

Don't know what this means.

> If you start from commmas then the mapping depends on the additional
> unison vector you use to get a representative ET.

If you start from commas and then produce a wedgie, the result
obviously is going to work in just the same way as starting from ets.
If you are not getting this, then you've just discovered the use for
wedgies you were looking for.

In fact, always starting from ets doesn't seem to me to be a good
idea; you are guaranteed commas, but not standard vals. Examples are
father and jamesbond, with only one standard val each.

That mapping (or even
> the original representative ET mapping) will do fine as a supplement to
> the generator mapping as a unique key to distinguish temperaments
> produced by a search through commas, given that you'll always use the
> same additional unison vectors within that search.

By all means, let's make things far more complicated than necessary.
What in the world would be the point of doing this?

> It also happens that I don't know how to go from commas to mapping
> without an additional unison vector.

Compute the wedgie first springs to mind as the obvious method.

If Gene has a way of doing this it
> would be useful to know. All he's said, in another thread, is a vague
> "solve for x and y" without detailing the method.

You are asking for what, exactly? Starting from a wedgie, you can get
a list of commas from the triprime commas, which can be reduced to a
generating pair if you want one.

> It may be that the other methods also give unique mappings. It should
> be obvious that any deterministic wedgie-to-mapping algorithm will
> always give the same mapping for the same wedgie. But that's still
> somewhat irrelevant as the idea is to get rid of wedgies altogether.

And why would you want to do that?

> Hence the big point is that unless you go beyond linear temperaments
> (which nobody is interested in doing in a systematic way) there's
> nothing you can do with wedgies that you can't do as easily without
them.

We've got people on this list interested in rank three, you included.
I've not only written about it a lot, I've written music in such
temperaments. I was just pointing out on the main tuning list how
tempering a 5-limit scale using {100/99, 225/224} seems to lead to
interesting results. So I think there is interest.

> I'm not a musician, but I think this is why I was originally
confused by
> the term "chromatic unison vector". I was always thinking of it in
> terms of a chromatic scale when it really generates a diatonic scale.

The term made no sense to me when I first heard it, and still doesn't.
My preference would be that people quit using it rather than argue
about what it means.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/15/2006 5:55:17 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> What I said was that you needed to define an optimization method to
> produce a precise definition. Right.

>> I said that's not the case. If you start from equal temperaments
> it's >>extremely unlikely that you'll get an unreasonable generator from them >>(I couldn't find any examples with a huge search). > > You were looking for temperaments where two different optization
> methods led to different minimal generators?

I don't think so. What's a minimal generator?

> A reasonable equal >>temperament will have its primes in the right order.
> > Don't know what this means.

If the initial choice of generator isn't within a period, it means the original equal temperaments must have been so bad that they didn't get the prime intervals correct to within the nearest period. If you avoid such ETs there's no need to optimize to define the mapping.

>>If you start from commmas then the mapping depends on the additional >>unison vector you use to get a representative ET.
> > If you start from commas and then produce a wedgie, the result
> obviously is going to work in just the same way as starting from ets.
> If you are not getting this, then you've just discovered the use for
> wedgies you were looking for.

Not only is this not obvious but it isn't true. The commas won't give me the same equal temperaments. Why is throwing away information a "use"?

> In fact, always starting from ets doesn't seem to me to be a good
> idea; you are guaranteed commas, but not standard vals. Examples are
> father and jamesbond, with only one standard val each.

What's a "standard val"? What's "jamesbond"? Why do I care? I get exactly the same "father" as is in Paul's paper, from the best weighted-RMS mappings of 3 and 8. It isn't in the results because it's too inaccurate.

Starting with ETs is a good, practical idea as I have explained before. It's an O(n2) search with n equal temperaments, regardless of the prime limit. It's also fairly easy to get the initial list -- and I still don't know an efficient way to get the list of commas.

> That mapping (or even >>the original representative ET mapping) will do fine as a supplement to >>the generator mapping as a unique key to distinguish temperaments >>produced by a search through commas, given that you'll always use the >>same additional unison vectors within that search.
> > By all means, let's make things far more complicated than necessary.
> What in the world would be the point of doing this?

The point of doing this as compared to what other method?

>>It also happens that I don't know how to go from commas to mapping >>without an additional unison vector.
> > Compute the wedgie first springs to mind as the obvious method.

Which gives exactly the same result as using matrices, and still requires that additional unison vector.

> You are asking for what, exactly? Starting from a wedgie, you can get
> a list of commas from the triprime commas, which can be reduced to a
> generating pair if you want one.

Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit) get an octave-specific mapping.

>>It may be that the other methods also give unique mappings. It should >>be obvious that any deterministic wedgie-to-mapping algorithm will >>always give the same mapping for the same wedgie. But that's still >>somewhat irrelevant as the idea is to get rid of wedgies altogether.
> > And why would you want to do that?

Because most people don't know anything about wedgies, and find them difficult to understand. That's where this whole thread started.

>>Hence the big point is that unless you go beyond linear temperaments >>(which nobody is interested in doing in a systematic way) there's >>nothing you can do with wedgies that you can't do as easily without
> > them.
> > We've got people on this list interested in rank three, you included.
> I've not only written about it a lot, I've written music in such
> temperaments. I was just pointing out on the main tuning list how
> tempering a 5-limit scale using {100/99, 225/224} seems to lead to
> interesting results. So I think there is interest.

I posted here about my sytematic rank 3 search, and got no replies. I take that as meaning no interest. Your example funnily enough doesn't make the list, which goes to show that the search isn't very interesting. It's easy enough to produce:

[ 4.53113367 22.85170121 32.33068401] cent steps

wedgie:
(1, 2, 2, -2, 2, 8, -5, 2, 14, 6)

mapping by steps:
[[12 19 28 34 42]
[19 30 44 53 66]
[22 35 51 62 76]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.856
RMS weighted error: 0.000997
max weighted error: 0.001831

Those results are genearlly biased towards more accurate temperament, but this one still beats yours in both error and complexity:

[ 26.58663049 11.15023396 36.07450767] cent steps

wedgie:
(2, -3, 1, -1, -1, 2, 11, 3, -10, 4)

mapping by steps:
[[ 9 14 21 25 31]
[15 24 35 42 52]
[22 35 51 62 76]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.802
RMS weighted error: 0.000713
max weighted error: 0.001363

It also works with the best mappings of 31 and 46.

You also said 99:98 instead of 100:99 in a message on the tuning list, and that would give

[ 32.53442332 25.8490932 14.48034347] cent steps

wedgie:
(1, 2, 4, -2, -2, 4, -5, -9, 2, 8)

mapping by steps:
[[12 19 28 34 42]
[19 30 44 53 65]
[22 35 51 62 76]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.819
RMS weighted error: 0.000895
max weighted error: 0.001522

Note the alternative mapping of 19. If you want a best-mappings definition, use 9 instead.

>>I'm not a musician, but I think this is why I was originally
> confused by >>the term "chromatic unison vector". I was always thinking of it in >>terms of a chromatic scale when it really generates a diatonic scale.
> > The term made no sense to me when I first heard it, and still doesn't.
> My preference would be that people quit using it rather than argue
> about what it means.

Yes, but you were confused by the "unison vector" part, which seemed to follow from your not knowing what "vector" means.

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/15/2006 3:52:51 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> > You were looking for temperaments where two different optization
> > methods led to different minimal generators?
>
> I don't think so. What's a minimal generator?

A generator > 1 of smallest size.

> If the initial choice of generator isn't within a period, it means the
> original equal temperaments must have been so bad that they didn't get
> the prime intervals correct to within the nearest period. If you avoid
> such ETs there's no need to optimize to define the mapping.

This makes no sense to me whatever. The generator can always be larger
than the period. Where are these initial choices coming from?

> > If you start from commas and then produce a wedgie, the result
> > obviously is going to work in just the same way as starting from ets.
> > If you are not getting this, then you've just discovered the use for
> > wedgies you were looking for.
>
> Not only is this not obvious but it isn't true. The commas won't give
> me the same equal temperaments.

Of course they will; this must be the case, since the equal
temperaments can be defined in terms of commas. Or are you on about
torsion?

> > In fact, always starting from ets doesn't seem to me to be a good
> > idea; you are guaranteed commas, but not standard vals. Examples are
> > father and jamesbond, with only one standard val each.
>
> What's a "standard val"?

A standard val is what you get by rounding the number of steps to a
prime off to the nearest integer.

> What's "jamesbond"? Why do I care?

Jamesbond has an OE part of 007. The reason to care is that I was
using it as an example.

I get
> exactly the same "father" as is in Paul's paper, from the best
> weighted-RMS mappings of 3 and 8. It isn't in the results because it's
> too inaccurate.

You seem to be using a different choice of val standarization, I'd
give counterexamples there but I don't know what it is.

> Starting with ETs is a good, practical idea as I have explained before.

Duh. This is obvious. The question is, might you not miss something?

> > That mapping (or even
> >>the original representative ET mapping) will do fine as a
supplement to
> >>the generator mapping as a unique key to distinguish temperaments
> >>produced by a search through commas, given that you'll always use the
> >>same additional unison vectors within that search.
> >
> > By all means, let's make things far more complicated than necessary.
> > What in the world would be the point of doing this?
>
> The point of doing this as compared to what other method?

As compared to *not* distinguishing between temperaments produced from
commas and those produced from vals, which strikes me as an absurd idea.

> >>It also happens that I don't know how to go from commas to mapping
> >>without an additional unison vector.
> >
> > Compute the wedgie first springs to mind as the obvious method.
>
> Which gives exactly the same result as using matrices, and still
> requires that additional unison vector.

I have no idea wha you mean by "that additional unison vector", but I
do know it isn't required, whatever it is.

> > You are asking for what, exactly? Starting from a wedgie, you can get
> > a list of commas from the triprime commas, which can be reduced to a
> > generating pair if you want one.
>
> Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit) get an
> octave-specific mapping.

I explained this once again quite recently. By taking the interior
product with each of the primes, you get something which reduces to
such a mapping. If you don't have LLL or Hermite reduction, then use
Gaussian elimination and adjust to get integers if necessary.
Alternatively, find the period mapping from the wedgie, and solve the
equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when wedged
with the period mapping you get the wedgie.

That's 2.5 methods.

> > And why would you want to do that?
>
> Because most people don't know anything about wedgies, and find them
> difficult to understand. That's where this whole thread started.

But you know what they are, so you don't need to get rid of them. All
this amounts to is an argument that some other naming method should be
used.

> I posted here about my sytematic rank 3 search, and got no replies. I
> take that as meaning no interest.

I've responded to your postings about rank 3. Which article did you
mean? I may not have seen anything new in it, and hence didn't
respond, or I may have just missed responding, which often happens for
one reason or another.

Your example funnily enough doesn't
> make the list, which goes to show that the search isn't very
> interesting.

You mean, isn't yet very complete.

It's easy enough to produce:
>
> [ 4.53113367 22.85170121 32.33068401] cent steps

How are these defined--in terms of your three originating vals? That
doesn't strike me as such a good system.

> wedgie:
> (1, 2, 2, -2, 2, 8, -5, 2, 14, 6)
>
> mapping by steps:
> [[12 19 28 34 42]
> [19 30 44 53 66]
> [22 35 51 62 76]]

> wedgie:
> (1, 2, 4, -2, -2, 4, -5, -9, 2, 8)
>
> mapping by steps:
> [[12 19 28 34 42]
> [19 30 44 53 65]
> [22 35 51 62 76]]

> Note the alternative mapping of 19. If you want a best-mappings
> definition, use 9 instead.

I think commas are more illuminating. The first is {100/99, 225/224},
and the second {99/98, 225/224}, or equivalently {99/98, 176/175}.
The first is a relative of magic, and this is a relative of orwell.
"Tictactoe diagrams" for both, the first under the name apollo, and
the second which I called minerva, can be found here:

/tuning-math/message/12298

Obviously both by my reckoning are significant temperaments. Both fit
the tictactoe diagram into a 3x5 rectangle, and I don't think there is
much to choose between them in terms of complexity.

The point of these tictactoe diagrams, incidentally, emerges if you
use them with Tonescape.

> > The term made no sense to me when I first heard it, and still doesn't.
> > My preference would be that people quit using it rather than argue
> > about what it means.
>
> Yes, but you were confused by the "unison vector" part, which seemed to
> follow from your not knowing what "vector" means.

No, I *objected* to the term vector; I thought that implied that
Monzo's rational valued vectors should be allowed, and as far as I
could tell they weren't allowed. What confused me was that there was
all this murky business of "commatic" versus "chromatic" unison
vectors. Now you've made it worse by suggesting the octave can be a
unison vector. I think it's degenerated into babbling, where nobody
knows what anyone else is saying.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/15/2006 5:10:03 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>>What's a "standard val"? > > > A standard val is what you get by rounding the number of steps to a
> prime off to the nearest integer.

I should add this to my page; this seems to come up a lot....

>>What's "jamesbond"? Why do I care? > > > Jamesbond has an OE part of 007. The reason to care is that I was
> using it as an example.

It's a temperament with TOP tuning really close to 14-ET (so named from the "0, 0, 7" in the wedgie).

wedgie:
<<0, 0, 7, 0, 11, 16]]

map:
<7, 11, 16, 20]
<0, 0, 0, -1]

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/16/2006 2:38:00 AM

Oh, I missed this before

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
> > >>I think it's just the maximum, over all ratios, of the number of >>generators needed to reach the ratio (times the number of periods per >>octave), divided by the expressibility (log of the "odd limit") of >>the ratio. Gene?
> > > Right, but it's just a finite computation. If T[1] through T[n] is the
> OE part of the wedgie, then take the maximum of |T[i]/p_i| and
> |T[i]/p_j - T[j]/p_j|, where p_i is the ith odd prime.

I take it your T[i]/p_i is the same as my W[i], the ith element of the weighted octave-equivalent mapping (multiplied by the number of periods to the octave, I keep forgetting that), and you meant to put a "log of" in there. In that case, max(|W[i]|) for W > 0 is the same as max(W,-W) for all W, or max(max(W, 0), -min(W, 0)). Given that W[0]=0 always (as this is the octave equivalent mapping) that's also max(max(W), -min(W)). If it were T[i]/p_i instead of T[i]/p_j, that part would be max(|W[i] - W[j]|) for i, j > 0. The || is redundant because i and j are interchangeable, so that's max(W[i] - W[j]). It'll be the same as max(W[i]) - min(W[i]) still for i > 0. So the formula is max(max(W), -min(W), max(W[i], i>0) - min(W[i], i>0)). As W[i]=0 always, that's in turn the same as max(W) - min(W) isn't it? So your formula would be the same as mine without two weirdnesses.

>>Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use the >>max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?
> > That's the Kees complexity.

It is? I thought the above formula was for Kees complexity. They clearly aren't the same.

Graham

> > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > > > > > >

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/16/2006 5:27:12 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> > >>>You were looking for temperaments where two different optization
>>>methods led to different minimal generators?
>>
>>I don't think so. What's a minimal generator?
> > A generator > 1 of smallest size.

Well, I certainly wasn't looking for them.

>>If the initial choice of generator isn't within a period, it means the >>original equal temperaments must have been so bad that they didn't get >>the prime intervals correct to within the nearest period. If you avoid >>such ETs there's no need to optimize to define the mapping.
> > This makes no sense to me whatever. The generator can always be larger
> than the period. Where are these initial choices coming from?

They come from the extended Euclidian algorithm. They can be less than a unison, so I change them so they aren't. If I cared about a unique mapping I'd also change them so that the first entry in the generator mapping was positive. That's more reliable than using the minimal generator when the temperament isn't optimized.

Incidentally, it's also possible to write a function to compare two full mappings for equality without them having to be the same numbers. That's why we don't need to specify a universal standard.

>>>If you start from commas and then produce a wedgie, the result
>>>obviously is going to work in just the same way as starting from ets.
>>>If you are not getting this, then you've just discovered the use for
>>>wedgies you were looking for.
>>
>>Not only is this not obvious but it isn't true. The commas won't give >>me the same equal temperaments. > > Of course they will; this must be the case, since the equal
> temperaments can be defined in terms of commas. Or are you on about
> torsion?

There are an infinite number of equal temperaments, and the wedgie doesn't tell me which two I want. In that case it might find a different period mapping. The two methods don't give the same results but they are both internally consistent.

>>>In fact, always starting from ets doesn't seem to me to be a good
>>>idea; you are guaranteed commas, but not standard vals. Examples are
>>>father and jamesbond, with only one standard val each.
>>
>>What's a "standard val"? > > A standard val is what you get by rounding the number of steps to a
> prime off to the nearest integer.

I don't care about that.

>>What's "jamesbond"? Why do I care? > > Jamesbond has an OE part of 007. The reason to care is that I was
> using it as an example.

Is it an example of something I'm likely to care about?

> I get >>exactly the same "father" as is in Paul's paper, from the best >>weighted-RMS mappings of 3 and 8. It isn't in the results because it's >>too inaccurate.
> > You seem to be using a different choice of val standarization, I'd
> give counterexamples there but I don't know what it is.

Please, do not accuse me of standardizing ambiguous vals. I've argued against that before and I haven't changed my position. That's why I always say explicitly how I arrive at my mappings -- as I did in the bit you quoted. That way nobody has to remember my jargon from one message to another. Which part of "best weighted-RMS mapping" are you having difficulty weith?

As to your eagerness to produce counterexamples, you still haven't told my why I'd care.

>>Starting with ETs is a good, practical idea as I have explained before. > > Duh. This is obvious. The question is, might you not miss something?

As compared to what method that guarantees you won't miss anything? You're less likely to miss something the more ETs you work with, which means the program has to be fast. It's fastest when it does prime-based RMS calculations with no wedgies.

>>> That mapping (or even >>>
>>>>the original representative ET mapping) will do fine as a
> > supplement to > >>>>the generator mapping as a unique key to distinguish temperaments >>>>produced by a search through commas, given that you'll always use the >>>>same additional unison vectors within that search.
>>>
>>>By all means, let's make things far more complicated than necessary.
>>>What in the world would be the point of doing this?
>>
>>The point of doing this as compared to what other method?
> > As compared to *not* distinguishing between temperaments produced from
> commas and those produced from vals, which strikes me as an absurd idea.

Are you suggesting this idea came from me? Does it have anything to do with the quote above?

>>>>It also happens that I don't know how to go from commas to mapping >>>>without an additional unison vector.
>>>
>>>Compute the wedgie first springs to mind as the obvious method.
>>
>>Which gives exactly the same result as using matrices, and still >>requires that additional unison vector.
> > I have no idea wha you mean by "that additional unison vector", but I
> do know it isn't required, whatever it is.

The thing Paul objects to calling a "chromatic unison vector" in the general case. To get an ET mapping (or "val" as you call them, for anybody following along) you need n-1 unison vectors for n prime dimensions. For a rank 2 temperament, you need n-2 unison vectors. So one additional unison vector gives you the mapping for an equal temperament that belongs to the rank 2 family (maybe not a sensible temperament, but a mapping nonetheless).

>>>You are asking for what, exactly? Starting from a wedgie, you can get
>>>a list of commas from the triprime commas, which can be reduced to a
>>>generating pair if you want one.
>>
>>Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit) get an >>octave-specific mapping.
> > I explained this once again quite recently. By taking the interior
> product with each of the primes, you get something which reduces to
> such a mapping. If you don't have LLL or Hermite reduction, then use
> Gaussian elimination and adjust to get integers if necessary.
> Alternatively, find the period mapping from the wedgie, and solve the
> equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when wedged
> with the period mapping you get the wedgie.
> > That's 2.5 methods.

No, you didn't explain it, you sketched it.

When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each of the primes" as additional unison vectors (which Paul says we aren't allowed to call "chromatic unison vectors" because they're too big). I'll have to look up "interior product" to be sure. It probably depends on which wedgie you started with, which you neglected to mention. But it sounds like additional unison vectors to me.

"Find something" and "solve the problem" isn't a method at all. It's an aspiration.

>>>And why would you want to do that?
>>
>>Because most people don't know anything about wedgies, and find them >>difficult to understand. That's where this whole thread started.
> > But you know what they are, so you don't need to get rid of them. All
> this amounts to is an argument that some other naming method should be > used.

I do need to get rid of them because I'm trying to communicate with people who won't know about them. Yes, that is largely what this argument's about. I place a high value on ease of communication.

>>I posted here about my sytematic rank 3 search, and got no replies. I >>take that as meaning no interest.
> > I've responded to your postings about rank 3. Which article did you
> mean? I may not have seen anything new in it, and hence didn't
> respond, or I may have just missed responding, which often happens for
> one reason or another.

The one about the search.

> Your example funnily enough doesn't > >>make the list, which goes to show that the search isn't very >>interesting.
> > > You mean, isn't yet very complete.

Only 10 results for each limit, plus 10 more microtemperaments.

> It's easy enough to produce:
> >>[ 4.53113367 22.85170121 32.33068401] cent steps
> > > How are these defined--in terms of your three originating vals? That
> doesn't strike me as such a good system.

Yes. It's the easiest way to do it, and accurate enough with the right function from Numeric.

>>wedgie:
>>(1, 2, 2, -2, 2, 8, -5, 2, 14, 6)
>>
>>mapping by steps:
>>[[12 19 28 34 42]
>> [19 30 44 53 66]
>> [22 35 51 62 76]]
> > >>wedgie:
>>(1, 2, 4, -2, -2, 4, -5, -9, 2, 8)
>>
>>mapping by steps:
>>[[12 19 28 34 42]
>> [19 30 44 53 65]
>> [22 35 51 62 76]]
> > >>Note the alternative mapping of 19. If you want a best-mappings >>definition, use 9 instead.
> > > I think commas are more illuminating. The first is {100/99, 225/224},
> and the second {99/98, 225/224}, or equivalently {99/98, 176/175}.
> The first is a relative of magic, and this is a relative of orwell.
> "Tictactoe diagrams" for both, the first under the name apollo, and
> the second which I called minerva, can be found here:
> > /tuning-math/message/12298

They're both related to orwell and magic because they both contain 19, 22 and 31 (=12+19). They differ in the 11-mapping. This can be deduced from the ET mappings, no need for commas.

> Obviously both by my reckoning are significant temperaments. Both fit
> the tictactoe diagram into a 3x5 rectangle, and I don't think there is
> much to choose between them in terms of complexity.
> > The point of these tictactoe diagrams, incidentally, emerges if you
> use them with Tonescape.

Why are they significant? You haven't given any reasons they stand out.

Anyway, as you're using this as an excuse to push your results, here are mine. They're limited by a wedgie complexity of 0.9 and an optimal RMS weighted error of 0.001.

[ 26.58663049 11.15023396 36.07450767] cent steps

wedgie:
(2, -3, 1, -1, -1, 2, 11, 3, -10, 4)

mapping by steps:
[[ 9 14 21 25 31]
[15 24 35 42 52]
[22 35 51 62 76]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.802
RMS weighted error: 0.000713
max weighted error: 0.001363

[ 37.40033296 16.5838239 26.41660661] cent steps

wedgie:
(1, 3, 5, 2, 2, -4, -1, -5, -10, -8)

mapping by steps:
[[12 19 28 34 42]
[15 24 35 42 52]
[19 30 44 53 65]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.864
RMS weighted error: 0.000665
max weighted error: 0.001314

[ 28.53863771 0.4963866 42.58473932] cent steps

wedgie:
(4, 1, 2, -5, -2, 2, 1, 6, 1, -7)

mapping by steps:
[[ 9 14 21 25 31]
[14 22 32 39 48]
[22 35 51 62 76]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.768
RMS weighted error: 0.000959
max weighted error: 0.001530

[-14.48034347 47.01476679 40.32943667] cent steps

wedgie:
(1, 2, 4, -2, -2, 4, -5, -9, 2, 8)

mapping by steps:
[[ 9 14 21 25 31]
[12 19 28 34 42]
[19 30 44 53 65]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.819
RMS weighted error: 0.000895
max weighted error: 0.001522

[ 22.66876973 9.61561008 26.71269058] cent steps

wedgie:
(0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 12, 0, -10, 5, 25)

mapping by steps:
[[19 30 44 53 66]
[19 30 44 53 65]
[22 35 51 62 76]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.898
RMS weighted error: 0.000801
max weighted error: 0.001240

[ 3.8832202 25.26699935 10.66869258] cent steps

wedgie:
(4, 0, 0, -9, -10, 0, -3, -2, 0, -3)

mapping by steps:
[[ 14 22 32 39 48]
[ 31 49 72 87 107]
[ 34 54 79 96 118]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.859
RMS weighted error: 0.000916
max weighted error: 0.001497

[ 7.44209837 21.21783287 24.26574802] cent steps

wedgie:
(0, 0, 7, 0, 9, 13, 0, -2, 1, 5)

mapping by steps:
[[19 30 44 53 66]
[19 30 44 53 65]
[27 43 63 76 94]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.836
RMS weighted error: 0.000986
max weighted error: 0.001678

[ 21.41009811 26.31523098 5.56119297] cent steps

wedgie:
(0, 4, 0, 9, 0, -10, 5, 0, -2, 8)

mapping by steps:
[[ 14 22 32 39 48]
[ 27 43 63 76 94]
[ 34 54 79 96 118]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.856
RMS weighted error: 0.000985
max weighted error: 0.001498

[ 4.53113367 22.85170121 32.33068401] cent steps

wedgie:
(1, 2, 2, -2, 2, 8, -5, 2, 14, 6)

mapping by steps:
[[12 19 28 34 42]
[19 30 44 53 66]
[22 35 51 62 76]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.856
RMS weighted error: 0.000997
max weighted error: 0.001831

[ -7.61340071 26.92124317 36.10794037] cent steps

wedgie:
(2, -1, 4, -5, 4, 8, 0, 4, -2, -10)

mapping by steps:
[[14 22 32 39 48]
[19 30 44 53 66]
[22 35 51 62 76]]

wedgie based complexity: 0.895
RMS weighted error: 0.000941
max weighted error: 0.001401

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/16/2006 8:52:54 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> > Right, but it's just a finite computation. If T[1] through T[n] is the
> > OE part of the wedgie, then take the maximum of |T[i]/p_i| and
> > |T[i]/p_j - T[j]/p_j|, where p_i is the ith odd prime.
>
> I take it your T[i]/p_i is the same as my W[i], the ith element of the
> weighted octave-equivalent mapping (multiplied by the number of periods
> to the octave, I keep forgetting that), and you meant to put a "log of"
> in there.

Sorry about that. I meant max(|W[i]|, |W[i]-W[j]|) in your terminology.

In that case, max(|W[i]|) for W > 0 is the same as max(W,-W)

So your formula would be the
> same as mine without two weirdnesses.

Apparently.

> >>Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use the
> >>max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?
> >
> > That's the Kees complexity.
>
> It is? I thought the above formula was for Kees complexity.

That's what I was trying to say.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/16/2006 9:40:39 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> Incidentally, it's also possible to write a function to compare two
full
> mappings for equality without them having to be the same numbers.

Obviously; the simplest way to do it I think is to take the wedgie.

> That's why we don't need to specify a universal standard.

How do you avoid duplicate entries in your list without a unique
naming scheme?

> There are an infinite number of equal temperaments, and the wedgie
> doesn't tell me which two I want.

You have a way of defining a unique pair of equal temperament vals for
a given rank two temperament? If so, what is it?

In that case it might find a
> different period mapping. The two methods don't give the same results
> but they are both internally consistent.

I don't know what methods you are referring to.

> > Jamesbond has an OE part of 007. The reason to care is that I was
> > using it as an example.
>
> Is it an example of something I'm likely to care about?

If you want your list to cover higher error temperaments of the kind
Herman cares about, yes.

> > You seem to be using a different choice of val standarization, I'd
> > give counterexamples there but I don't know what it is.
>
> Please, do not accuse me of standardizing ambiguous vals. I've argued
> against that before and I haven't changed my position. That's why I
> always say explicitly how I arrive at my mappings -- as I did in the
bit
> you quoted.

"Best weighted-RMS mappings" isn't explicit.

That way nobody has to remember my jargon from one message
> to another. Which part of "best weighted-RMS mapping" are you having
> difficulty weith?

Are the weightings logs of primes? Do we do the least squares
calculation with respect to the primes, a tonality diamond, or what?

> > Duh. This is obvious. The question is, might you not miss something?
>
> As compared to what method that guarantees you won't miss anything?

I've tried to avoid missing things by using three separate methods:
sets of et vals, sets of commas, and (in the case of rank two) periods
and generators. The problem of using vals only becomes a concern as we
go to higher prime limits, where more and more choices are possible,
but where the sets of primes for the low ranks which are of the most
interest become unpleasantly large and therefore numerous. Either way
you seem to need to look at a lot of possibilities.

> You're less likely to miss something the more ETs you work with, which
> means the program has to be fast. It's fastest when it does
prime-based
> RMS calculations with no wedgies.

I'll take your word for it, but what are these calculations? Where
does the list of starting ets come from?

> > As compared to *not* distinguishing between temperaments produced from
> > commas and those produced from vals, which strikes me as an absurd
idea.
>
> Are you suggesting this idea came from me? Does it have anything to do
> with the quote above?

As best I could tell, that is what you said. What did you mean?

> > I have no idea wha you mean by "that additional unison vector", but I
> > do know it isn't required, whatever it is.
>
> The thing Paul objects to calling a "chromatic unison vector" in the
> general case. To get an ET mapping (or "val" as you call them, for
> anybody following along) you need n-1 unison vectors for n prime
> dimensions. For a rank 2 temperament, you need n-2 unison vectors. So
> one additional unison vector gives you the mapping for an equal
> temperament that belongs to the rank 2 family (maybe not a sensible
> temperament, but a mapping nonetheless).

Right. So what you are talking about in other terms is an interval
which, when you take the interior product with a wedgie, gives you a
val. But why call that a "chromatic unison vector"? It's neither
chromatic nor a unison; in fact, it can't temper to the unison if it
is to be of any use. If two of these so-called "chromatic unison
vectors" are a choice of representatives for the period and generator,
the result will be a standard period-generator mapping. Why not just
call it a "generator", or "generating interval" if you need to draw a
distinction?

> When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each of the
> primes" as additional unison vectors (which Paul says we aren't allowed
> to call "chromatic unison vectors" because they're too big).

Well, I object to gibberish about "unison vectors" in application to
primes, but I think this is right. Using your method of taking n-2
commas, you add to the list each of the primes successively, calculate
the resulting val using determinants, and you get a list of n vals,
which are linearally dependent. Reducing to remove the linear
dependence leaves you with a basis of two of them.

I'll have
> to look up "interior product" to be sure. It probably depends on which
> wedgie you started with, which you neglected to mention.

Eh? There is *only one* wedgie for a given temperament. That one,
obviously, is the one you start with. There are scads of n-2 sets of
primes for a rank two temperament, but not scads of wedgies. Just one.

But it sounds
> like additional unison vectors to me.
>
> "Find something" and "solve the problem" isn't a method at all.
It's an
> aspiration.

It's a solution which works in every case, and which I've defined.
That's not an aspiration, it's a method.

> I do need to get rid of them because I'm trying to communicate with
> people who won't know about them. Yes, that is largely what this
> argument's about. I place a high value on ease of communication.

Your non-confusing language confuses the hell out of me, and I wonder
if anyone else knows what you mean with all of this talk of chromatic
unison vectors. I just now figured it out (and found it is really,
really, bad terminology, incidentally.)

> The one about the search.

Which is? Title? Message number?

> > How are these defined--in terms of your three originating vals? That
> > doesn't strike me as such a good system.
>
> Yes. It's the easiest way to do it, and accurate enough with the right
> function from Numeric.

More useful would be to give a tuning map.

> They're both related to orwell and magic because they both contain 19,
> 22 and 31 (=12+19). They differ in the 11-mapping. This can be
deduced
> from the ET mappings, no need for commas.

It's a more delicate question than that in my meaning of "related"
here, having to do with what commas the tuning shrinks without
reducing it entirely to a unison. A temperament which reduces
3125/3072 to two cents is in an obvious sense, different from what you
are using, related to magic.

> Why are they significant? You haven't given any reasons they stand out.

Because they have relatively low error, given their complexity, from
most of the alternatives. If you have a best-of 11-limit planar
temperaments list they should be on it unless it is awfully short, for
basically the same reason that magic and orwell pop up on lists.

> Anyway, as you're using this as an excuse to push your results, here
are
> mine.

Eh? You were the one who mentioned these temperaments, not me. I've
posted on more than one occasion about planar temperaments, but the
cited article was about tictactoe diagrams, not "results", whatever
you mean by that.

They're limited by a wedgie complexity of 0.9 and an optimal RMS
> weighted error of 0.001.

Is this everything under those constraints?

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/16/2006 12:44:52 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> How do you avoid duplicate entries in your list without a unique
> naming scheme?

Only use the octave-equivalent part of the mapping.

>>There are an infinite number of equal temperaments, and the wedgie >>doesn't tell me which two I want. > > You have a way of defining a unique pair of equal temperament vals for
> a given rank two temperament? If so, what is it?

No, I don't, not as such. That's why I get different results for different methods.

> In that case it might find a >>different period mapping. The two methods don't give the same results >>but they are both internally consistent.
> > I don't know what methods you are referring to.

1) start with commas

2) start with equal temperaments

>>>Jamesbond has an OE part of 007. The reason to care is that I was
>>>using it as an example.
>>
>>Is it an example of something I'm likely to care about?
> > > If you want your list to cover higher error temperaments of the kind
> Herman cares about, yes.

I won't even bother to check if it's covered unless you give me a reason why it wouldn't be.

> "Best weighted-RMS mappings" isn't explicit.

It's a good indicator, at least.

> That way nobody has to remember my jargon from one message >>to another. Which part of "best weighted-RMS mapping" are you having >>difficulty weith?
> > Are the weightings logs of primes? Do we do the least squares
> calculation with respect to the primes, a tonality diamond, or what?

Yes, logs of primes. The mapping. I said the mapping. That means the mapping. If I wanted you to use a tonality diamond I would have said that.

> I've tried to avoid missing things by using three separate methods:
> sets of et vals, sets of commas, and (in the case of rank two) periods
> and generators. The problem of using vals only becomes a concern as we
> go to higher prime limits, where more and more choices are possible,
> but where the sets of primes for the low ranks which are of the most
> interest become unpleasantly large and therefore numerous. Either way
> you seem to need to look at a lot of possibilities. Wow! You've been doing temperament searches! How far do you go? Do you have results? Code?

>>You're less likely to miss something the more ETs you work with, which >>means the program has to be fast. It's fastest when it does
> prime-based >>RMS calculations with no wedgies.
> > I'll take your word for it, but what are these calculations? Where
> does the list of starting ets come from?

http://x31eq.com/temper/regular.py
http://x31eq.com/temper/regular_wedgie.py

>>>As compared to *not* distinguishing between temperaments produced from
>>>commas and those produced from vals, which strikes me as an absurd
> idea.
>>Are you suggesting this idea came from me? Does it have anything to do >>with the quote above?
> > As best I could tell, that is what you said. What did you mean?

I have a method for getting the full mapping from the commas. It isn't pretty, but the code's at

http://x31eq.com/temper.py

The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we still don't have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector". As such there's no need to optimize the temperament to get a unique key, if you're sufficiently obsessive that the octave equivalent part isn't good enough.

The method for getting the mapping from equal temperaments is much more stable, so we can assume that always gives the correct mapping.

These two methods are entirely different, and there's no need to compare the results without optimizing.

>>>I have no idea wha you mean by "that additional unison vector", but I
>>>do know it isn't required, whatever it is.
>>
>>The thing Paul objects to calling a "chromatic unison vector" in the >>general case. To get an ET mapping (or "val" as you call them, for >>anybody following along) you need n-1 unison vectors for n prime >>dimensions. For a rank 2 temperament, you need n-2 unison vectors. So >>one additional unison vector gives you the mapping for an equal >>temperament that belongs to the rank 2 family (maybe not a sensible >>temperament, but a mapping nonetheless).
> > > Right. So what you are talking about in other terms is an interval
> which, when you take the interior product with a wedgie, gives you a
> val. But why call that a "chromatic unison vector"? It's neither
> chromatic nor a unison; in fact, it can't temper to the unison if it
> is to be of any use. If two of these so-called "chromatic unison
> vectors" are a choice of representatives for the period and generator,
> the result will be a standard period-generator mapping. Why not just
> call it a "generator", or "generating interval" if you need to draw a
> distinction?

Probably, yes. I call it a chromatic unison vector because somebody, maybe Paul, called it that. It is a unison vector. It tempers to a unison in the equal temperament whose mapping you get by doing whatever operation it is with wedge products and complements, or by taking a column of the inverse of the matrix multiplied by the determinant as an extension of Fokker's work.

We already have a meaning for "generator" and it's different.

>>When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each of the >>primes" as additional unison vectors (which Paul says we aren't allowed >>to call "chromatic unison vectors" because they're too big).
> > Well, I object to gibberish about "unison vectors" in application to
> primes, but I think this is right. Using your method of taking n-2
> commas, you add to the list each of the primes successively, calculate
> the resulting val using determinants, and you get a list of n vals,
> which are linearally dependent. Reducing to remove the linear
> dependence leaves you with a basis of two of them.

Yes, that happens not to be what I do, but it certainly uses additional unison vectors.

> Eh? There is *only one* wedgie for a given temperament. That one,
> obviously, is the one you start with. There are scads of n-2 sets of
> primes for a rank two temperament, but not scads of wedgies. Just one.

No, there are two important ones, related by the complement operation. It really does matter which one you use, but never mind.

>>"Find something" and "solve the problem" isn't a method at all. > It's an >>aspiration.
> > It's a solution which works in every case, and which I've defined.
> That's not an aspiration, it's a method.

Where have you defined it? Show me the code!

>>I do need to get rid of them because I'm trying to communicate with >>people who won't know about them. Yes, that is largely what this >>argument's about. I place a high value on ease of communication.
> > Your non-confusing language confuses the hell out of me, and I wonder
> if anyone else knows what you mean with all of this talk of chromatic
> unison vectors. I just now figured it out (and found it is really,
> really, bad terminology, incidentally.)

Well, Lordy, if you didn't now what I meant why didn't you say so instead of confidently asserting that I was wrong?

For unison vectors, see the online Fokker paper:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html

We use octave-specific vectors but otherwise it's the same. The chromatic unison vector is the one that you don't temper out. The Fokker determinant tells you how many notes there are in the MOS.

>>The one about the search.
> > Which is? Title? Message number?

"Rank 3 temperament search" 13976

>>>How are these defined--in terms of your three originating vals? That
>>>doesn't strike me as such a good system.
>>
>>Yes. It's the easiest way to do it, and accurate enough with the right >>function from Numeric.
> > More useful would be to give a tuning map.

What's a tuning map?

>>Why are they significant? You haven't given any reasons they stand out.
> > Because they have relatively low error, given their complexity, from
> most of the alternatives. If you have a best-of 11-limit planar
> temperaments list they should be on it unless it is awfully short, for
> basically the same reason that magic and orwell pop up on lists. But they don't! Well, we have different ideas of what counts as "short". I'd expect magic and orwell to both make their relevant top tens. For some criteria magic is optimal. These ones don't make it.

>>Anyway, as you're using this as an excuse to push your results, here
> > are > >>mine. > > > Eh? You were the one who mentioned these temperaments, not me. I've
> posted on more than one occasion about planar temperaments, but the
> cited article was about tictactoe diagrams, not "results", whatever
> you mean by that.

So do you think there's anything special about them, or was I wasting my time looking at them?

> They're limited by a wedgie complexity of 0.9 and an optimal RMS > >>weighted error of 0.001.
> > > Is this everything under those constraints? Of course not.

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/16/2006 4:11:03 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> Wow! You've been doing temperament searches! How far do you go? Do
> you have results? Code?

Is this sarcasm, and if so, about what? I've done a lot of searching
using Maple, which is very slow but still fast enough to get the job done.

/tuning-math/message/2791

/tuning-math/message/4556

/tuning-math/message/4557

/tuning-math/message/5620

/tuning-math/message/5648

/tuning-math/message/8809

/tuning-math/message/10783

/tuning-math/message/10142

/tuning-math/message/11104

> > I'll take your word for it, but what are these calculations? Where
> > does the list of starting ets come from?
>
> http://x31eq.com/temper/regular.py
> http://x31eq.com/temper/regular_wedgie.py

Python script isn't much help.

> I have a method for getting the full mapping from the commas. It isn't
> pretty, but the code's at
>
> http://x31eq.com/temper.py

Why is it hard? You can use an n-fold wedge product, for which the
code isn't too hard, since you already have a parity function.

> The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we still don't
> have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector".

I gave a better term, "generating interval".

> The method for getting the mapping from equal temperaments is much more
> stable, so we can assume that always gives the correct mapping.

Why is there any instability? Are you using floating point operations
for some reason?

> These two methods are entirely different, and there's no need to
compare
> the results without optimizing.

Seems to me to be a bad plan. Why not combine both approaches?

> Probably, yes. I call it a chromatic unison vector because somebody,
> maybe Paul, called it that. It is a unison vector. It tempers to a
> unison in the equal temperament whose mapping you get by doing whatever
> operation it is with wedge products and complements, or by taking a
> column of the inverse of the matrix multiplied by the determinant as an
> extension of Fokker's work.

That produces a val. It may or may not be a val for an equal
temperament, and in the cases we are discussing, probably won't be.

> No, there are two important ones, related by the complement operation.
> It really does matter which one you use, but never mind.

Not if you follow my definition, which is that a wedgie is *always* a
multival. I take no responsibility for confusions introduced by Paul.

> >>"Find something" and "solve the problem" isn't a method at all.
> > It's an
> >>aspiration.
> >
> > It's a solution which works in every case, and which I've defined.
> > That's not an aspiration, it's a method.
>
> Where have you defined it? Show me the code!

Code for what? I've got 194 kb of Maple code, mostly not very elegant,
but effective. The way I've written interior products follows my usual
inelegant prodceedure of doing a separate program in each prime
limits. For example, however, the interior product ("down") of a
7-limit bival by a monzo I compute this way:

a7down := proc(l, w)
# product down to val of wedgie with monzo
[l[3]*w[4]+l[2]*w[3]+w[2]*l[1], l[5]*w[4]+l[4]*w[3]-w[1]*l[1],
w[4]*l[6]-l[4]*w[2]-w[1]*l[2], -w[3]*l[6]-l[5]*w[2]-w[1]*l[3]] end:

Then I have something else for the 11-limit,

a11down := proc(x, y)
# linear wedgie x times monzo y down
[x[1]*y[2]+x[2]*y[3]+x[3]*y[4]+x[4]*y[5],
-x[1]*y[1]+x[5]*y[3]+x[6]*y[4]+x[7]*y[5],
-x[2]*y[1]-x[5]*y[2]+x[8]*y[4]+x[9]*y[5],
-x[3]*y[1]-x[6]*y[2]-x[8]*y[3]+x[10]*y[5],
-x[4]*y[1]-x[7]*y[2]-x[9]*y[3]-x[10]*y[4]] end:

and so forth. Nothing to write home about, and I've been trying to
write some more general code lately.

> Well, Lordy, if you didn't now what I meant why didn't you say so
> instead of confidently asserting that I was wrong?

Because I didn't need to know what the hell one was to know you can do
your calculations with commas and not bother with them.

> >>The one about the search.
> >
> > Which is? Title? Message number?
>
> "Rank 3 temperament search" 13976

The reason I didn't comment on it is that it was just a comma list,
followed by only one rank three, thirteen limit temperament.

> > More useful would be to give a tuning map.
>
> What's a tuning map?

A mapping primes-->cents. For instance, <1200 1896.578 2786.314| for
1/4-comma 5-limit meantone.

> But they don't! Well, we have different ideas of what counts as
> "short". I'd expect magic and orwell to both make their relevant top
> tens. For some criteria magic is optimal. These ones don't make it.

And the ten better temperaments of comparable complexity are which?

> So do you think there's anything special about them, or was I
wasting my
> time looking at them?

They are strictly planar, of reasonably low complexity, and fairly
accurate. Where again are those ten better temperaments of comparable
complexity?

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/16/2006 9:40:27 PM

Graham Breed wrote:
> I have a method for getting the full mapping from the commas. It isn't > pretty, but the code's at
> > http://x31eq.com/temper.py
> > The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we still don't > have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector". As such there's > no need to optimize the temperament to get a unique key, if you're > sufficiently obsessive that the octave equivalent part isn't good enough.

I was kind of thinking that "comma" was our substitute for "unison vector" in cases like this. I don't have any particular objections to "unison vector", since I'm familiar with various meanings of the word "vector" in different fields that are clear from context, but I've been avoiding it recently since it doesn't seem to have caught on. Still, it's useful to have "comma" for a specific size of small interval, and the possible ambiguity could be avoided by using "unison vector" or something like it.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/17/2006 4:43:21 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> > >>Wow! You've been doing temperament searches! How far do you go? Do >>you have results? Code?
> > > Is this sarcasm, and if so, about what? I've done a lot of searching
> using Maple, which is very slow but still fast enough to get the job done.

No, I really don't know what you're doing unless you tell me. None of these links say "I've been searching for temperaments". Most of them say "here's a list of temperaments" blah blah blah. Some of them came when I either had a poor internet connection, or was bedridden, so sorry for not studying them in detail. This one:

/tuning-math/message/11104

says you "used standard vals", but not what for and in the middle of such a boring paragraph I probably skipped it.

Really, I thought you were only doing searches by commas and in low limits. Even these links don't go above the 13-limit. But I'll certainly look at them.

>>>I'll take your word for it, but what are these calculations? Where
>>>does the list of starting ets come from?
>>
>>http://x31eq.com/temper/regular.py
>>http://x31eq.com/temper/regular_wedgie.py
> > > Python script isn't much help.

Whyever not? You can try these, but they're out of date:

http://x31eq.com/temper.ml
http://x31eq.com/write_temper.ml

http://x31eq.com/temper/temper.c
http://x31eq.com/temper/temper.h

>>I have a method for getting the full mapping from the commas. It isn't >>pretty, but the code's at
>>
>>http://x31eq.com/temper.py
> > Why is it hard? You can use an n-fold wedge product, for which the
> code isn't too hard, since you already have a parity function. What's an n-fold wedge product? I can't really remember how I did it. It uses a few loops to find numbers that work.

>>The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we still don't >>have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector".
> > I gave a better term, "generating interval". Am I supposed to comment on this? You think calling two different things by the same name is "better" and without getting anybody to agree with you think the language is changed?

>>The method for getting the mapping from equal temperaments is much more >>stable, so we can assume that always gives the correct mapping.
> > Why is there any instability? Are you using floating point operations
> for some reason?

It was unstable because I used primes in place of chromatic unison vectors. Now I use more sensible intervals it's probably giving sensible generators but I haven't looked at it much since then.

>>These two methods are entirely different, and there's no need to
> compare >>the results without optimizing.
> > Seems to me to be a bad plan. Why not combine both approaches?

Why do it? I can see value in cross-checking the methods with each other. If that does mean doing the search twice, checking that the right generator mappings are in the right badness order is good enough. But I haven't started any research like that.

>>Probably, yes. I call it a chromatic unison vector because somebody, >>maybe Paul, called it that. It is a unison vector. It tempers to a >>unison in the equal temperament whose mapping you get by doing whatever >>operation it is with wedge products and complements, or by taking a >>column of the inverse of the matrix multiplied by the determinant as an >>extension of Fokker's work.
> > That produces a val. It may or may not be a val for an equal
> temperament, and in the cases we are discussing, probably won't be.

I don't care if it's a sensible equal temperament any more than if it's a sensible unison vector.

>>No, there are two important ones, related by the complement operation. >>It really does matter which one you use, but never mind.
> > Not if you follow my definition, which is that a wedgie is *always* a
> multival. I take no responsibility for confusions introduced by Paul.

Please, Gene, try to stop assuming we can all remember all your definitions. I can't. I really can't. I take "wedgie" as being a slack term for "the things you can do wedge products with".

>>>>"Find something" and "solve the problem" isn't a method at all. >>>
>>>It's an >>>
>>>>aspiration.
>>>
>>>It's a solution which works in every case, and which I've defined.
>>>That's not an aspiration, it's a method.
>>
>>Where have you defined it? Show me the code!
> > Code for what? I've got 194 kb of Maple code, mostly not very elegant,
> but effective. The way I've written interior products follows my usual
> inelegant prodceedure of doing a separate program in each prime
> limits. For example, however, the interior product ("down") of a
> 7-limit bival by a monzo I compute this way:

Code for finding the period mapping by some method that doesn't use a chromatic unison vector. Simplified or converted to pseudocode if it's too complicated in the raw.

>>"Rank 3 temperament search" 13976
> > The reason I didn't comment on it is that it was just a comma list,
> followed by only one rank three, thirteen limit temperament. No it wasn't, it was also an announcement that I'd done something. If you've done something similar you could have offered help. And if you were interested in what I did you could have asked for more details.

>>>More useful would be to give a tuning map.
>>
>>What's a tuning map?
> > A mapping primes-->cents. For instance, <1200 1896.578 2786.314| for
> 1/4-comma 5-limit meantone.

Okay.

>>But they don't! Well, we have different ideas of what counts as >>"short". I'd expect magic and orwell to both make their relevant top >>tens. For some criteria magic is optimal. These ones don't make it.
> > And the ten better temperaments of comparable complexity are which?

I already gave you a list. Magic an orwell don't sit at the bottom of a list of comparable complexity.

>>So do you think there's anything special about them, or was I
> wasting my >>time looking at them?
> > > They are strictly planar, of reasonably low complexity, and fairly
> accurate. Where again are those ten better temperaments of comparable
> complexity?

So you do think there's something special about them! Well, some of them are good, some are bad. You have the best ones.

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/17/2006 10:40:26 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> No, I really don't know what you're doing unless you tell me. None of
> these links say "I've been searching for temperaments". Most of them
> say "here's a list of temperaments" blah blah blah.

The blah blah blah being where the cutoffs are and what methods I used
to generate candidates.

> Really, I thought you were only doing searches by commas and in low
> limits. Even these links don't go above the 13-limit.

You mean 17-limit. But my own belief is that there is little utility
in going beyond the 19-limit.

> Whyever not? You can try these, but they're out of date:

It's hard to read.

> > Why is it hard? You can use an n-fold wedge product, for which the
> > code isn't too hard, since you already have a parity function.
>
> What's an n-fold wedge product?

You start off with v1, v2 ... vn and compute v1^v2^...^vn from that.
It's not too hard.

> > I gave a better term, "generating interval".
>
> Am I supposed to comment on this? You think calling two different
> things by the same name is "better" and without getting anybody to
agree
> with you think the language is changed?

What in the world are you saying? Anyway, almost anything would be
better than calling it a "chromatic unison vector", which is actively
pernicious. The point of sticking the word "generating" in there is
that it is relevant; if you take an interior product of a bival with
an interval, you get a val which tempers out the interval, and hence
could be used as a part of a generator map if you have another val
sending the interval to +-1.

However, for any rank two temperament, if you take an interval you get
a unique val in this way, which you could call an "associated val", or
use some other word since you hate "val", just so long as it doesn't
contain the word "unison". Representing val? It represents the
interval in the temperament in question.

> >>The method for getting the mapping from equal temperaments is much
more
> >>stable, so we can assume that always gives the correct mapping.
> >
> > Why is there any instability? Are you using floating point operations
> > for some reason?
>
> It was unstable because I used primes in place of chromatic unison
> vectors.

If you were using integers and not floats, how can that be unstable?
Is this from an optimization step? Anyway, using primes always works
and should not be giving you any instability problems if you compute
generators from the primes.

> > Seems to me to be a bad plan. Why not combine both approaches?
>
> Why do it? I can see value in cross-checking the methods with each
> other.

That's a point, so long as you do finally end up naming them uniquely.

> > That produces a val. It may or may not be a val for an equal
> > temperament, and in the cases we are discussing, probably won't be.
>
> I don't care if it's a sensible equal temperament any more than if it's
> a sensible unison vector.

Same problem as with "unison vector". If it isn't a unison, don't call
it one. If it isn't an equal temperament, don't call it one. Do you
think <0 1 4 10| is a 7-limit equal temperament?

> Please, Gene, try to stop assuming we can all remember all your
> definitions. I can't. I really can't. I take "wedgie" as being a
> slack term for "the things you can do wedge products with".

Well, it isn't and never was. It means a multival, reduced in a
standardized way so that it uniquely represents a given regular
temperament. Since you yourself took part in and influenced the
discussion of how to do the reduction, that shouldn't have been as
difficult as it appears to have been.

Unlike "chromaticm unison vector", it has a precise definition which
does not degenerate into seemingly contradictory babbling.

> Code for finding the period mapping by some method that doesn't use a
> chromatic unison vector. Simplified or converted to pseudocode if it's
> too complicated in the raw.

Here's Maple code; see if that will do:

lval7 := proc(l)
# subgroup vals of 7-limit wedgie
-[[0, -l[1], -l[2], -l[3]], [l[1], 0, -l[4], -l[5]],
[l[2], l[4], 0, -l[6]], [l[3], l[5], l[6], 0]] end:

mherm7 := proc(l)
# Hermite generators for 7-limit wedgie
local a;
a := convert(ihermite(lval7(l)), listlist);
[a[1], a[2]] end:

"ihermite" is a Maple function call. Here's the Maple help file, sans
examples:

Calling Sequence
ihermite(A)
ihermite(A, U)
Parameters
A - rectangular matrix of integers
U - name

Description

The function ihermite computes the Hermite Normal Form (reduced row
echelon form) of a rectangular matrix of integers.

The Hermite normal form of A is an upper triangular matrix H with
rank(A) = the number of nonzero rows of H. If A is an n by n matrix of
full rank then |det(A)| = product(H[i, i], i=1..n).

This is not an efficient method for computing the rank or determinant
except that this may yield a partial factorization of det(A) without
doing any explicit factorizations.

The Hermite normal form is obtained by doing elementary row
operations. This includes interchanging rows, multiplying through a
row by -1, and adding an integral multiple of one row to another.
One can use transposes to obtain column form of the Hermite Normal Form.

In the case of two arguments, the second argument U will be assigned
the transformation matrix on output, such that the following holds:
ihermite(A) = U A.

The command with(linalg,ihermite) allows the use of the abbreviated
form of this command.

> No it wasn't, it was also an announcement that I'd done something. If
> you've done something similar you could have offered help. And if you
> were interested in what I did you could have asked for more details.

I assumed you knew I'd been posting about this stuff myself, and that
if you had had a list of temperaments you wanted to give, you would
have done so. I completely misunderstood the purpose of your post.

> > And the ten better temperaments of comparable complexity are which?
>
> I already gave you a list.

Title? Message number?

Magic an orwell don't sit at the bottom of a
> list of comparable complexity.

They usually don't sit at the top either. They should be on it.

> > They are strictly planar, of reasonably low complexity, and fairly
> > accurate. Where again are those ten better temperaments of comparable
> > complexity?
>
> So you do think there's something special about them! Well, some of
> them are good, some are bad. You have the best ones.

Except you seem to be saying you have some a lot better hidden away
somewhere. It's certainly easy to beat them in terms of error by going
up a tad in complexity, or in terms of complexity by going down a tad,
but what about sticking close to this region?

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/17/2006 1:26:19 PM

> Not if you follow my definition, which is that a wedgie is *always* a
> multival. I take no responsibility for confusions introduced by Paul.

I thought Herman had something somewhere that it could also be the
wedge product of two commas. Yes, his language here, reviewed by
Gene, discusses ""bicomma" wedgie"s and the like.

http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/regular-temperaments.html

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/17/2006 1:32:06 PM

>You mean 17-limit. But my own belief is that there is little utility
>in going beyond the 19-limit.

Agreed. Though it might be nice to do away with limits entirely.
I seem to remember seeing hints of methods around here that might
do this.

-Carl

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/17/2006 3:30:24 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> > Not if you follow my definition, which is that a wedgie is *always* a
> > multival. I take no responsibility for confusions introduced by Paul.
>
> I thought Herman had something somewhere that it could also be the
> wedge product of two commas. Yes, his language here, reviewed by
> Gene, discusses ""bicomma" wedgie"s and the like.
>
> http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/regular-temperaments.html

I don't see anything really wrong with using the phrase "bicomma
wedgie", if you make it clear it is not the same as a multival wedgie;
though I think there is a better way to say it. However in this
instance I've already remarked I didn't like the reference to the
wedge product of two commas as a "wedgie". It's not even clearly
defined--is it reduced, or is it just the pure wedge product? If it is
reduced, what is the canonical reduction? I'd suggest, if we want a
standard definition for a multimonzo wedgie, we define it as the
complement of the corresponding multival wedgie. Of course then
"complement of a wedgie" is perfectly adequate, and avoids any
possibility of confusion. Hence I suggest using "complement of a
wedgie" for these.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/17/2006 7:08:57 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
> >>>Not if you follow my definition, which is that a wedgie is *always* a
>>>multival. I take no responsibility for confusions introduced by Paul.
>>
>>I thought Herman had something somewhere that it could also be the
>>wedge product of two commas. Yes, his language here, reviewed by
>>Gene, discusses ""bicomma" wedgie"s and the like.
>>
>>http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/regular-temperaments.html
> > > I don't see anything really wrong with using the phrase "bicomma
> wedgie", if you make it clear it is not the same as a multival wedgie;
> though I think there is a better way to say it. However in this
> instance I've already remarked I didn't like the reference to the
> wedge product of two commas as a "wedgie". It's not even clearly
> defined--is it reduced, or is it just the pure wedge product? If it is
> reduced, what is the canonical reduction? I'd suggest, if we want a
> standard definition for a multimonzo wedgie, we define it as the
> complement of the corresponding multival wedgie. Of course then
> "complement of a wedgie" is perfectly adequate, and avoids any
> possibility of confusion. Hence I suggest using "complement of a
> wedgie" for these.

Well, now's the time to get the terminology right before I go too far with something that isn't commonly accepted or at least understood. I've seen these just called "bicommas", I believe; how about just skipping the "wedgie" and just using "bicomma"? Or should it be a "bimonzo"? I still have a ways to go before I get all the things into the page that I've been planning, so you can take your time looking over the page.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/17/2006 8:11:05 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...> wrote:

I've
> seen these just called "bicommas", I believe; how about just skipping
> the "wedgie" and just using "bicomma"?

I would say that is fine if the two things you wedge together can
reasonably be called commas.

> Or should it be a "bimonzo"?

That would be any wedge product of two monzos.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/17/2006 11:07:12 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> Agreed. Though it might be nice to do away with limits entirely.
> I seem to remember seeing hints of methods around here that might
> do this.

This can be done, but I don't see the utility of it.

The positive rational numbers under multiplication, Q*, is a "free
abelian group of infinite rank". It can be represented by infinite
monzos |e2 e3 e5 ...> where all but a finite number of the
coefficients, all of which must be integers, are zero. The group of
homomorphisms from Q* to Z, called in mathematise Hom(Q*, Z), is
another group, *not* free, but "torsion free" or "flat" (these mean
the same for abelian groups) called the Baer-Specker group, or Z^N,
whose properties are trickier than you might think when I tell you it
is just the infinite vals <v2 v3 v5 ...| where it is *not* assumed all
but a finite number of the coefficients, which again must be integers,
are zero. Any finite number of such infinitary vals, members of the
Baer-Specker group, can be wedged together, and produce an infinitary
n-val. These can be reduced to wedgies in the usual way, producing
infinitary temperaments which temper out an infinitude of independent
commas, for which a basis for the rank two temperaments is still the
triprime commas.

Similarly, any finite number of commas can be wedged and give an
infinitary multimonzo. You can't relate this to a multival by taking
the complement, which doesn't exist. One kind of wedgie tempers out
commas giving a kernel which has a countably infinite basis, and the
other kind has a kernel with a finite basis. They are therefore
different things.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/17/2006 11:23:59 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

>These can be reduced to wedgies in the usual way, producing
> infinitary temperaments which temper out an infinitude of independent
> commas, for which a basis for the rank two temperaments is still the
> triprime commas.

I meant these span or generate the kernal, sorry.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/17/2006 11:37:19 PM

>> These can be reduced to wedgies in the usual way, producing
>> infinitary temperaments which temper out an infinitude of independent
>> commas, for which a basis for the rank two temperaments is still the
>> triprime commas.
>
>I meant these span or generate the kernal, sorry.

I'm afraid this doesn't help me with this statement. And additionally,
it raises the question: What's the difference between having commas of a
certain type be a basis, and having a kernal containing commas only of
that type?

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/17/2006 11:35:38 PM

>> Agreed. Though it might be nice to do away with limits entirely.
>> I seem to remember seeing hints of methods around here that might
>> do this.
>
>This can be done, but I don't see the utility of it.
//
>These can be reduced to wedgies in the usual way, producing
>infinitary temperaments which temper out an infinitude of independent
>commas, for which a basis for the rank two temperaments is still the
>triprime commas.

I'm not sure what you mean by triprime commas here -- monzos with
only three nonzero coefficients, or?

I don't think I'd seen hints of this approach, but there's your
zeta stuff, and convergent weightings. I don't know how what goes
into the zeta computation -- can it work for rank 2 temperaments
as well as equal temperaments? By convergent weightings, I refer
to an idea I had (which I thought I detected in one of Graham's
messages perhaps) whereby steep enough error and complexity
weightings are used that they always converge as the harmonic limit
goes to infinity. I have no idea how such a thing might actually
work.

Oh, Paul often has phrases like 'without need for limits'... I wish
I understood this better.

-Carl

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 12:11:42 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> >I meant these span or generate the kernal, sorry.
>
> I'm afraid this doesn't help me with this statement. And additionally,
> it raises the question: What's the difference between having commas of a
> certain type be a basis, and having a kernal containing commas only of
> that type?

If you start multiplying together commas with three primes in their
factorization, you can end up with commas with any number of primes in
the factorization.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 12:20:48 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> I'm not sure what you mean by triprime commas here -- monzos with
> only three nonzero coefficients, or?

Right, or in multiplicative terms, with at most three primes in their
factorization.

> I don't think I'd seen hints of this approach, but there's your
> zeta stuff, and convergent weightings. I don't know how what goes
> into the zeta computation -- can it work for rank 2 temperaments
> as well as equal temperaments?

I don't see how, but there may be something which could be done along
those lines.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/18/2006 12:23:44 AM

>> >I meant these span or generate the kernal, sorry.
>>
>> I'm afraid this doesn't help me with this statement. And additionally,
>> it raises the question: What's the difference between having commas of a
>> certain type be a basis, and having a kernal containing commas only of
>> that type?
>
>If you start multiplying together commas with three primes in their
>factorization, you can end up with commas with any number of primes in
>the factorization.

It will be at most three times the number of commas you've multiplied.
I'm not sure what the significance of this is.

I admit I don't have a clue what your proposal is, here, but it sounds
like you're not doing away with limits at all... just allowing
infinitely-long monzos and vals.

-Carl

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 12:42:40 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> I admit I don't have a clue what your proposal is, here, but it sounds
> like you're not doing away with limits at all... just allowing
> infinitely-long monzos and vals.

Why isn't infinite-limit the same as doing away with limits?

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/18/2006 12:31:17 AM

>>> These can be reduced to wedgies in the usual way, producing
>>> infinitary temperaments which temper out an infinitude of independent
>>> commas, for which a [kernel] for the rank two temperaments is still
>>> the triprime commas.

>> I'm not sure what you mean by triprime commas here -- monzos with
>> only three nonzero coefficients, or?
>
>Right, or in multiplicative terms, with at most three primes in their
>factorization.

O-K.

>>It will be at most three times the number of commas you've multiplied.
>>I'm not sure what the significance of this is.
>>
>>I admit I don't have a clue what your proposal is, here, but it sounds
>>like you're not doing away with limits at all... just allowing
>>infinitely-long monzos and vals.

I guess I need to understand why it's important that they only have
three primes each. Does this somehow make computations with
infinitely-long monzos and vals possible?

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/18/2006 1:07:46 AM

>> I admit I don't have a clue what your proposal is, here, but it sounds
>> like you're not doing away with limits at all... just allowing
>> infinitely-long monzos and vals.
>
>Why isn't infinite-limit the same as doing away with limits?

Is it computable?

Even if you stick to finite monzos but with no restrictions on
the highest prime (which is what I did a few months back), you
need heavy weighting to punish large primes like 1663.

-Carl

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 1:28:06 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> I guess I need to understand why it's important that they only have
> three primes each. Does this somehow make computations with
> infinitely-long monzos and vals possible?

For a rank n temperament, where everything is generated by n
generators, n+1 primes can cancel out, giving a comma. But this has
nothing specifically to do with the infinitely long vals and monzos.
Computation there is possibly when only finite sums and products of
non-zero integers arise. This will be the case in evaluating <val |
monzo>, since the monzo has only finitely many nonzero coefficients.
It also works for va11 ^ val2, since for each coefficient, you take a
difference of products of two integers, which is an integer.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 1:31:27 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> >Why isn't infinite-limit the same as doing away with limits?
>
> Is it computable?

You can't compute a lot of things, such as unwieghted optimizations.
So, you weight.

> Even if you stick to finite monzos but with no restrictions on
> the highest prime (which is what I did a few months back), you
> need heavy weighting to punish large primes like 1663.

Absolute convergence will do it.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/18/2006 4:17:06 AM

Gene:
>>Why isn't infinite-limit the same as doing away with limits?

Carl:
> Is it computable?

A lot of calculations can be done without a prime-limit bound. You need to define you equal temperament mappings as lazy lists. As a Schemer this should be familiar to you. You could write a function to compute Gene's standard val (the number of notes to an octave multiplied by the size in octaves of a given prime number, rounded to the nearest integer). Generation of prime numbers is a standard example of lazy evaluation ;) If the laziness is working, you can look at 5-limit intervals with your infinite-limit mapping and all will be well. Start looking at the 7-limit and the lazy lists pop off some more elements and all remains well. You can define higher rank temperaments based on those lazy lists no problem. You can't be sure a temperament is contorted with a finite number of calculations, although you may be able to tell that it is.

The second issue is about the errors converging. There's a popular branch of mathematics involving infinite limits. It's well known that the sum of reciprocals of squares of integers 1/n2 has a stable value. (n2 is going to mean "n squared" for the rest of this paragraph.) The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me. So with a weighting of 1/p2log(p) you can guarantee convergence. I think Gene said 1/p is good enough. It may be that 1/p converges where p is prime, but not for all integers, or the RMS calculation means you're really summing 1/p2. I'm sure Gene's right, anyway. So the weightings have to be something like that.

If you set the weightings such that the total error converges quickly, then you can do calculations to within a certain accuracy with a limited number of primes. You could probably get the first few entries of the optimal RMS-error mapping for a given weighting. But you'd have to think about what you were doing -- lazy evaluation won't do it for you.

You can also determing the weighted minimax for nearest-prime mappings. The worst error in any prime is half a scale step. So that's 1/2n for n-EDO. If the weighting's 1/p, you know that the highest weighted error for prime p is 1/2np. Once the weighted minimax already exceeds that for the prime you're looking at you can stop calculating.

> Even if you stick to finite monzos but with no restrictions on
> the highest prime (which is what I did a few months back), you
> need heavy weighting to punish large primes like 1663.

Yes. My guess is that either the weighting is so light that stupidly high primes end up dominating the calculation, or it's so heavy that only the first few primes matter. But I'd rather know than guess, so see what you find.

Graham

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/18/2006 6:37:13 AM

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...> wrote:
>
> I've
> > seen these just called "bicommas", I believe; how about just skipping
> > the "wedgie" and just using "bicomma"?
>
> I would say that is fine if the two things you wedge together can
> reasonably be called commas.

The wedge product of two commas is not necessarily (the complement of)
a wedgie, is it?

- Rich Holmes

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 10:32:30 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:

> The wedge product of two commas is not necessarily (the complement of)
> a wedgie, is it?

If one comma is not the multiple of another, then by taking out any
common factors and changing the sign if necessary (or equivalently,
changing the order in which you do the wedge product) then it will be
the complement of a wedgie for a codimension 2 temperament.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/18/2006 1:14:35 PM

At 04:17 AM 1/18/2006, you wrote:
>Gene:
>>>Why isn't infinite-limit the same as doing away with limits?
>
>Carl:
>> Is it computable?
>
>A lot of calculations can be done without a prime-limit bound. You need
>to define you equal temperament mappings as lazy lists. As a Schemer
>this should be familiar to you.

I could be wrong, but I think this requires a true lazy language
like Haskell. I'd heard that Scheme has lazy evaluation, but in
fact it's pretty limited.

>You could write a function to compute
>Gene's standard val (the number of notes to an octave multiplied by the
>size in octaves of a given prime number, rounded to the nearest
>integer).

I do have that.

>Generation of prime numbers is a standard example of lazy
>evaluation ;)

My prime number generator takes an upper bound as an input. :(

>If the laziness is working, you can look at 5-limit
>intervals with your infinite-limit mapping and all will be well. Start
>looking at the 7-limit and the lazy lists pop off some more elements and
>all remains well.

Still sounds like this is using the concept of limits.

>The second issue is about the errors converging. There's a popular
>branch of mathematics involving infinite limits. It's well known that
>the sum of reciprocals of squares of integers 1/n2 has a stable value.
>(n2 is going to mean "n squared" for the rest of this paragraph.)

If you used /\ for wedge you could reserve ^ for powers.

>The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.

That's the TOP weighting, yes?

What about Gene's suggestion of 1/sqrt(p), "apeing the Zeta function
on the critical line"?

>So with a weighting of 1/p2log(p) you can guarantee convergence. I
>think Gene said 1/p is good enough. It may be that 1/p converges
>where p is prime, but not for all integers, or the RMS calculation means
>you're really summing 1/p2. I'm sure Gene's right, anyway. So the
>weightings have to be something like that.

Hm...

>If you set the weightings such that the total error converges quickly,
>then you can do calculations to within a certain accuracy with a limited
>number of primes.

Right.

>> Even if you stick to finite monzos but with no restrictions on
>> the highest prime (which is what I did a few months back), you
>> need heavy weighting to punish large primes like 1663.
>
>Yes. My guess is that either the weighting is so light that stupidly
>high primes end up dominating the calculation, or it's so heavy that
>only the first few primes matter. But I'd rather know than guess, so
>see what you find.

No time to revise my search code right now... maybe in a few weeks.

-Carl

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/18/2006 1:22:41 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>No, I really don't know what you're doing unless you tell me. None of >>these links say "I've been searching for temperaments". Most of them >>say "here's a list of temperaments" blah blah blah. > > The blah blah blah being where the cutoffs are and what methods I used
> to generate candidates.

Yes, you say where the candidates come from, but not why you want us to look at them.

>>Really, I thought you were only doing searches by commas and in low >>limits. Even these links don't go above the 13-limit. > > You mean 17-limit. But my own belief is that there is little utility
> in going beyond the 19-limit.

Sorry, yes, 17-limit. Except you say that wasn't really a search.

19-limit rank 2 temperaments are pretty well covered by equal temperament searches. You may have to wait a few minutes, but you'll get the results. It may be worth going beyond the 19-limit to learn how the searches behave, in order to optimize the higher rank searches. I don't know if the rank 3 search is good enough or not, or if we're ever going to want higher ranks.

If you can get reasonable 19-limit searches working with commas, that's news. I think it's difficult.

>>Whyever not? You can try these, but they're out of date:
> > It's hard to read.

Why didn't you say so before? I posted the links before and nobody said they had trouble. Which bits aren't clear?

>>>Why is it hard? You can use an n-fold wedge product, for which the
>>>code isn't too hard, since you already have a parity function. >>
>>What's an n-fold wedge product? > > You start off with v1, v2 ... vn and compute v1^v2^...^vn from that.
> It's not too hard.

Right, the wedgie. And what was I supposed to do with it again?

>>>I gave a better term, "generating interval". >>
>>Am I supposed to comment on this? You think calling two different >>things by the same name is "better" and without getting anybody to
> agree >>with you think the language is changed?
> > What in the world are you saying? Anyway, almost anything would be
> better than calling it a "chromatic unison vector", which is actively
> pernicious. The point of sticking the word "generating" in there is
> that it is relevant; if you take an interior product of a bival with
> an interval, you get a val which tempers out the interval, and hence
> could be used as a part of a generator map if you have another val
> sending the interval to +-1. But the generator's already the generating interval.

Yuk, "interior product", "bival", "val", "generator", "val". I don't really feel like parsing that.

A unison vector is an interval from just intonation which is tempered to be the same as a unison. How complicated is that?

The best term in any situation is usually the one people already understand. Last time we had a consensus on this list, it was about "chromatic unison vector".

> However, for any rank two temperament, if you take an interval you get
> a unique val in this way, which you could call an "associated val", or
> use some other word since you hate "val", just so long as it doesn't
> contain the word "unison". Representing val? It represents the
> interval in the temperament in question.

I don't hate the word "val". I'm avoiding using it without defining it. And I've yet to find it easier to give the definition than avoid the word.

But yes, you get one of them.

>>>>The method for getting the mapping from equal temperaments is much
> more >>>>stable, so we can assume that always gives the correct mapping.
>>>
>>>Why is there any instability? Are you using floating point operations
>>>for some reason?
>>
>>It was unstable because I used primes in place of chromatic unison >>vectors. > > If you were using integers and not floats, how can that be unstable?
> Is this from an optimization step? Anyway, using primes always works
> and should not be giving you any instability problems if you compute
> generators from the primes.

It's unstable in that it's less likely to give a generator that lies between a unison and a period for an optimal (or any sensible) tuning. The reason is that the mapping you produce may not be for a sensible equal temperament.

>>>Seems to me to be a bad plan. Why not combine both approaches?
>>
>>Why do it? I can see value in cross-checking the methods with each >>other.
> > That's a point, so long as you do finally end up naming them uniquely.

Either that or I write an "__eq__" method to determine if the two temperament objects are the same.

Actually, no, you caught me out there. You don't need to give unique names to cross-check the methods. If you generated the temperaments from equal temperaments, any temperament family that the same equal temperaments belong to is the same. If you generated the temperaments from commas, any temperament with the same unison vectors is the same.

>>>That produces a val. It may or may not be a val for an equal
>>>temperament, and in the cases we are discussing, probably won't be.
>>
>>I don't care if it's a sensible equal temperament any more than if it's >>a sensible unison vector.
> > Same problem as with "unison vector". If it isn't a unison, don't call
> it one. If it isn't an equal temperament, don't call it one. Do you
> think <0 1 4 10| is a 7-limit equal temperament?

A unison vector the same as a unison once it's tempered. Was that your only problem? It was easily disposed of.

<0 1 4 10| could be the mapping for an equal temperament. That is, it maps primes to tempered intervals. I can't see any point in calling the thing it maps to anything other than an equal temperament. There are cases when I'd call it an "equal mapping" to show we don't care about the putative temperament.

In general I don't want to define two different terms when a simpler definition of a single term says anything I need it to.

>>Please, Gene, try to stop assuming we can all remember all your >>definitions. I can't. I really can't. I take "wedgie" as being a >>slack term for "the things you can do wedge products with".
> > Well, it isn't and never was. It means a multival, reduced in a
> standardized way so that it uniquely represents a given regular
> temperament. Since you yourself took part in and influenced the
> discussion of how to do the reduction, that shouldn't have been as
> difficult as it appears to have been.

Can I guess what a multival is? At least I made the same mistake as Herman, and that you didn't spot.

> Unlike "chromaticm unison vector", it has a precise definition which
> does not degenerate into seemingly contradictory babbling.

I've defined "unison vector" now. A chromatic unison vector is a unison vector of an equal temperament which belongs to a family of regular temperaments. However, it is only a unison vector of that one equal temperament.

An equal temperament is an object with a list of integers mapping primes to integers representing scale steps. Or, in group theory terms, a homomorphism from ratios to a free abelian group of rank one. Did I get that right?

Where's the contradiction?

>>Code for finding the period mapping by some method that doesn't use a >>chromatic unison vector. Simplified or converted to pseudocode if it's >>too complicated in the raw.
> > > Here's Maple code; see if that will do:
> > lval7 := proc(l)
> # subgroup vals of 7-limit wedgie
> -[[0, -l[1], -l[2], -l[3]], [l[1], 0, -l[4], -l[5]], > [l[2], l[4], 0, -l[6]], [l[3], l[5], l[6], 0]] end:

Aren't these the chromatic unison vectors you said you weren't using.

> mherm7 := proc(l)
> # Hermite generators for 7-limit wedgie
> local a;
> a := convert(ihermite(lval7(l)), listlist);
> [a[1], a[2]] end:
> > "ihermite" is a Maple function call. Here's the Maple help file, sans
> examples:
<snip>

That's useful, because you haven't defined that before.

Now, how about the method that doesn't use a chromatic unison vector?

>>>And the ten better temperaments of comparable complexity are which?
>>
>>I already gave you a list. > > > Title? Message number?

Same title as this, follow it back.

Anyway, I now know the example I singled out is your "Zeus". It beats both Apollo and Minerva for both complexity and optimal error. Minerva is much better than Apollo. I don't know why you singled out Apollo.

If you're sticking to strictly planar temperaments, that makes them more significant.

> Magic an orwell don't sit at the bottom of a >>list of comparable complexity.
> > They usually don't sit at the top either. They should be on it.

Magic does usually sit at the top of 9-limit lists of equivalent complexity. If you disagree, give a counter-example. Orwell might be 2 or 3.

>>>They are strictly planar, of reasonably low complexity, and fairly
>>>accurate. Where again are those ten better temperaments of comparable
>>>complexity?
>>
>>So you do think there's something special about them! Well, some of >>them are good, some are bad. You have the best ones.
> > Except you seem to be saying you have some a lot better hidden away
> somewhere. It's certainly easy to beat them in terms of error by going
> up a tad in complexity, or in terms of complexity by going down a tad,
> but what about sticking close to this region?

No, you can't get better than best. You have 7 of my top 10 whic is too many for it to be an accident. The other three are of relatively high complexity. Then you have white elephants like Skadi and Apollo that don't look special. Probably it means you're using a different badness measure to me. But unless you say what it is I can't comment on it.

My top 10 is (the numbers are arbitrary tags, there are two kinds of 19):

1. Wonder (11-limit neutral-thirds lattice)
2. 7&12&14
3. 7&8&14
4. Portent
5. 7&12&19
6. Freya
7. Marvel
8. Zeus
9. Indra
10. Thrush

My current badness measure is complexity cubed times error. So it looks like we agree more with low errors. My number 2 may be outside your error cutoff:

[ 20.99907587 53.56660308 29.45074257] cent steps

wedgie:
(0, 1, 0, 4, 0, -6, 4, 0, -6, 0)

mapping by steps:
[[ 7 11 16 19 24]
[12 19 28 34 42]
[14 22 32 39 48]]

tuning map (cents):
[ 1202.10316403 1896.67162962 2778.27386239 3368.82590647 4167.41079
359]

wedgie based complexity: 0.447
RMS weighted error: 3.136 cents/octave
max weighted error: 4.652 cents/octave

but this one has a lower error than Vulcan:

[ 23.54749922 51.471315 44.55341478] cent steps

wedgie:
(0, 3, 0, 5, 0, -4, 1, 0, 4, 8)

mapping by steps:
[[ 7 11 16 19 24]
[ 8 13 19 23 28]
[14 22 32 39 48]]

tuning map (cents):
[ 1200.35082141 1908.32471151 2780.42424537 3368.82590647 4144.90071
056]

wedgie based complexity: 0.513
RMS weighted error: 2.287 cents/octave
max weighted error: 4.019 cents/octave

This one is number 5:

[ 10.12758683 43.56517558 31.97720745] cent steps

wedgie:
(0, 0, 1, 0, 4, 10, 0, 4, 13, 12)

mapping by steps:
[[ 7 11 16 19 24]
[12 19 28 34 42]
[19 30 44 53 65]]

tuning map (cents):
[ 1201.24215627 1898.45801457 2788.86343321 3368.43211421 4151.31794
236]

wedgie based complexity: 0.680
RMS weighted error: 1.236 cents/octave
max weighted error: 2.206 cents/octave

even lower error, and much less complex then Freya and the like. It tempers out 81:80 and 126:125. You gave it in this list:

/tuning-math/message/4557

where you said it had

comp 15.10180563 rms 5.640679273 bad 4999.235518

You don't say what that means. Presumably, "comp" is complexity, "rms" is an error and "bad" is a function of the other two.

Of Vulcan, you said:

comp 9.571162783 rms 11.60092948 bad 3287.793582

I make it slightly more complex (0.632 compared to 0.680) but your difference is more dramatic. I use a the sum-abs of the Tenney-weighted wedgie divided by the number of primes. In the "Complexity" thread you didn't chip in to say you had an alternative.

We agree about the RMS errors but they must have a low weight in your badness. You say badness < 5000 at the top so this one only just made it in.

You give Apollo as

comp 14.53451469 rms 4.698274549 bad 3783.900689

So it's slightly less complex and the bigger difference in the errors swings it.

Graham

🔗Rich Holmes <rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu>

1/18/2006 11:39:21 AM

"Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:

> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> If one comma is not the multiple of another, then by taking out any
> common factors and changing the sign if necessary (or equivalently,
> changing the order in which you do the wedge product) then it will be
> the complement of a wedgie for a codimension 2 temperament.

Exactly -- a bicomma is a wedge product of two commas, not necessarily
without common factors and not necessarily with the right sign to be
the complement of a wedgie. So if Herman means the complement of a
wedgie he should say so; if he means the wedge product of commas, he
should say that. They're related, but they're not interchangeable.

- Rich Holmes

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/18/2006 2:18:00 PM

Carl Lumma wrote:
> At 04:17 AM 1/18/2006, you wrote:
>>
>>A lot of calculations can be done without a prime-limit bound. You need >>to define you equal temperament mappings as lazy lists. As a Schemer >>this should be familiar to you.
> > > I could be wrong, but I think this requires a true lazy language
> like Haskell. I'd heard that Scheme has lazy evaluation, but in
> fact it's pretty limited.

Probably, yes.

>>You could write a function to compute >>Gene's standard val (the number of notes to an octave multiplied by the >>size in octaves of a given prime number, rounded to the nearest >>integer).
> > I do have that.

Right ho.

>>Generation of prime numbers is a standard example of lazy >>evaluation ;)
> > My prime number generator takes an upper bound as an input. :(

I think I saw it in a Haskell tutorial. It's probably less efficient because it can't use a sieve. Haskell in practice tends to be like that.

>>If the laziness is working, you can look at 5-limit >>intervals with your infinite-limit mapping and all will be well. Start >>looking at the 7-limit and the lazy lists pop off some more elements and >>all remains well.
> > Still sounds like this is using the concept of limits.

It isn't limited by limits. You can have a function to factorize a ratio and return a vector only as large as it needs to be. No need for the user to ever specify a limit. You can even skip primes if they never happen to crop up. My wedge product things already work like this ... until you need the complement.

>>The second issue is about the errors converging. There's a popular >>branch of mathematics involving infinite limits. It's well known that >>the sum of reciprocals of squares of integers 1/n2 has a stable value. >>(n2 is going to mean "n squared" for the rest of this paragraph.)
> > If you used /\ for wedge you could reserve ^ for powers.

Or I could use ** in the tradition of mathematical ASCIIfication going back to Fortran. But it's easier to see precedence by using nothing.

>>The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.
> > That's the TOP weighting, yes?

Yes.

> What about Gene's suggestion of 1/sqrt(p), "apeing the Zeta function
> on the critical line"?

Gene knows more about it than I do. But I'll humbly suggest that it might be slow to converge.

> No time to revise my search code right now... maybe in a few weeks.

Keep us posted!

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 3:44:25 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> > The blah blah blah being where the cutoffs are and what methods I used
> > to generate candidates.
>
> Yes, you say where the candidates come from, but not why you want us to
> look at them.

I didn't want people to look at them, so I didn't give them. Instead,
I gave the search results.

> Sorry, yes, 17-limit. Except you say that wasn't really a search.

Not much of one, but it beats saying how well your program could do a
search, and then not giving any results.

> > It's hard to read.
>
> Why didn't you say so before? I posted the links before and nobody
said
> they had trouble. Which bits aren't clear?

You misunderstand me. It's Python code, whereas what is needed is a
precise explanation in English of what your algorithm is.

> >>>Why is it hard? You can use an n-fold wedge product, for which the
> >>>code isn't too hard, since you already have a parity function.
> >>
> >>What's an n-fold wedge product?
> >
> > You start off with v1, v2 ... vn and compute v1^v2^...^vn from that.
> > It's not too hard.
>
> Right, the wedgie. And what was I supposed to do with it again?

You wanted to know how you can start from commas, and this would be
how. As to what you do with it, exactly the same as what you'd do with
a wedgie obtained in any other way. I do a quick complexity check, and
if it passes add it to a set to be evaluated later. Exactly the same
thing which I do if I start from et vals, or periods and generators.

> Yuk, "interior product", "bival", "val", "generator", "val". I don't
> really feel like parsing that.

At least it isn't gibberish.

> A unison vector is an interval from just intonation which is
tempered to
> be the same as a unison. How complicated is that?

But you don't use this definition. Instead, you use "chromatic unison
vectors". Moreover, even without the "chromatic", the term is not used
consistently to mean this.

And "comma" is shorter.

> The best term in any situation is usually the one people already
> understand. Last time we had a consensus on this list, it was about
> "chromatic unison vector".

We have no consensus whatever on that, as a check of recent postings
here by you, me and Paul will show. Not only is there is no agreed on
meaning, we are not even close to one. People do NOT understand it.
How could they?

> I don't hate the word "val". I'm avoiding using it without defining
it.

It's a mapping denoted by <v2 v3 ... vp|, and given by integers vq
which map the prime q to the integer vq, from p-limit intervals to the
integers.

> And I've yet to find it easier to give the definition than avoid the
word.

So instead you call it an "equal temperament", which is outright
gibberish.

> It's unstable in that it's less likely to give a generator that lies
> between a unison and a period for an optimal (or any sensible) tuning.

Why call that stabiility? And what does it matter?

> The reason is that the mapping you produce may not be for a sensible
> equal temperament.

Therefore, don't call it an equal temperament.

> A unison vector the same as a unison once it's tempered. Was that your
> only problem? It was easily disposed of.

Wrong, because it doesn't cover your "chromatic" unison vectors, which
are not unisons when tempered. Nor does it cover the octave-equivalent
thingie people insisted on using when I first arrived here. It also
introduces unnecessary technobabble, which you object to. "Comma" is
better.

> <0 1 4 10| could be the mapping for an equal temperament. That is, it
> maps primes to tempered intervals.

It maps primes to integers, not to intervals. Moreover, it maps 2 to
0. Is this the 0-equal temperament? In fact, of course, it isn't an
equal temperament at all; it is the generator mapping for meantone.

I can't see any point in calling the
> thing it maps to anything other than an equal temperament.

An equal temperament involves an equal division of the octave, and
some kind of actual tempering. If you divide the coefficiets of an
equal temperament val <v2 v3 ... vp| by vq/(log2(q)v2) for the vq
term, the result should be reasonably close to <1 1 1 ... 1|. In
particular, v2 can't be zero, and the terms should be non-decreasing.

There are
> cases when I'd call it an "equal mapping" to show we don't care about
> the putative temperament.

I see--"equal mapping" is better than "val" because it is longer,
somewhat confusing (equal to what? What is equal?) and doesn't have a
precise definition.

> I've defined "unison vector" now. A chromatic unison vector is a
unison
> vector of an equal temperament which belongs to a family of regular
> temperaments.

You've completely changed your definition. Definitions have to stick
with meaning one thing. You haven't defined "family of regular
temperaments". Moreover, if I don't know what you mean by "an equal
temperament", and of course I don't, this makes no sense whatever.

However, it is only a unison vector of that one equal
> temperament.

It's a unison vector for one equal temperament, the definition of
which we don't know. It is *not* a unison vector for something else,
the nature of which you have given us no clue about.

> An equal temperament is an object with a list of integers mapping
primes
> to integers representing scale steps.

Ie, a val. Except your definition is just wrong, because that's not
what people mean by an equal temperament. Hence, both you and the rest
of us on this list would be far better off if you simply said "val".

Or, in group theory terms, a
> homomorphism from ratios to a free abelian group of rank one. Did I
get
> that right?

More or less. Make it "p-limit ratios".

> > Here's Maple code; see if that will do:
> >
> > lval7 := proc(l)
> > # subgroup vals of 7-limit wedgie
> > -[[0, -l[1], -l[2], -l[3]], [l[1], 0, -l[4], -l[5]],
> > [l[2], l[4], 0, -l[6]], [l[3], l[5], l[6], 0]] end:
>
> Aren't these the chromatic unison vectors you said you weren't using.

Nope, because they are vals belonging to the temperament defined by l.

> That's useful, because you haven't defined that before.

I've given cites on a number of occasions.

> Now, how about the method that doesn't use a chromatic unison vector?

And this chromatic unison vector you think you saw is what?

> >>I already gave you a list.
> >
> >
> > Title? Message number?
>
> Same title as this, follow it back.

I did that. I found zero (0) temperaments.

> Anyway, I now know the example I singled out is your "Zeus". It beats
> both Apollo and Minerva for both complexity and optimal error.

By your measure of complexity. However, a look at the tictactoe
diagram here:

/tuning-math/message/12298

shows it is in a 6x4 rectangle, whereas apollo is 3x5 and minerva is
5x3. So one complexity measure which arises in a practical situation,
using the temperament with Tonalsoft, rates it as more complex. In any
case a list which restricts itself only to temperaments which are
better in either complexity or error is pretty restrictive. It's an
interesting idea, but I don't recall it being used before.

Minerva
> is much better than Apollo. I don't know why you singled out Apollo.

Because apollo arose as the relevant to one particular issue, whereas
minerva wasn't. And much better is baloney; if you think that I think
you should examine your premises.

Here is the least squares optimal tuning map for apollo:

<1200 1903.6 2781.1 3369.5 4155.0|

Here is the difference between that and JI:

<0 1.67 -5.20 0.66 3.66|

Here is the same thing for minerva:

<1200 1900.7 2786.7 3374.7 4148.0|

<0 -1.29 0.36 5.85 -3.29|

Minerva beats apollo in the 5-limit, and that might be a big
consideration for some. In the 7 and 11 limits they are pretty
similar. But minerva, with its flat fifth, was completely different
than what I needed for the case I was discussing.

Minerva, by the way, shrinks 78732/78125 to nearly nothing (-0.7
cents) in the tuning I gave, so adding it is a freebie. However, the
resulting temperament is very complex past the 5-limit, so minerva has
what you might call an independent existence. Apollo does the same, a
little less extremely, for 3125/3072, and adding that gives magic.
Hence apollo is not much distinguished from 11-limit magic.

> If you're sticking to strictly planar temperaments, that makes them
more
> significant.

I'd say so, but it wasn't relevant at the time.

> Magic does usually sit at the top of 9-limit lists of equivalent
> complexity. If you disagree, give a counter-example. Orwell might
be 2
> or 3.

Well, I may check on that. It gets competition from meantone, which is
clearly the one for magic to beat. I'm pretty sure you could cook the
books so that whichever one you wanted came out on top. If you add a
little more complexity, garibaldi comes into the picture.

> My top 10 is (the numbers are arbitrary tags, there are two kinds of
19):

Then for gosh sakes say which 19! How many of these use non-standard vals?

> 1. Wonder (11-limit neutral-thirds lattice)
> 2. 7&12&14
> 3. 7&8&14
> 4. Portent
> 5. 7&12&19
> 6. Freya
> 7. Marvel
> 8. Zeus
> 9. Indra
> 10. Thrush

> [ 20.99907587 53.56660308 29.45074257] cent steps

Ouch!

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 3:48:26 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> > What about Gene's suggestion of 1/sqrt(p), "apeing the Zeta function
> > on the critical line"?
>
> Gene knows more about it than I do. But I'll humbly suggest that it
> might be slow to converge.

I wouldn't even guarantee it does converge, but it's about as far as you
can push the issue.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 5:40:27 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> My top 10 is (the numbers are arbitrary tags, there are two kinds of
19):
>
> 1. Wonder (11-limit neutral-thirds lattice)

This has TM basis {243/242, 441/440}. With little damage one can add
4000/3993 to the commas, and get 11-limit "harry" temperament, with
a wedgie of <<12 24 20 30 26 -2 6 -49 -48 15||. This is the 58&72
(standard vals, as always) temperament. The planar temperament could
be then be written 41&58&72.

> 2. 7&12&14

With standard vals, this would mean {36/35, 729/704}, but the vals are
not defined so it isn't of much use to say this. Below we find the TM
basis is actually {45/44, 81/80}. Hence in terms of standard vals this
could have been written 7&12&19 or 12&19&26, for example. Name?

> 3. 7&8&14

Once again the notation is obscure; it turns out this is nothing you
could get from superparticulars, the TM basis being {250/243,
1331/1296}. Both commas are 7-free, and the corresponding no-sevens
temperament has a no-sevens bival of <<9 15 12 3 -12 -24||. Given the
rather high error, the complexity seems to be nothing to write home
about, and I wonder why this comes so high on Graham's list, and also
why he says it has a lower complexity than vulcan, the {56/55, 64/63}
temperament. A comparison between wedgies does not seem to support
that view, so I wonder if we are really talking about another
temperament. In terms of standard vals this can be written 7&8&29. Name?

> 4. Portent

Portent is rated lower by Graham than I rated it. It tempers out
385/384 and 441/440, and is on my list of things I should try out. In
terms of standard vals, you can write it 31&41&46.

> 5. 7&12&19

As you can tell by looking at the wedgie, which Graham gave below,
this is just septimal meantone with 11 tacked on, so the comma basis
is {81/80, 126/125}. Name?

> 6. Freya

{2401/2400, 3025/3024}

Note the badness measure is not log-flat, so the higher complexity
temperaments come in low.

> 7. Marvel

{225/224, 385/384}

I'm surprised this comes in lower than Freya.

> 8. Zeus

{121/120, 176/175}

> 9. Indra

{540/539, 1375/1372}

> 10. Thrush

{126/125, 176/175}

These are not, of course, ten temperaments of complexity better than
minerva or apollo and lower error.

> I make it slightly more complex (0.632 compared to 0.680) but your
> difference is more dramatic. I use a the sum-abs of the
Tenney-weighted
> wedgie divided by the number of primes.

In the "Complexity" thread you
> didn't chip in to say you had an alternative.

Max of the Tenney-weighted (I presume this means by 1/(log(p)
log(q))?) absolute error is an obvious alternative. RMS will give
something in between. I wonder if this is why you rate {250/243,
1331/1296} so high. Your method may be unduly weighted in favor of
things with a lot of zeros in the wedgie, resulting from adding a
prime to a temperament with commas lacking it.

> We agree about the RMS errors but they must have a low weight in your
> badness.

As usual, I use logflat badness.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/18/2006 8:27:07 PM

Rich Holmes wrote:
> "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@svpal.org> writes:
> > >>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>>
>>If one comma is not the multiple of another, then by taking out any
>>common factors and changing the sign if necessary (or equivalently,
>>changing the order in which you do the wedge product) then it will be
>>the complement of a wedgie for a codimension 2 temperament.
> > > Exactly -- a bicomma is a wedge product of two commas, not necessarily
> without common factors and not necessarily with the right sign to be
> the complement of a wedgie. So if Herman means the complement of a
> wedgie he should say so; if he means the wedge product of commas, he
> should say that. They're related, but they're not interchangeable.

Which is why I preferred not using "complement of a wedgie".

But I see that in the example I changed the signs. Wedging [-4, 4, -1> with [7, 0, -3> results in [[-28, 19, -12>>, not the result I have on the page, which is [[28, -19, 12>>. I guess I was assuming that bicommas would be normalized like bivals, but this is easily corrected.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/18/2006 9:13:54 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...> wrote:
that in the example I changed the signs. Wedging [-4, 4, -1>
> with [7, 0, -3> results in [[-28, 19, -12>>, not the result I have on
> the page, which is [[28, -19, 12>>. I guess I was assuming that
bicommas
> would be normalized like bivals, but this is easily corrected.

Bivals aren't normalized, wedgies are normalized.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/19/2006 6:57:03 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

>>Sorry, yes, 17-limit. Except you say that wasn't really a search.
> > Not much of one, but it beats saying how well your program could do a
> search, and then not giving any results.

No, because anybody can take my code and do the search they want.

> You misunderstand me. It's Python code, whereas what is needed is a
> precise explanation in English of what your algorithm is.

That's difficult. "Precise" and "English" don't really go together. The clearest way I know to precisely state the algorithm is to give the Python code. There's this explanation:

http://riters.com/microtonal/index.cgi/FindingLinearTemperaments

which doesn't say how I do the ET search, or even how I did it back then. Is that what you want? The idea is to take each mapping of each prime that doesn't already give a sum larger than what we're looking for.

>>A unison vector is an interval from just intonation which is
> tempered to >>be the same as a unison. How complicated is that?
> > But you don't use this definition. Instead, you use "chromatic unison
> vectors". Moreover, even without the "chromatic", the term is not used
> consistently to mean this.

How don't I follow the definition? How isn't it used consistently?

> And "comma" is shorter.

Also more ambiguous because it has other meanings. But "comma" is good. I prefer "unison vector" because it's the first term in the literature with this specific meaning. I'm thinking of a "comma" as being something which might be used as a unison vector.

>>The best term in any situation is usually the one people already >>understand. Last time we had a consensus on this list, it was about >>"chromatic unison vector".
> > We have no consensus whatever on that, as a check of recent postings
> here by you, me and Paul will show. Not only is there is no agreed on
> meaning, we are not even close to one. People do NOT understand it.
> How could they?

No, we don't have a consensus, that's why I said "last time". I don't know where Paul is. Probably he has more important things to do than argue is. When he comes back I'll try and sort it out.

If people want to understand "unison vector" they could start by reading the Fokker paper.

>>I don't hate the word "val". I'm avoiding using it without defining
> it. > > It's a mapping denoted by <v2 v3 ... vp|, and given by integers vq
> which map the prime q to the integer vq, from p-limit intervals to the
> integers.

So it's the notation, not the thing being notated?

>>And I've yet to find it easier to give the definition than avoid the
> word.
> > So instead you call it an "equal temperament", which is outright
> gibberish.

Why?

>>It's unstable in that it's less likely to give a generator that lies >>between a unison and a period for an optimal (or any sensible) tuning. > > Why call that stabiility? And what does it matter?

I called it "stability" because it was the first word that came into my head when I was writing it. It doesn't really matter much. I didn't expect you to worry about it.

>>The reason is that the mapping you produce may not be for a sensible >>equal temperament.
> > Therefore, don't call it an equal temperament.

Whether I choose to call it an equal temperament is distinct from whether it is an equal temperament by my definition.

>>A unison vector the same as a unison once it's tempered. Was that your >>only problem? It was easily disposed of.
> > Wrong, because it doesn't cover your "chromatic" unison vectors, which
> are not unisons when tempered. Nor does it cover the octave-equivalent
> thingie people insisted on using when I first arrived here. It also
> introduces unnecessary technobabble, which you object to. "Comma" is
> better.

It does, as I define it below. My definition does cover the octave-equivalent case but in a subtle way that I didn't expect you to notice. It looks like I succeeded because you falsely made "are not" the opposite of "the same as". But that's not important and I don't insist on it.

It doesn't introduce anything. It was introduced into the literature by Fokker before I was born. I don't have any control over that. It doesn't have any shady existing meanings like "comma".

>><0 1 4 10| could be the mapping for an equal temperament. That is, it >>maps primes to tempered intervals.
> > It maps primes to integers, not to intervals. Moreover, it maps 2 to
> 0. Is this the 0-equal temperament? In fact, of course, it isn't an
> equal temperament at all; it is the generator mapping for meantone.

Yes, it maps primes to integers. If those integers represented intervals it would be the mapping for an equal temperament. That equal temperament would indeed have 0 steps to the octave. You can happily call it a "generator mapping" and never worry your reader about whether it also refers to an equal temperament.

> I can't see any point in calling the >>thing it maps to anything other than an equal temperament. > > An equal temperament involves an equal division of the octave, and
> some kind of actual tempering. If you divide the coefficiets of an
> equal temperament val <v2 v3 ... vp| by vq/(log2(q)v2) for the vq
> term, the result should be reasonably close to <1 1 1 ... 1|. In
> particular, v2 can't be zero, and the terms should be non-decreasing.

Yes, that's a definition, and I don't see the point of it. Mine is simpler.

Do you include 88CET and the like? Division of the octave implies that octaves have to be present.

> There are >>cases when I'd call it an "equal mapping" to show we don't care about >>the putative temperament.
> > I see--"equal mapping" is better than "val" because it is longer,
> somewhat confusing (equal to what? What is equal?) and doesn't have a
> precise definition.

"Equal mapping" is better than "val" because it relates to the terms "equal temperament" and "mapping" which have to be introduced first. As such it's much easier for the reader to remember what it refers to than a word that doesn't sound like anything. Either term has a precise definition if given a precise definition.

I'd prefer "linear mapping" to "equal mapping" if that didn't conflict with "linear temperament". Maybe "rank one mapping", or "one-map" when you want to be terse. Usually "mapping" is fine in context.

Short words are useful if you want to use them a lot. I find I don't need a word for "val" often enough in a text to justify the expense of a new term. Of course, as you keep obstinately using it against all objections it is becoming part of the community's language and perhaps I'll have to give in one day. Thankfully I don't think it's appeared in print yet.

>>I've defined "unison vector" now. A chromatic unison vector is a
> unison >>vector of an equal temperament which belongs to a family of regular >>temperaments. > > You've completely changed your definition. Definitions have to stick
> with meaning one thing. You haven't defined "family of regular
> temperaments". Moreover, if I don't know what you mean by "an equal
> temperament", and of course I don't, this makes no sense whatever.

What have I changed?

No, I haven't defined "family of regular temperaments" but that's what we're talking about. So:

A family of rank-r regular temperaments consists of different tunings that all share the same rank-r mapping. For example, meantone is a family of regular temperaments of rank 2. 5, 7, 12 and 19 are examples of rank 1 temperaments that belong to this rank 2 family.

Now I need to define "rank", "temperament", "regular temperament", "tuning" and "mapping". But not being a mathematician I won't bother.

> However, it is only a unison vector of that one equal >>temperament.
> > It's a unison vector for one equal temperament, the definition of
> which we don't know. It is *not* a unison vector for something else,
> the nature of which you have given us no clue about.

The definiton of what? It's a unison vector for an equal temperament, and that equal temperament belongs to the family we're interested in.

>>An equal temperament is an object with a list of integers mapping
> primes >>to integers representing scale steps.
> > Ie, a val. Except your definition is just wrong, because that's not
> what people mean by an equal temperament. Hence, both you and the rest
> of us on this list would be far better off if you simply said "val".

Your definition of "val" above doesn't say anything about scale steps so it isn't the same.

Why is my definition wrong?

Thank you for speaking for the entire list. I didn't realize I was away at the meeting when you were appointed dictator. Do you also speak for people not on the list who might want to understand what we're talking about?

> Or, in group theory terms, a >>homomorphism from ratios to a free abelian group of rank one. Did I
> get >>that right?
> > More or less. Make it "p-limit ratios".

Why the limit?

> I've given cites on a number of occasions.

Which usually refer to square matrices.

>>Now, how about the method that doesn't use a chromatic unison vector?
> > And this chromatic unison vector you think you saw is what?

I give up. You win.

>>>>I already gave you a list. >>>
>>>
>>>Title? Message number?
>>
>>Same title as this, follow it back.
> > I did that. I found zero (0) temperaments.

It doesn't matter.

>>Anyway, I now know the example I singled out is your "Zeus". It beats >>both Apollo and Minerva for both complexity and optimal error. > > By your measure of complexity. However, a look at the tictactoe
> diagram here:
> > /tuning-math/message/12298
> > shows it is in a 6x4 rectangle, whereas apollo is 3x5 and minerva is
> 5x3. So one complexity measure which arises in a practical situation,
> using the temperament with Tonalsoft, rates it as more complex. In any
> case a list which restricts itself only to temperaments which are
> better in either complexity or error is pretty restrictive. It's an
> interesting idea, but I don't recall it being used before.

So what do those diagrams mean?

> Minerva >>is much better than Apollo. I don't know why you singled out Apollo.
> > Because apollo arose as the relevant to one particular issue, whereas
> minerva wasn't. And much better is baloney; if you think that I think
> you should examine your premises.

Ah, there you go. I think most practical uses of rank 3 temperaments depend strongly on the context they're required. That's why I don't place much value on these general searches. They leave out everything important.

Maybe my premises are wrong, yes. I haven't been able to do these searches for long.

> Here is the least squares optimal tuning map for apollo:
> > <1200 1903.6 2781.1 3369.5 4155.0|

That's not at all what I get :-S

> Here is the difference between that and JI:
> > <0 1.67 -5.20 0.66 3.66|
> > Here is the same thing for minerva:
> > <1200 1900.7 2786.7 3374.7 4148.0|

Still different :-S

> <0 -1.29 0.36 5.85 -3.29|
> > Minerva beats apollo in the 5-limit, and that might be a big
> consideration for some. In the 7 and 11 limits they are pretty
> similar. But minerva, with its flat fifth, was completely different
> than what I needed for the case I was discussing. The 5-limit? We were talking about the 11-limit.

> Minerva, by the way, shrinks 78732/78125 to nearly nothing (-0.7
> cents) in the tuning I gave, so adding it is a freebie. However, the
> resulting temperament is very complex past the 5-limit, so minerva has
> what you might call an independent existence. Apollo does the same, a
> little less extremely, for 3125/3072, and adding that gives magic.
> Hence apollo is not much distinguished from 11-limit magic.

Yes, it looks like we're getting into the noise here and there's no advantage on simple linear temperaments.

>>Magic does usually sit at the top of 9-limit lists of equivalent >>complexity. If you disagree, give a counter-example. Orwell might
> be 2 >>or 3.
> > Well, I may check on that. It gets competition from meantone, which is
> clearly the one for magic to beat. I'm pretty sure you could cook the
> books so that whichever one you wanted came out on top. If you add a
> little more complexity, garibaldi comes into the picture.

I was taking meantone(12&19), magic(19&22) and garibaldi(12&29) as not being of equivalent complexity. Meantone can be ahead of magic when they're compared. It partly depends on the difference between an unweighted 7-limit, weighted 7-limit and unweighted 9-limit error because the fifths suffer in meantone.

>>My top 10 is (the numbers are arbitrary tags, there are two kinds of
> 19):
> Then for gosh sakes say which 19! How many of these use non-standard vals?

I defined them lower down, and you make a lot of fuss about using your scrollbar. I don't give a toss about standard vals.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/19/2006 7:06:43 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> With standard vals, this would mean {36/35, 729/704}, but the vals are
> not defined so it isn't of much use to say this. Below we find the TM
> basis is actually {45/44, 81/80}. Hence in terms of standard vals this
> could have been written 7&12&19 or 12&19&26, for example. Name?

Why does it need a name? I don't know if it's accurate enough to be useful but it happened to float to the top.

> Once again the notation is obscure; it turns out this is nothing you
> could get from superparticulars, the TM basis being {250/243,
> 1331/1296}. Both commas are 7-free, and the corresponding no-sevens
> temperament has a no-sevens bival of <<9 15 12 3 -12 -24||. Given the
> rather high error, the complexity seems to be nothing to write home
> about, and I wonder why this comes so high on Graham's list, and also
> why he says it has a lower complexity than vulcan, the {56/55, 64/63}
> temperament. A comparison between wedgies does not seem to support
> that view, so I wonder if we are really talking about another
> temperament. In terms of standard vals this can be written 7&8&29. Name?

This wedgie

(0, 3, 0, 5, 0, -4, 1, 0, 4, 8)

Vulcan's

(1, 0, -1, 2, 2, 2, 6, 9, 6, 6)

I think I agree with my program, but it probably depends on how you measure it.

>>4. Portent
> > Portent is rated lower by Graham than I rated it. It tempers out
> 385/384 and 441/440, and is on my list of things I should try out. In
> terms of standard vals, you can write it 31&41&46.

It's still the second from your list.

>>5. 7&12&19
> > As you can tell by looking at the wedgie, which Graham gave below,
> this is just septimal meantone with 11 tacked on, so the comma basis
> is {81/80, 126/125}. Name?

As you can tell by looking at the equal temperaments.

How about calling it "septimal meantone with 11 tacked on"?

>>6. Freya
> > {2401/2400, 3025/3024}
> > Note the badness measure is not log-flat, so the higher complexity
> temperaments come in low.

Yes, I changed the badness measure in the middle of doing this and I think it makes more sense now. Before it was all these nanotemperaments at the top.

> These are not, of course, ten temperaments of complexity better than
> minerva or apollo and lower error.

No, they aren't.

>>I make it slightly more complex (0.632 compared to 0.680) but your >>difference is more dramatic. I use a the sum-abs of the
> > Tenney-weighted > >>wedgie divided by the number of primes. > > > In the "Complexity" thread you > >>didn't chip in to say you had an alternative.
> > Max of the Tenney-weighted (I presume this means by 1/(log(p)
> log(q))?) absolute error is an obvious alternative. RMS will give
> something in between. I wonder if this is why you rate {250/243,
> 1331/1296} so high. Your method may be unduly weighted in favor of
> things with a lot of zeros in the wedgie, resulting from adding a
> prime to a temperament with commas lacking it.

So is that the alternative you used? It's the difference between a mean and a maximum then. Yes, means will tend to favor zeros. If it's so important to the ordering it suggests they're all mediocre and there aren't many good 11-limit planar temperaments with this kind of complexity.

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 12:06:17 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> No, because anybody can take my code and do the search they want.

Sure. All they need to do is install Python, and become a Python
programmer.

> >>A unison vector is an interval from just intonation which is
> > tempered to
> >>be the same as a unison. How complicated is that?
> >
> > But you don't use this definition. Instead, you use "chromatic unison
> > vectors". Moreover, even without the "chromatic", the term is not used
> > consistently to mean this.
>
> How don't I follow the definition? How isn't it used consistently?

If you are counting octaves and fifths as unison vectors, that is not
consistent with your definition.

> I prefer "unison vector" because it's the first term in the
literature
> with this specific meaning.

But it doesn't have this meaning in Fokker, so that's not correct. At
least, I understand Fokker used it for pitch classes, not pitches.

> > It's a mapping denoted by <v2 v3 ... vp|, and given by integers vq
> > which map the prime q to the integer vq, from p-limit intervals to the
> > integers.
>
> So it's the notation, not the thing being notated?

I said "mapping". It's a mapping. "Denoted" means notation.

> > So instead you call it an "equal temperament", which is outright
> > gibberish.
>
> Why?

Because you are giving the name "equal temperament" to things which
cannot remotely be considered equal temperaments, such as
<0 6 -7 -2 15|. That cannot be used as an equal temperament.

> Yes, it maps primes to integers. If those integers represented
> intervals it would be the mapping for an equal temperament.

No it wouldn't. You don't even know how big the steps are.

> Yes, that's a definition, and I don't see the point of it. Mine is
simpler.

Yours is simply wrong, like calling an elephant a kind of dog, and
therefore confusing.

> "Equal mapping" is better than "val" because it relates to the terms
> "equal temperament" and "mapping" which have to be introduced first.

"Dog" is better than "elephant" for anyone familiar with dogs, but who
only read about elephants in history class when Hannibal came up.
Hence, we are going to tell the new arrivals that the huge animals
with the huger noses are dogs. It will be less confusing, and they do
have four legs.

> No, I haven't defined "family of regular temperaments" but that's what
> we're talking about. So:
>
> A family of rank-r regular temperaments consists of different tunings
> that all share the same rank-r mapping. For example, meantone is a
> family of regular temperaments of rank 2.

No one else is using this definition of temperament, and contradictory
notions of what families of temperaments are are already in use.

5, 7, 12 and 19 are examples
> of rank 1 temperaments that belong to this rank 2 family.

Why is this better than saying they are meantone tunings, or support
meantone?

> Now I need to define "rank", "temperament", "regular temperament",
> "tuning" and "mapping". But not being a mathematician I won't bother.
>
> > However, it is only a unison vector of that one equal
> >>temperament.
> >
> > It's a unison vector for one equal temperament, the definition of
> > which we don't know. It is *not* a unison vector for something else,
> > the nature of which you have given us no clue about.
>
> The definiton of what? It's a unison vector for an equal temperament,
> and that equal temperament belongs to the family we're interested in.
>
> >>An equal temperament is an object with a list of integers mapping
> > primes
> >>to integers representing scale steps.

> Your definition of "val" above doesn't say anything about scale
steps so
> it isn't the same.
>
> Why is my definition wrong?

Sorry, I overlooked the "scale steps" part.

This could certainly be an equal temperament, but it could represent a
far stranger sounding transformation of a JI original than that. For
instance, the mapping <-12 -19 -28| applied to 5-limit JI and using a
scale step of size 2^(1/12) inverts things. A mapping <0 19 28| using
the same scale step, or 3^(1/19) if you prefer, will produce highly
exotic results, collapsing all octaves to unisons. <12 21 29| and a
scale step of 2^(1/12) will send 5-limit JI to something which
approximates 5-limit JI, but it will be an approximation of a
different JI original.

> Thank you for speaking for the entire list. I didn't realize I was
away
> at the meeting when you were appointed dictator.

I doubt you will find much support on the list for the idea that
<0 1 4 10| should be called an "equal temperament", a fifth a "unison
vector", or that "meantone temperament" should be replaced with
"family of meantone temperaments" but if someone does think that they
could chime in now.

> > Or, in group theory terms, a
> >>homomorphism from ratios to a free abelian group of rank one. Did I
> > get
> >>that right?
> >
> > More or less. Make it "p-limit ratios".
>
> Why the limit?

I orginally defined it without the limit, but in practice we always
seem to assume the limit, and write it <v2 v3 ... vp|.

> > Here is the least squares optimal tuning map for apollo:
> >
> > <1200 1903.6 2781.1 3369.5 4155.0|
>
> That's not at all what I get :-S

Mine is an unweighted least-squares on the tonality diamond. What's yours?

> I defined them lower down, and you make a lot of fuss about using your
> scrollbar. I don't give a toss about standard vals.

But unless other people have an easy way to determine what you mean by
8&14&15 they get little from your notation, and unless they have some
way to compute it they get next to nothing. When I use something like
that, it is clearly defined and extremely easy to compute.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 1:16:47 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> This wedgie
>
> (0, 3, 0, 5, 0, -4, 1, 0, 4, 8)

This is the wedgie of a different but related, and more interesting,
temperament. It has TM basis {55/54, 100/99}, so of course it *is*
obtainable from superparticular commas. In terms of standard vals, you
could call it 22&29&37. Probably I screwed up.

The Hermite mapping is

[<1 2 3 0 4|, <0 3 5 0 4|, <0 0 0 1 0|]

In the 5-limit this is just porcupine, and if you add 55/54 to 5-limit
porcupine you get this. It didn't quite make the cut on this old list:

/tuning-math/message/4557

Of course with such small lists it gets more arbitary, in that
reasonable systems get left off.

> Vulcan's
>
> (1, 0, -1, 2, 2, 2, 6, 9, 6, 6)
>
> I think I agree with my program, but it probably depends on how you
> measure it.

If you take a weighted version of the wedgie, you get that the maximum
weighted absolute value for {55/54, 100/99} is 0.767, and for vulcan,
0.707. Not much of a difference, whereas your temperament is more
accurate, so I don't know why it didn't make my cut. 225/224 can be
introduced into it with essentially no tuning damage, at least if the
least-squares tuning is your ideal. This gives you a planar
temperament <<3 5 16 4 1 -18 -4 -28 -8 32||.

> So is that the alternative you used?

My list was cooked up too long ago to use an idea like that. However,
taking the wedgie and dividing out the p-q-r primes term by
log2(p)*log2(q)*log2(r) gives a good thing to compute complexity with,
in various manners.

If it's so
> important to the ordering it suggests they're all mediocre and there
> aren't many good 11-limit planar temperaments with this kind of
complexity.

Or it could suggest there are a whole lot of good planar temperaments
and you are being buried under them.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 5:24:30 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > > Herman already gave an answer to this, so I'll give a completely
> > > different one. If T is the wedgie, then take the "v" product
with
> > all
> > > the primes in the p-limit; recall that Tvc, where c is a "monzo"
> > > (prime exponents vector) representing an interval, then Tvc = ~
> > (~T^c).
> >
> > Is this the interior or regressive product? I'd write this as
T\/c to
> > avoid confusion.
>
> Interior product. I don't think your notation is very clear on
Yahoo.
>
> > > Compute a tuning map, take a JI scale, and reduce to meantone
using
> > > this scale.
> >
> > This may give funny results, especially for systems other than
> > meantone.
>
> Eh? The whole point of your "hypothesis" is that you can get DE
scales
> in exactly this way.

Not quite. There are several additional requirements that would
typically be unfulfilled:

1. The JI scale has to be a Fokker periodicity block (FPB);

2. All the unison vectors defining/delimiting the FPB, save one, must
vanish in the temperament in question.

And even then, my "hypothesis" sometimes fails (when notes get put
out of order by the temperament) . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 5:28:29 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > I think it's just the maximum, over all ratios, of the number of
> > generators needed to reach the ratio (times the number of periods
per
> > octave), divided by the expressibility (log of the "odd limit")
of
> > the ratio. Gene?
>
> Right, but it's just a finite computation. If T[1] through T[n] is
the
> OE part of the wedgie, then take the maximum of |T[i]/p_i| and
> |T[i]/p_j - T[j]/p_j|, where p_i is the ith odd prime.

Did you leave out the logs here?

> > Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use
the
> > max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?
>
> That's the Kees complexity.

I think I actually meant to say "max minus min" instead of "max".
Would that have been incorrect, and just max correct?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 5:48:25 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >Carl Lumma wrote:
> >
> >>>I don't think that makes sense. If both generators divide the
octave,
> >>>you can divide the octave into more parts and get an equal
temperament.
> >>> So it means you don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.
> >>
> >> Why is the octave special in this regard?
> >
> >Because we made it the equivalence interval, and so defined the
period
> >such that it always divides the octave.
> >
> > Graham
>
> This sounds circular to me.
>
> -Carl

It's not circular at all. Note that any other interval could
replace "octave" throughout and everything above would still hold
true with respect to that new interval. So the octave is
only "special in this regard" because we *defined* the period as that
generator which gives you the octave all by itself. If we wanted all
our scales to repeat at the 3:1 instead of at the octave, we'd define
the period as that generator which gives you the 3:1 all by itself.
Now if there were more than one way to reach this 3:1 via the period
and generator, we would know we had failed to find a basis for the
tuning. A basis for the tuning allows for only one integer
combination of periods and generators (or whatever "things" make up
the basis) to map to a particular prime. By the dimension theorem,
the basis must have as many elements as there are dimensions in the
tuning. If there is more than one way to get to the prime using
periods and generators, then your "basis" must have too many elements
in it. Thus your system must be an ET (or a group-theoretically
equivalent tuning such as a WT).

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 6:05:54 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> Not quite. There are several additional requirements that would
> typically be unfulfilled:

The point is, they *can* be fullfilled.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 6:11:47 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:
>
> Did you leave out the logs here?

Right, sorry.

> > > Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use
> the
> > > max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?
> >
> > That's the Kees complexity.
>
> I think I actually meant to say "max minus min" instead of "max".
> Would that have been incorrect, and just max correct?

One way to say it is that you take all the terms whose maximum you are
minimizing for NOT, |xq/log2(q) - 1|, and then add to that all the
terms |xq/log2(q) - xr/log2(r)|. If you realize the "1" in the first
expression is x2/log2(2), where x2 is constrained to be 1, then you
see it's just the maximum of all the |xq/log2(q) - xr/log2(r)| terms
which you are minimizing.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 6:18:16 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> I think I actually meant to say "max minus min" instead of "max".
> Would that have been incorrect, and just max correct?

Yipe! I just noticed you wanted Kees complexity, not Kees tuning.
For that, take the first n terms, where n is the number of odd primes,
and get the OE part of the wedige: (v2 v3 ... vp). Now divide vq by
log2(q), and get the weighted OE part: (w1 w3 ... wp). Now take the
maximum of |wq| and |wq-wr| for all primes q and prime pairs q and r
<= p.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 6:36:48 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> > A perfect fifth is no kind of unison vector.
>
> If an octave, why not a fifth?

The octave is questionable too, but at least that's "octave
equivalent" to a unison.

> >>http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html
> >>
> >>"All pairs of notes differing by octaves only are considered
> > unisons.
> >>There are other pairs of notes which in musical practice are
> > considered
> >>to be unisonous...The vectors, which in the harmonic note lattice
> >>connect such notes taken for unisons will be called unison
vectors."
> >>Nothing about them being small,
> >
> > What do you think "unisonious" means??
>
> As he doesn't define it or use it anywhere else we can both take it
to
> mean whatever we want it to mean.

With this approach, we can rapidly make mincemeat out of any subject.
No, the word was used because it has a meaning, and flouting this
meaning is not justified just because the word isn't given a
definition in the document in question! What harm would it do you to
simply drop the word "unison" when it doesn't apply?

> The next part of the ... is
>
> "Three major thirds, from the origin 0,0,0 lead to a note 0,3,0. On
the
> ordinary key-instruments this note is taken to be identical with
the
> octave 0,0,0. It should be 125/128 flat. As a rule no attention is
paid
> to the difference of c (-2,0,0) and /c (2,-1,0)."
>
> So that implies that "unisonous" means "identical on ordinary
> key-instruments" for "musical practice" and that "as a rule no
attention
> is paid to the difference".

You're getting closer. Now, wouldn't you agree that according to this
definition, there's no way a fifth can be "unisonious"? Furthermore,
all the unison vectors Fokker considered were used by him as
*commatic* unison vectors -- he always had enough of them to define
an ET, and never derived scales with fewer than 12 notes.

> > Again, it's entirely unreasonable to assume a fifth is a unison.
>
> Why are you still arguing this? I've given you a quote from the
> originator of the term that shows that unison vectors are like
octaves
> but also vectors in octave-equivalent space. You haven't even
> acknowledged this let alone redefined your term to acknowledge that
> unison vectors don't have to be small.

Everything you've provided seems to indicate that there are no
reasonable circumstances under which a fifth could be considered a
unison or "unisonious". And yet you'd still like for that it could
be? Aren't you glaringly contradicting yourself? And what's the
point, when it seems you could simply drop the word "unison" when it
doesn't apply and stick to talking about "vectors" more generally?

> >>At least, saying "you don't need a chromatic unison vector
because
> > you
> >>can use a vector too large to count as a unison" is evading the
> > question.
> >
> > It is?
>
> The point is that Gene claimed that you need to define a optimize
the
> generator to get a unique octave-equivalent mapping, or do a
reduction.

Define a optimize the generator? I don't understand.

> I said that's not the case. If you start from equal temperaments
it's
> extremely unlikely that you'll get an unreasonable generator from
them
> (I couldn't find any examples with a huge search). A reasonable
equal
> temperament will have its primes in the right order.
>
> If you start from commmas then the mapping depends on the
additional
> unison vector you use to get a representative ET.

If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the
octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping
without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison
vectors or ET.

> That mapping (or even
> the original representative ET mapping)

What's that?

> will do fine as a supplement to
> the generator mapping as a unique key to distinguish temperaments
> produced by a search through commas, given that you'll always use
the
> same additional unison vectors within that search.

Hmm . . .

> But
> insisting on a strict definition of "unison vector" so that
excludes
> some useful vectors outside it isn't at all helpful.

It isn't helpful if, in the documentation or description of your
procedure, you use the term "unison vector" when being in any
sense "unisonious" is irrelevant to it and often violated by it. Why
not just change your language and drop the word "unison"?

> It may be that the other methods also give unique mappings. It
should
> be obvious that any deterministic wedgie-to-mapping algorithm will
> always give the same mapping for the same wedgie. But that's still
> somewhat irrelevant as the idea is to get rid of wedgies
>altogether.

It is?

> Hence the big point is that unless you go beyond linear
temperaments
> (which nobody is interested in doing in a systematic way)

Huh?

> there's
> nothing you can do with wedgies that you can't do as easily without
> them.
>
> > Relative to the diatonic scale, they create chromatic
alterations.
> > The term musicians use is "augmented unison", and musicians also
call
> > any augmented or diminished intervals "chromatic". "Diatonic
unison
> > vector" seems like, at best, it could refer to either a chromatic
> > unison vector or a commatic unison vector.
>
> Yes, it could be either. But if it were a commatic unison vector
> there'd be no point in specifying it as a unison vector of the
diatonic
> scale.

I agree that "diatonic unison vector" is pretty meaningless, but at
least if it's commatic, the term is correctly indicating that you'll
stay in the same diatonic scale and not introduce any chromatic
accidentals.

> I agree that 25:24 is both a chromatic interval and a unison. But
it
> isn't both at the same time.

Sure -- it's an augmented unison.

> And if we're going to be strict about the
> terminology it isn't a "chromatic unison vector" of the usual
musical
> system.

Why not? It's an augmented unison, which is a chromatic type of
unison.

> I can understand where the name comes from but it doesn't make
> sense when I think it through.
>
> Musicians also talk about "the chromatic scale". And they talk
about
> instruments that can play all and only 12 notes as chromatic. On
such
> instruments, two notes differing by 25:24 don't share a note. They
do
> on a diatonic instrument (or would if you ever tried to play both).
>
> The term "augmented unison" follows diatonic naming. The "unison"
has
> the same status as "second", "third", etc. as defining an interval
on a
> diatonic scale. It doesn't carry any connotations of chromaticism.

But there are "chromatic unisons", "chromatic seconds", "chromatic
thirds", etc. These are variations on the diatonic intervals that
occur via the introduction of chromatic alterations relative to the
underlying diatonic scale. The keys to determining the generic type
of interval (unison, second, third) are the letter-names attached to
the notes.

> So what about these "chromatic intervals"? I'm not sure if they
relate
> to unison vectors at all.

Most of them aren't even unisons.

> The best I can think of is that a chromatic
> interval must be the same as either a chromatic or diatonic
interval on
> a chromatic scale. Also, a chromatic interval always differs from
a
> diatonic interval by a chromatic semitone. So if the chromatic
semitone
> were a unison vector, there wouldn't be any need to talk about
> "chromatic intervals" because they wouldn't be any different from
> diatonic ones.

Where did you make this last jump? F and F# would be a perfect
example here. They form a chromatic unison against one another,
specifically an augmented unison. Against a given reference pitch,
one might form a diatonic interval, in which case the other forms a
chromatic interval against that same reference pitch.

> But maybe you can make the opposite argument. I think
> it's a red herring. Perhaps it shows that musical usages aren't
> consistent on this but they weren't mathematically based in the
>first place.

I don't see any logical inconsistencies in this case at least.

> I'm not a musician, but I think this is why I was originally
confused by
> the term "chromatic unison vector". I was always thinking of it in
> terms of a chromatic scale when it really generates a diatonic
scale.

It delimits a diatonic scale, and thus has to go slightly outside of
what can be found within a diatonic scale. Thus it's a chromatic
interval -- in the diatonic case, it's an augmented unison.

> >>Although in this context it doesn't matter
> >>if they lead to a diatonic or chromatic scale. But if you want
to
> > claim
> >>ownership of "chromatic unison vector" I'll switch to "diatonic
> > unison
> >>vector" and reclaim Fokker's original meaning.
> >
> > It still won't be "unisonious" contrary to Fokker's description.
>
> Why not?

Because if it's a fifth, it's far too wide for two notes separated by
it to be considered the same generic note (or note class) in any kind
of reasonable generalization of the diatonic scale. "Unisonious" has
a meaning in Fokker's description -- he put that word in there for a
reason. If you want to extend the concept to wider intervals, I can't
see for the life of me why you're going through these rhetorical
gymnastics instead of just dropping the word "unison".

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 7:01:07 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> > OK. But Gene said that max Kees-weighted complexity was nearly
> > identical to my calculations. Is something not checking up right
here?
>
> I don't see anything wrong. We have three different complexity
measures:
>
> 1) sum-abs of the weighted wedgie
> 2) max-min of the weighted generator mapping
> 3) max Kees-weighted complexity
>
> They may all relate to each other but the definitions, at least,
aren't
> the same. I'd hope that (2) and (3) are identical but I don't know
how
> to prove it.
>
> It also that I don't have an equivalent of (2) using means instead
of
> max and min. But as there's nothing to optimize for it probably
doesn't
> matter. I also don't have an equivalent of (2) for higher rank
> temperaments. In that case it doesn't matter because nobody seems
to be
> interested in them.

One thing at a time! Now, I thought that instead of (2) you would
have said "max-min of the weighted octave-equivalent part of the
wedgie". And at least this applies just as readily for higher rank
temperaments.

> > Weighted vs. unweighted? I think it's fair to weight the simpler
> > intervals more heavily in the complexity calculation, but that's
a
> > different issue. I thought the issue here was weighted vs.
weighted
> > (under different definitions of complexity).
>
> Yes, the weighting's doing what we asked it to. The issue is that
the
> odd-limit complexity I was happy with won't work without an odd-
limit.
> The max-min of the weighted mapping is the nearest weighted
equivalent
> to the odd limit complexity. But in practice it seems to give more
> divergent results than changing to weighted errors.

How so?

> I'm not saying it's
> wrong, or even that I don't like the results, but I'm pointing out
that
> the 13-limit R2 landscale looks a lot different as a result. A
> temperament that used to be the clear number 1 now doesn't even
make the
> top 10 (although that may be partly because the cutoffs are
different).

Did it make the cutoff? And isn't the definition of badness -- how
you combine error and complexity for your rankings -- a whole
separate issue here? And below. You can't say "number 1" or "best"
unless you've defined this.

> In other limits the weighting doesn't make much difference to the
> ordering. Schismic is the best 5-limit R2T,

Again, this is only true given certain badness formulations (and
cutoffs).

> then Hanson I think and
> meantone. In the 7-limit, it's meantone, orwell, schismic, then
Orwell
> I think.

Is there a difference between orwell and Orwell?

> >>So what's the formula for max-Kees complexity?
> >
> > I think it's just the maximum, over all ratios, of the number of
> > generators needed to reach the ratio (times the number of periods
per
> > octave), divided by the expressibility (log of the "odd limit")
of
> > the ratio. Gene?
>
> That's a definition, not a formula. I can't calculate a maximum
over
> all ratios.

Gene gave a formula; let's work from there.

> >>The worst weighted error won't be the TOP error if you don't
> > optimize
> >>your octaves properly, will it?
> >
> > How did we get from complexity to error?
>
> I'm just saying the formulae are similar. And conjecturing that
this is
> because there are deep similarities between the two problems.

OK, so what exactly is the analogy in this case?

> >>And the sum-abs of the weighted
> >>octave-equivalent wedgie won't give equivalent results to the sum-
> > abs of
> >>the full wedgie either.
> >
> > Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use
the
> > max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?
>
> No. The max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie doesn't
relate to
> anything.

Sorry -- I meant "max - min" instead of "max" -- I typed too fast. Is
that better?

>
> >>It happens that the formula for the TOP error
> >>of unweighted octaves is similar to the octave-equivalent
> > complexity
> >>formula.
> >
> > OK, but is this demostrated in the tables below? What do they
> > demonstrate? (I think you switched the second and third columns
or
> > something, BTW . . .)
>
> Er, yes, the basis labels are wrong. What you have is:
>
> TOP period, RMS period, TOP generator, RMS generator
>
> But no, the tables don't demonstrate that the formulae are similar.
> Only the formulae do:
>
> Octave specific TOP error = max(w, -w) - 1 = max(abs(e))
> Octave equivalent TOP error = (max(w) - min(w))/(max(w)+min(w))

Does this mean the maximum Kees error, or what?

> Approximate TOP error = (max(e) - min(e))/2

Was this in the table?

> Wedgie complexity = max(W, -W) = max(abs(W))

But in my paper, I used sum(abs(W)). And I thought the numbers in
your table agreed with my paper . . . (?)

> Octave-equivalent complexity = max(M) - min(M)
>
> Where:
>
> w is the set of weighted primes
> e is the set of signed, weighted errors where e = w-1
> W are the elements of the weighted wedgie in vector form
> M are the elements of the weighted generator mapping
>
> Note that M is not the same as the weighted octave-equivalent
wedgie
> contrary to loose remarks I may have made in other places. The
> generator mapping has to include a zero to show that there are zero
> generators to an octave. You have to add this zero to the
> octave-equivalent wedgie for the formula to work.
>
> It's just struck me that any mapping might do in place of M. I
wonder...

Me too. I hope the Genie can enter the discussion at this point and
shed some light on everything . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 7:12:48 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> > A reasonable equal
> >>temperament will have its primes in the right order.
> >
> > Don't know what this means.
>
> If the initial choice of generator isn't within a period, it means
the
> original equal temperaments must have been so bad that they didn't
get
> the prime intervals correct to within the nearest period. If you
avoid
> such ETs there's no need to optimize to define the mapping.

But what happens when the generator is very close to half a period?
Then the choice of minimal generator, and thus the mapping, can
depend on the precise optimization method used. This can happen with
arbitrarily low-error temperaments.

> >>It also happens that I don't know how to go from commas to
mapping
> >>without an additional unison vector.
> >
> > Compute the wedgie first springs to mind as the obvious method.
>
> Which gives exactly the same result as using matrices, and still
> requires that additional unison vector.

:) This I'd like to see! Using wedgies still requires an additional
unison vector? How?

> > You are asking for what, exactly? Starting from a wedgie, you can
get
> > a list of commas from the triprime commas, which can be reduced
to a
> > generating pair if you want one.
>
> Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit) get
an
> octave-specific mapping.

I think Herman just demonstrated how to do this.

> >>Hence the big point is that unless you go beyond linear
temperaments
> >>(which nobody is interested in doing in a systematic way) there's
> >>nothing you can do with wedgies that you can't do as easily
without
> >
> > them.
> >
> > We've got people on this list interested in rank three, you
included.
> > I've not only written about it a lot, I've written music in such
> > temperaments. I was just pointing out on the main tuning list how
> > tempering a 5-limit scale using {100/99, 225/224} seems to lead to
> > interesting results. So I think there is interest.
>
> I posted here about my sytematic rank 3 search, and got no
replies. I
> take that as meaning no interest.

How about taking that as meaning people only have a certain number of
hours in the day instead?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 7:26:42 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...> wrote:
>
> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
> >>What's a "standard val"?
> >
> >
> > A standard val is what you get by rounding the number of steps to a
> > prime off to the nearest integer.

> I should add this to my page; this seems to come up a lot....

Please don't; I don't agree with this definition, and I'm pretty sure
Graham doesn't either. This came up a fairly short time ago.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 7:24:47 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

> As compared to *not* distinguishing between temperaments produced from
> commas and those produced from vals, which strikes me as an absurd
idea.

I don't get it. Since any temperament, uniquely defined by its wedgie,
can be produced both ways, why is it absurd not to make a distinction
depending on which way it was produced? Which was it was produced has
no impact on the resulting temperament.

> Your example funnily enough doesn't
> > make the list, which goes to show that the search isn't very
> > interesting.
>
> You mean, isn't yet very complete.

I thought your jamesbond example might have been a good one to show why
Graham's 2D search might not be very complete . . .

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/19/2006 7:29:24 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> But there are "chromatic unisons", "chromatic seconds", "chromatic > thirds", etc. These are variations on the diatonic intervals that > occur via the introduction of chromatic alterations relative to the > underlying diatonic scale. The keys to determining the generic type > of interval (unison, second, third) are the letter-names attached to > the notes.

You know, it occurs to me after reading this, that part of the objection to "chromatic unison vector" is that it's being parsed as "chromatic (unison vector)", which seems contradictory. But since there is such a thing as a "chromatic unison", it makes sense more to think of a "(chromatic unison) vector", a vector which represents a "chromatic unison" (which is indeed what a "chromatic unison vector" represents, if I'm understanding it correctly). Could that be the source of the confusion? If so, I'll suggest writing it as "chromatic-unison vector".

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/19/2006 7:40:35 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...> wrote:
> >>Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>>
>>>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> > > wrote:
> >>>>What's a "standard val"? >>>
>>>
>>>A standard val is what you get by rounding the number of steps to a
>>>prime off to the nearest integer.
> > >>I should add this to my page; this seems to come up a lot....
> > > Please don't; I don't agree with this definition, and I'm pretty sure > Graham doesn't either. This came up a fairly short time ago.

Okay, I just thought it would be helpful; I didn't realize it was a contested term. I must have missed the discussion when Yahoo was having bounce problems, or else it was buried in some other discussion that I wasn't following.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 8:31:18 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> >>>If you start from commas and then produce a wedgie, the result
> >>>obviously is going to work in just the same way as starting from
ets.
> >>>If you are not getting this, then you've just discovered the use
for
> >>>wedgies you were looking for.
> >>
> >>Not only is this not obvious but it isn't true. The commas won't
give
> >>me the same equal temperaments.
> >
> > Of course they will; this must be the case, since the equal
> > temperaments can be defined in terms of commas. Or are you on
about
> > torsion?
>
> There are an infinite number of equal temperaments, and the wedgie
> doesn't tell me which two I want.

You want a specific set of two ETs? Why? This is the first I'm
hearing of it -- I thought you wanted the period and generator
mappings.

> In that case it might find a
> different period mapping.

The period mapping will be different if and only if the generator is
defined differently (any number of periods plus or minus the original
generator). But the mappings will still be equivalent overall.

> >>What's "jamesbond"? Why do I care?
> >
> > Jamesbond has an OE part of 007. The reason to care is that I was
> > using it as an example.
>
> Is it an example of something I'm likely to care about?

It's a theoretical case you should care about because similar cases
may arise but which are of more practical interest.

> Please, do not accuse me of standardizing ambiguous vals. I've
argued
> against that before and I haven't changed my position. That's why
I
> always say explicitly how I arrive at my mappings -- as I did in
the bit
> you quoted. That way nobody has to remember my jargon from one
message
> to another. Which part of "best weighted-RMS mapping" are you
having
> difficulty weith?

I never heard of that before. Can you explain/define it?

> As to your eagerness to produce counterexamples, you still haven't
told
> my why I'd care.
>
> >>Starting with ETs is a good, practical idea as I have explained
before.
> >
> > Duh. This is obvious. The question is, might you not miss
something?
>
> As compared to what method that guarantees you won't miss anything?

Generating all valid wedgies up to some cutoff on complexity, for one
example.

> You're less likely to miss something the more ETs you work with,
which
> means the program has to be fast. It's fastest when it does prime-
based
> RMS calculations with no wedgies.

:)

> >>>>It also happens that I don't know how to go from commas to
mapping
> >>>>without an additional unison vector.
> >>>
> >>>Compute the wedgie first springs to mind as the obvious method.
> >>
> >>Which gives exactly the same result as using matrices, and still
> >>requires that additional unison vector.
> >
> > I have no idea wha you mean by "that additional unison vector",
but I
> > do know it isn't required, whatever it is.
>
> The thing Paul objects to calling a "chromatic unison vector" in
the
> general case. To get an ET mapping (or "val" as you call them, for
> anybody following along) you need n-1 unison vectors for n prime
> dimensions. For a rank 2 temperament, you need n-2 unison
vectors. So
> one additional unison vector gives you the mapping for an equal
> temperament that belongs to the rank 2 family (maybe not a sensible
> temperament, but a mapping nonetheless).

But you just brought this in now (an equal temperament that belongs
to the rank 2 family). This is not what was being discussed before.
But in this case, it really *is* a *unison vector* you're talking
about!

> >>>You are asking for what, exactly? Starting from a wedgie, you
can get
> >>>a list of commas from the triprime commas, which can be reduced
to a
> >>>generating pair if you want one.
> >>
> >>Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit)
get an
> >>octave-specific mapping.
> >
> > I explained this once again quite recently. By taking the interior
> > product with each of the primes, you get something which reduces
to
> > such a mapping. If you don't have LLL or Hermite reduction, then
use
> > Gaussian elimination and adjust to get integers if necessary.
> > Alternatively, find the period mapping from the wedgie, and solve
the
> > equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when wedged
> > with the period mapping you get the wedgie.
> >
> > That's 2.5 methods.
>
> No, you didn't explain it, you sketched it.
>
> When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each of
the
> primes" as additional unison vectors

Nonsense.

> (which Paul says we aren't allowed
> to call "chromatic unison vectors" because they're too big).

You keep missing the point. It's the "unison" part that I object to
for big intervals, not the "chromatic" part! Though typically, primes
shouldn't have to be "chromatic" either . . .

> I'll have
> to look up "interior product" to be sure. It probably depends on
which
> wedgie you started with, which you neglected to mention.

Huh?

> But it sounds
> like additional unison vectors to me.

It certainly is nothing of the sort, unless what you mean by "unison
vector" is even more obscure than I had suspected.

> "Find something" and "solve the problem" isn't a method at all.
>It's an
> aspiration.

I don't understand.

> Anyway, as you're using this as an excuse to push your results,
here are
> mine.

What happened to the spirit of collaboration here? Can't we view this
as a cross-validation exercise rather than each person "pushing their
results"?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 8:55:38 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> > Eh? There is *only one* wedgie for a given temperament. That one,
> > obviously, is the one you start with. There are scads of n-2 sets
of
> > primes for a rank two temperament, but not scads of wedgies. Just
one.
>
> No, there are two important ones, related by the complement
>operation.

Gene defined "wedgie" to be the multival or multibreed or whatever
you want to call it (the thing you get by wedging ETs) in all cases.
Taking the complement gets you a "(multi)monzo", while if you start
with the latter (or get it by wedging commas), taking the complement
gives you Gene's "wedgie" (or Genie or Genome).

> It really does matter which one you use, but never mind.

They're apples and oranges. There's only one you *can* use in a
specific situation -- the other one won't even fit into the relevant
formulae. Using different notation, such as [> vs. <] or row vector
vs. column vector, helps keep this clear.

> Well, Lordy, if you didn't now what I meant why didn't you say so
> instead of confidently asserting that I was wrong?
>
> For unison vectors, see the online Fokker paper:
>
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html
>
> We use octave-specific vectors but otherwise it's the same. The
> chromatic unison vector is the one that you don't temper out.

When you're deriving/defining a DE scale. Not one of the concerns in
this thread if I've been reading it right.

> The
> Fokker determinant tells you how many notes there are in the MOS.

Or more generally, the DE scale. Seems like a different issue than
the ones we're addressing here.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 9:01:07 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

> > No, there are two important ones, related by the complement
operation.
> > It really does matter which one you use, but never mind.
>
> Not if you follow my definition, which is that a wedgie is *always*
a
> multival. I take no responsibility for confusions introduced by
Paul.

Thanks a lot Gene. I was the one trying to eliminate confusion by
sticking with your usage/definitions here. Do you have a problem?

>> > Well, Lordy, if you didn't now what I meant why didn't you say
so
> > instead of confidently asserting that I was wrong?
>
> Because I didn't need to know what the hell one was to know you can
do
> your calculations with commas and not bother with them.

I couldn't parse that sentence.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 9:02:40 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...>
wrote:
>
> Graham Breed wrote:
> > I have a method for getting the full mapping from the commas. It
isn't
> > pretty, but the code's at
> >
> > http://x31eq.com/temper.py
> >
> > The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we still
don't
> > have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector". As such
there's
> > no need to optimize the temperament to get a unique key, if
you're
> > sufficiently obsessive that the octave equivalent part isn't good
enough.
>
> I was kind of thinking that "comma" was our substitute for "unison
> vector" in cases like this.

Why? Who thinks of a perfect fifth as a "comma"?

I don't have any particular objections to
> "unison vector", since I'm familiar with various meanings of the
word
> "vector" in different fields that are clear from context, but I've
been
> avoiding it recently since it doesn't seem to have caught on.
Still,
> it's useful to have "comma" for a specific size of small interval,
and
> the possible ambiguity could be avoided by using "unison vector" or
> something like it.

Who thinks of a perfect fifth as a "unison"?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 9:15:42 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> >>The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we still
don't
> >>have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector".
> >
> > I gave a better term, "generating interval".
>
> Am I supposed to comment on this? You think calling two different
> things by the same name

What are the two different things?

> is "better" and without getting anybody to agree
> with you think the language is changed?

I've totally lost you and don't know what you're talking about.

>
> >>No, there are two important ones, related by the complement
operation.
> >>It really does matter which one you use, but never mind.
> >
> > Not if you follow my definition, which is that a wedgie is
*always* a
> > multival. I take no responsibility for confusions introduced by
Paul.
>
> Please, Gene, try to stop assuming we can all remember all your
> definitions.

And try to stop assuming that I've been going around contradicting
all of them, Gene!

> I can't. I really can't. I take "wedgie" as being a
> slack term for "the things you can do wedge products with".

You mean things like ETs and commas? I think the point was rather
than the wedgie would be the *result* of the wedge product, not the
things you do the wedge product with. And, yes, additionally, it was
the multival/multibreed form of the wedge product's result that was
defined as the "wedgie".

> No it wasn't, it was also an announcement that I'd done something.
If
> you've done something similar you could have offered help. And if
you
> were interested in what I did you could have asked for more details.

I've learned to expect far, far less than this from Gene, who seems
to ignore most questions he is explicitly asked (let alone act as you
suggest above) and yet still he's an extremely valuable resource.
Let's be patient with one another -- you really did miss a lot
Graham, and I'm sure you still have a lot to teach us. Most of us are
still struggling to catch up. For my part, I'd like to get everyone
on the same page, or at least understanding what everyone else is
doing, in lower limits before we move on to higher ones. That's why I
haven't commented on the 13-limit stuff yet.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 9:37:20 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >> These can be reduced to wedgies in the usual way, producing
> >> infinitary temperaments which temper out an infinitude of
independent
> >> commas, for which a basis for the rank two temperaments is still
the
> >> triprime commas.
> >
> >I meant these span or generate the kernal, sorry.
>
> I'm afraid this doesn't help me with this statement. And
additionally,
> it raises the question: What's the difference between having commas
of a
> certain type be a basis, and having a kernal

It's spelled "kernel".

> containing commas only of
> that type?
>
> -Carl

The kernel will contain the 'commas' in any basis for that kernel,
but also every possible integer combination of those 'commas'.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 9:40:07 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:

> Oh, Paul often has phrases like 'without need for limits'... I wish
> I understood this better.
>
> -Carl
>

I probably meant "without need for odd limits", as opposed to the less
restrictive prime limits, which I still generally need. Can you give me
an example of the context of this phrase I "often" employ?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 9:48:08 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> The
> 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.

They're the only way you can do away with odd limits and rely simply on
the less restrictive prime limit.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 9:55:30 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Rich Holmes<rsholmes@m...> wrote:
>
> "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...> writes:
>
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...>
wrote:
> >
> > I've
> > > seen these just called "bicommas", I believe; how about just
skipping
> > > the "wedgie" and just using "bicomma"?
> >
> > I would say that is fine if the two things you wedge together can
> > reasonably be called commas.
>
> The wedge product of two commas is not necessarily (the complement
of)
> a wedgie, is it?
>
> - Rich Holmes

You might have to eliminate a GCD from all the entries, but other
than that, it is. Unless the commas are powers of one another (the
vectors multiples of one another), the two of them will define a
basis for the kernel of a valid temperament class. And if there are
no other primes in your tuning besides the ones accounted for in your
representations of the commas (possibly with zeros for some entries),
then the complement of this wedge product is the wedgie of the
temperament class in question.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 10:23:46 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> > I posted here about my sytematic rank 3 search, and got no
> replies. I
> > take that as meaning no interest.
>
> How about taking that as meaning people only have a certain number of
> hours in the day instead?

I think it got no replies because it didn't give any temperaments,
leaving nothing much to reply about.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 10:21:45 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> Me too. I hope the Genie can enter the discussion at this point and
> shed some light on everything . . .

I need someone to shed some light on what I'm suuposed to try to shed
some light on.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 10:27:41 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...> wrote:

> You know, it occurs to me after reading this, that part of the
objection
> to "chromatic unison vector" is that it's being parsed as "chromatic
> (unison vector)", which seems contradictory.

In spite of the history behind unisons which aren't unisons, I think
it's hard not to read it as contradictory.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 10:25:20 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
> wrote:
>
> > As compared to *not* distinguishing between temperaments produced from
> > commas and those produced from vals, which strikes me as an absurd
> idea.
>
> I don't get it. Since any temperament, uniquely defined by its wedgie,
> can be produced both ways, why is it absurd not to make a distinction
> depending on which way it was produced? Which was it was produced has
> no impact on the resulting temperament.

That's my point exactly.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 10:32:18 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...> wrote:

> Okay, I just thought it would be helpful; I didn't realize it was a
> contested term.

It's precise and extremely easy to compute. It's also the first, naive
thing anyone would think of. As such, it allows one to use "the 17-limit
temperament 46&58&94" and have it mean something specific which can
easily be found. No altenative has been put forward.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 10:40:58 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> > Please, Gene, try to stop assuming we can all remember all your
> > definitions.
>
> And try to stop assuming that I've been going around contradicting
> all of them, Gene!

Sorry. At one point you seemed to want to replace multivals with
multimonzos to define temperaments, which I think is a bad idea, since
the OE part of the multival is what you want, not the tail end of the
multimonzo.

> > I can't. I really can't. I take "wedgie" as being a
> > slack term for "the things you can do wedge products with".
>
> You mean things like ETs and commas? I think the point was rather
> than the wedgie would be the *result* of the wedge product, not the
> things you do the wedge product with. And, yes, additionally, it was
> the multival/multibreed form of the wedge product's result that was
> defined as the "wedgie".

Reduced to a standard form, unique to each temperament.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/19/2006 10:43:54 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> You might have to eliminate a GCD from all the entries, but other
> than that, it is.

And perhaps change sign.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 10:51:41 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> The best term in any situation is usually the one people already
> understand. Last time we had a consensus on this list, it was
about
> "chromatic unison vector".

When was that? Or are you being sarcastic?

> It's unstable in that it's less likely to give a generator that
lies
> between a unison and a period for an optimal (or any sensible)
tuning.

I'm having trouble understanding this because it's so easy to just
subtract some number of periods from the generator and then just
restate everything in terms of this new generator. Why does the need
to do this amount to "instability" in any sense?

> The reason is that the mapping you produce may not be for a
sensible
> equal temperament.

Not sure how the mapping from periods and generators to primes for an
R2 temperament can be interpreted as a mapping for a "sensible" (or
otherwise) equal temperament, or what that would mean.

> >>>Seems to me to be a bad plan. Why not combine both approaches?
> >>
> >>Why do it? I can see value in cross-checking the methods with
each
> >>other.
> >
> > That's a point, so long as you do finally end up naming them
uniquely.
>
> Either that or I write an "__eq__" method to determine if the two
> temperament objects are the same.
>
> Actually, no, you caught me out there. You don't need to give
unique
> names to cross-check the methods. If you generated the
temperaments
> from equal temperaments, any temperament family that the same equal
> temperaments belong to is the same.

Not necessarily -- 12 and 17 belong to both Superpyth and Garibaldi.
But if you generated the temperaments from pairs of equal
temperaments, you'd only have one answer for "12&17" in the 7-limit.
If you meant full ET vals/breeds, then what you say is true, but
seemingly useless . . . can you elaborate?

> If you generated the temperaments
> from commas, any temperament with the same unison vectors is the
>same.

Again, seemingly useless, but I'm probably missing something.

> A unison vector the same as a unison once it's tempered. Was that
your
> only problem? It was easily disposed of.

You've been very dismissive of high-error temperaments. But a
temperament that tempered out a perfect fifth would have *extremely*
high error. So you're seemingly being inconsistent here.

> <0 1 4 10| could be the mapping for an equal temperament. That is,
it
> maps primes to tempered intervals. I can't see any point in
calling the
> thing it maps to anything other than an equal temperament.

Then don't expect anyone to understand what you're saying or doing.

> There are
> cases when I'd call it an "equal mapping" to show we don't care
about
> the putative temperament.
>
> In general I don't want to define two different terms when a
simpler
> definition of a single term says anything I need it to.

Great, as long as the definition doesn't run counter to already-used
meanings of the terms.

> > Unlike "chromaticm unison vector", it has a precise definition
which
> > does not degenerate into seemingly contradictory babbling.
>
> I've defined "unison vector" now.

Where?

> A chromatic unison vector is a unison
> vector of an equal temperament which belongs to a family of regular
> temperaments. However, it is only a unison vector of that one
equal
> temperament.

I don't think chromatic unison vectors come in at all when you're
talking about equal temperaments. Rather, it's for DE scales that
they come in.

And what about a fifth? How can that be a unison vector for any ET
that you'd care about?

> >>Code for finding the period mapping by some method that doesn't
use a
> >>chromatic unison vector. Simplified or converted to pseudocode
if it's
> >>too complicated in the raw.
> >
> >
> > Here's Maple code; see if that will do:
> >
> > lval7 := proc(l)
> > # subgroup vals of 7-limit wedgie
> > -[[0, -l[1], -l[2], -l[3]], [l[1], 0, -l[4], -l[5]],
> > [l[2], l[4], 0, -l[6]], [l[3], l[5], l[6], 0]] end:
>
> Aren't these the chromatic unison vectors you said you weren't
>using.

These are vals/breeds, not commas/monzos. And even if they were the
latter, what would be chromatic (as opposed to commatic) about them?

>
> > mherm7 := proc(l)
> > # Hermite generators for 7-limit wedgie
> > local a;
> > a := convert(ihermite(lval7(l)), listlist);
> > [a[1], a[2]] end:
> >
> > "ihermite" is a Maple function call. Here's the Maple help file,
sans
> > examples:
> <snip>
>
> That's useful, because you haven't defined that before.
>
> Now, how about the method that doesn't use a chromatic unison
vector?

I'm starting to think that you'd call a zebra a chromatic unison
vector if you had the chance.

> Magic does usually sit at the top of 9-limit lists of equivalent
> complexity. If you disagree, give a counter-example. Orwell might
be 2
> or 3.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 11:00:09 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> > If you used /\ for wedge you could reserve ^ for powers.
>
> Or I could use ** in the tradition of mathematical ASCIIfication
going
> back to Fortran. But it's easier to see precedence by using nothing.

Using nothing? I don't get it. What does that mean?

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/19/2006 11:08:38 PM

>Who thinks of a perfect fifth as a "unison"?

In a universe with 3:2-equivalence, a perfect fifth might
very well be considered unisonous. But maybe such was
precluded by the context here...(?)

-Carl

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 11:13:54 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:

> > I make it slightly more complex (0.632 compared to 0.680) but your
> > difference is more dramatic. I use a the sum-abs of the
> Tenney-weighted
> > wedgie divided by the number of primes.
>
> In the "Complexity" thread you
> > didn't chip in to say you had an alternative.
>
> Max of the Tenney-weighted (I presume this means by 1/(log(p)
> log(q))?) absolute error

Error? Graham was asking about complexity, and even gave you his method
for calculating it . . .

> is an obvious alternative.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/19/2006 11:32:50 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> > It's a mapping denoted by <v2 v3 ... vp|, and given by integers vq
> > which map the prime q to the integer vq, from p-limit intervals
to the
> > integers.
>
> So it's the notation, not the thing being notated?

This is exactly what I was going to say to you regarding your funny
new "equal temperament" definition.
>
> >>The reason is that the mapping you produce may not be for a
sensible
> >>equal temperament.
> >
> > Therefore, don't call it an equal temperament.
>
> Whether I choose to call it an equal temperament is distinct from
> whether it is an equal temperament by my definition.

??????????

> > Here is the least squares optimal tuning map for apollo:
> >
> > <1200 1903.6 2781.1 3369.5 4155.0|

Are we talking 7-odd-limit consonance least squares? 9-odd-limit
consonance least squares (and with or without 3:9 counted separately
from 1:3)? Tenney-weighted 7-prime-limit prime least squares?

>
> >>Magic does usually sit at the top of 9-limit lists of equivalent
> >>complexity. If you disagree, give a counter-example. Orwell
might
> > be 2
> >>or 3.
> >
> > Well, I may check on that. It gets competition from meantone,
which is
> > clearly the one for magic to beat. I'm pretty sure you could cook
the
> > books so that whichever one you wanted came out on top. If you
add a
> > little more complexity, garibaldi comes into the picture.
>
> I was taking meantone(12&19), magic(19&22) and garibaldi(12&29) as
not
> being of equivalent complexity. Meantone can be ahead of magic
when
> they're compared. It partly depends on the difference between an
> unweighted 7-limit, weighted 7-limit and unweighted 9-limit error
> because the fifths suffer in meantone.

If it's 9-limit, it probably also matters whether you count 3:9 and
1:3 as separate intervals in the optimization (some do, some don't).

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:14:55 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > Not quite. There are several additional requirements that would
> > typically be unfulfilled:
>
> The point is, they *can* be fullfilled.

That's the point? You certainly didn't make it. All you said was "take
a JI scale." In no way did you suggest that the choice of JI scale
would or should be affected by the choice of temperament one ultimately
imposes on the scale. A reader following your post might simply take
their favorite JI scale, and the conditions likely *won't* be
fulfilled -- for example, a step in the JI scale might be tempered out,
leading to a scale with fewer notes.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:19:47 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Did you leave out the logs here?
>
> Right, sorry.
>
> > > > Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you
use
> > the
> > > > max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?
> > >
> > > That's the Kees complexity.
> >
> > I think I actually meant to say "max minus min" instead of "max".
> > Would that have been incorrect, and just max correct?
>
> One way to say it is that you take all the terms whose maximum you
are
> minimizing for NOT, |xq/log2(q) - 1|, and then add to that all the
> terms |xq/log2(q) - xr/log2(r)|.

Geez, thanks for answering my question -- NOT!

> If you realize the "1" in the first
> expression is x2/log2(2), where x2 is constrained to be 1, then you
> see it's just the maximum of all the |xq/log2(q) - xr/log2(r)| terms
> which you are minimizing.

Can we forget about NOT and get right to the answer for my question
above? If you are answering it, I don't see how, and don't know why
we have to bring in NOT when we're talking about Kees complexity.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:21:13 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > I think I actually meant to say "max minus min" instead of "max".
> > Would that have been incorrect, and just max correct?
>
> Yipe! I just noticed you wanted Kees complexity, not Kees tuning.
> For that, take the first n terms, where n is the number of odd primes,
> and get the OE part of the wedige: (v2 v3 ... vp). Now divide vq by
> log2(q), and get the weighted OE part: (w1 w3 ... wp). Now take the
> maximum of |wq| and |wq-wr| for all primes q and prime pairs q and r
> <= p.

So it's neither "max minus min" nor "max"?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:26:25 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...>
wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > But there are "chromatic unisons", "chromatic
seconds", "chromatic
> > thirds", etc. These are variations on the diatonic intervals that
> > occur via the introduction of chromatic alterations relative to
the
> > underlying diatonic scale. The keys to determining the generic
type
> > of interval (unison, second, third) are the letter-names attached
to
> > the notes.
>
> You know, it occurs to me after reading this, that part of the
objection
> to "chromatic unison vector" is that it's being parsed
as "chromatic
> (unison vector)", which seems contradictory. But since there is
such a
> thing as a "chromatic unison", it makes sense more to think of a
> "(chromatic unison) vector", a vector which represents a "chromatic
> unison" (which is indeed what a "chromatic unison vector"
represents, if
> I'm understanding it correctly).

Yup! I'm glad someone is!

> Could that be the source of the
> confusion? If so, I'll suggest writing it as "chromatic-unison
>vector".

OK!

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:29:15 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > Me too. I hope the Genie can enter the discussion at this point and
> > shed some light on everything . . .
>
> I need someone to shed some light on what I'm suuposed to try to shed
> some light on.

The relationships between the various complexity (and error) measures
that you snipped from this message, for ont thing.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:30:34 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
> >
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith"
<gwsmith@s...>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > As compared to *not* distinguishing between temperaments
produced from
> > > commas and those produced from vals, which strikes me as an
absurd
> > idea.
> >
> > I don't get it. Since any temperament, uniquely defined by its
wedgie,
> > can be produced both ways, why is it absurd not to make a
distinction
> > depending on which way it was produced? Which was it was produced
has
> > no impact on the resulting temperament.
>
> That's my point exactly.

Then you said the opposite of what you meant.
>

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:33:24 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...>
wrote:
>
> > Okay, I just thought it would be helpful; I didn't realize it was a
> > contested term.
>
> It's precise and extremely easy to compute. It's also the first, naive
> thing anyone would think of. As such, it allows one to use "the 17-
limit
> temperament 46&58&94" and have it mean something specific which can
> easily be found. No altenative has been put forward.

Perhaps because we don't want to set a "standard" per se; but certainly
alternatives have been proposed, such as the val which gives the lowest
error (however defined) when each val is tuned (multiplied by a scalar
to result in a tuning map) in a way that is optimal under that very
same error criterion.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:39:01 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >Who thinks of a perfect fifth as a "unison"?
>
> In a universe with 3:2-equivalence, a perfect fifth might
> very well be considered unisonous. But maybe such was
> precluded by the context here...(?)
>
> -Carl

The context was an octave-equivalent one, if anything.

Anyhow, I step away from Fokker in that I don't consider the interval
of equivalence to be "unisonious", even if it's an octave. But I'm not
sure Fokker was aware of things like torsion (the Fokker determinant
giving the wrong number of notes), so he might not have realized the
benefit of this slightly more strict approach . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 12:35:43 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > > Please, Gene, try to stop assuming we can all remember all your
> > > definitions.
> >
> > And try to stop assuming that I've been going around
> >contradicting
> > all of them, Gene!
>
> Sorry. At one point you seemed to want to replace multivals with
> multimonzos to define temperaments,

Only in a certain section of the first part of a series of papers on
the subject, and I wasn't calling it a "wedgie"!

> which I think is a bad idea, since
> the OE part of the multival is what you want, not the tail end of
the
> multimonzo.

You like multivals over multimonzo because the "part you want" is at
the beginning instead of at the end?

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/20/2006 1:00:31 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> > Yipe! I just noticed you wanted Kees complexity, not Kees tuning.
> > For that, take the first n terms, where n is the number of odd primes,
> > and get the OE part of the wedige: (v2 v3 ... vp). Now divide vq by
> > log2(q), and get the weighted OE part: (w1 w3 ... wp). Now take the
> > maximum of |wq| and |wq-wr| for all primes q and prime pairs q and r
> > <= p.
>
> So it's neither "max minus min" nor "max"?

Both.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/20/2006 12:57:06 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> > The point is, they *can* be fullfilled.
>
> That's the point? You certainly didn't make it. All you said was "take
> a JI scale." In no way did you suggest that the choice of JI scale
> would or should be affected by the choice of temperament one ultimately
> imposes on the scale. A reader following your post might simply take
> their favorite JI scale, and the conditions likely *won't* be
> fulfilled -- for example, a step in the JI scale might be tempered out,
> leading to a scale with fewer notes.

The question was not "how do you make a DE scale?" but "how do you
make a scale?"

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/20/2006 1:02:45 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> Perhaps because we don't want to set a "standard" per se; but certainly
> alternatives have been proposed, such as the val which gives the lowest
> error (however defined) when each val is tuned (multiplied by a scalar
> to result in a tuning map) in a way that is optimal under that very
> same error criterion.

That's not a defintion, and if you made it one it doesn't sound as if
it would be nearly as easy to compute.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/20/2006 1:05:10 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
wrote:

> You like multivals over multimonzo because the "part you want" is at
> the beginning instead of at the end?

It's at the beginning, *and* it has the right signs. The latter is
actually more important. The bival can be interpreted much more
readily in tuning terms, it's not as big a deal for trivals, etc. but
there are still reasons to prefer them.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/19/2006 11:46:42 PM

>>>>>> [Why must the octave map the period directly?]
>>>>>
>>>>> If both generators divide the octave, you can divide the octave
>>>>> into more parts and get an equal temperament. So it means you
>>>>> don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.
>>>>
>>>> Why is the octave special in this regard?
>>>
>>> Because we made it the equivalence interval, and so defined the
>>> period such that it always divides the octave.
>>
>> This sounds circular to me.
>
>It's not circular at all. Note that any other interval could
>replace "octave" throughout and everything above would still hold
>true with respect to that new interval. So the octave is
>only "special in this regard" because we *defined* the period as that
>generator which gives you the octave all by itself. If we wanted all
>our scales to repeat at the 3:1 instead of at the octave, we'd define
>the period as that generator which gives you the 3:1 all by itself.
>Now if there were more than one way to reach this 3:1 via the period
>and generator, we would know we had failed to find a basis for the
>tuning. A basis for the tuning allows for only one integer
>combination of periods and generators (or whatever "things" make up
>the basis) to map to a particular prime. By the dimension theorem,
>the basis must have as many elements as there are dimensions in the
>tuning. If there is more than one way to get to the prime using
>periods and generators, then your "basis" must have too many elements
>in it. Thus your system must be an ET (or a group-theoretically
>equivalent tuning such as a WT).

This is starting to gel, but maybe I need a lesson in why one of
the generators is special. Why bother defining a period? Because
it still seems like the octave has to be mapped by a single generator,
while it's ok if all the other primes are mapped by a combination of
generators.

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/19/2006 11:40:37 PM

>> Oh, Paul often has phrases like 'without need for limits'... I wish
>> I understood this better.
>
>I probably meant "without need for odd limits", as opposed to the less
>restrictive prime limits, which I still generally need. Can you give me
>an example of the context of this phrase I "often" employ?

I tried for about 15 minutes, but couldn't. But I know they're in
there, and not unrecently.

-C.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/19/2006 11:10:29 PM

>> The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.
>
>They're the only way you can do away with odd limits and rely simply on
>the less restrictive prime limit.

Why are they the only such way?

-Carl

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 1:47:13 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > > Yipe! I just noticed you wanted Kees complexity, not Kees
tuning.
> > > For that, take the first n terms, where n is the number of odd
primes,
> > > and get the OE part of the wedige: (v2 v3 ... vp). Now divide
vq by
> > > log2(q), and get the weighted OE part: (w1 w3 ... wp). Now take
the
> > > maximum of |wq| and |wq-wr| for all primes q and prime pairs q
and r
> > > <= p.
> >
> > So it's neither "max minus min" nor "max"?
>
> Both.

Wow. I thought Graham said it (Kees complexity; that got snipped)
would correspond to "max minus min" but not to "max (abs)". What am I
missing?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 1:49:52 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus"
<perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > > The point is, they *can* be fullfilled.
> >
> > That's the point? You certainly didn't make it. All you said
was "take
> > a JI scale." In no way did you suggest that the choice of JI
scale
> > would or should be affected by the choice of temperament one
ultimately
> > imposes on the scale. A reader following your post might simply
take
> > their favorite JI scale, and the conditions likely *won't* be
> > fulfilled -- for example, a step in the JI scale might be
tempered out,
> > leading to a scale with fewer notes.
>
> The question was not "how do you make a DE scale?" but "how do you
> make a scale?"

Either way. If you don't choose your original JI scale carefully
according to the temperament you're ultimately going to represent it
with, you might not end up with a reasonable scale for that
temperament.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 1:54:37 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > Perhaps because we don't want to set a "standard" per se; but
certainly
> > alternatives have been proposed, such as the val which gives the
lowest
> > error (however defined) when each val is tuned (multiplied by a
scalar
> > to result in a tuning map) in a way that is optimal under that very
> > same error criterion.
>
> That's not a defintion, and if you made it one it doesn't sound as if
> it would be nearly as easy to compute.

Actually, if the criterion is TOP, Graham came up with a one-line
formula for calculating the optimal error for a val/breed, and we can
quickly run through all the vals/breeds we could possibly want for this
by incrementing a scalar variable through small steps, multiplying it
by JIP, and rounding each element to the nearest integer.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 1:58:06 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@a...>
> wrote:
>
> > You like multivals over multimonzo because the "part you want" is
at
> > the beginning instead of at the end?
>
> It's at the beginning, *and* it has the right signs. The latter is
> actually more important. The bival can be interpreted much more
> readily in tuning terms, it's not as big a deal for trivals, etc. but
> there are still reasons to prefer them.

In terms of harmonic space, the bimonzo can be interpreted much more
readily. I still hope to make some lattice diagrams showing this.
Unfortunately our 3 dimensions of space limit me to the showing the ET
case here, but conceptually, one can generalize.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 2:20:00 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >>>>>> [Why must the octave map the period directly?]
> >>>>>
> >>>>> If both generators divide the octave, you can divide the
octave
> >>>>> into more parts and get an equal temperament. So it means you
> >>>>> don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.
> >>>>
> >>>> Why is the octave special in this regard?
> >>>
> >>> Because we made it the equivalence interval, and so defined the
> >>> period such that it always divides the octave.
> >>
> >> This sounds circular to me.
> >
> >It's not circular at all. Note that any other interval could
> >replace "octave" throughout and everything above would still hold
> >true with respect to that new interval. So the octave is
> >only "special in this regard" because we *defined* the period as
that
> >generator which gives you the octave all by itself. If we wanted
all
> >our scales to repeat at the 3:1 instead of at the octave, we'd
define
> >the period as that generator which gives you the 3:1 all by
itself.
> >Now if there were more than one way to reach this 3:1 via the
period
> >and generator, we would know we had failed to find a basis for the
> >tuning. A basis for the tuning allows for only one integer
> >combination of periods and generators (or whatever "things" make
up
> >the basis) to map to a particular prime. By the dimension theorem,
> >the basis must have as many elements as there are dimensions in
the
> >tuning. If there is more than one way to get to the prime using
> >periods and generators, then your "basis" must have too many
elements
> >in it. Thus your system must be an ET (or a group-theoretically
> >equivalent tuning such as a WT).
>
> This is starting to gel, but maybe I need a lesson in why one of
> the generators is special.

It doesn't have to be. For meantone, one valid pair of generators is
the major second and minor second. Neither of these is special, right?

> Why bother defining a period? Because
> it still seems like the octave has to be mapped by a single
>generator,

Normally the octave is mapped to by zero "generators" and some number
of "periods". But if you take an arbitrary basis pair of generators,
say the major second and minor second, it's not true that you can get
to the octave using only one of these (in 1/4-comma meantone, say).

> while it's ok if all the other primes are mapped by a combination of
> generators.

You can always express the basis so that any or none of the primes
comes from a single generator by itself. One point of doing it so
that prime 2 does is that you can immediately spit out octave-
repeating scales. Just start with one note per period, and then
simply apply the generator over and over again. In a grid where the
two axes are the two generators, each of these scales would be an
infinitely long, straight rectangle. If you use, say, the major
second and minor second as your pair of generators, it's much more
complicated to define octave-repeating scales, as some work with a
grid so constructed would show. In the period-generator case, the CF
expansion of the ratio of period to generator immediately tells you
the cardinalities of all the MOSs. How would you do that using an
arbitrary pair of generators (such as major second and minor second)?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

1/20/2006 2:36:52 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>
> >> The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.
> >
> >They're the only way you can do away with odd limits and rely simply
on
> >the less restrictive prime limit.
>
> Why are they the only such way?

Normally, 7-limit and 9-limit results will differ, for example. But
with an inverse-log-of-product weighting on the ratios (which agrees
with 1/log(p) weighted prime errors), all such distinctions disappear.
It's the only way you can get sums of errors and errors of sums to
agree while ranking all the ratios in the prime limit in numerical
order.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:08:58 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>>
>>>A perfect fifth is no kind of unison vector.
>>
>>If an octave, why not a fifth?
> > The octave is questionable too, but at least that's "octave > equivalent" to a unison.

If a fifth isn't equivalent to a unison in a given system, then it isn't a unison vector of that system.

>>>>http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html
>>>>
>>>>"All pairs of notes differing by octaves only are considered >>>
>>>unisons. >>>
>>>>There are other pairs of notes which in musical practice are >>>
>>>considered >>>
>>>>to be unisonous...The vectors, which in the harmonic note lattice >>>>connect such notes taken for unisons will be called unison > > vectors."
> >>>>Nothing about them being small,
>>>
>>>What do you think "unisonious" means??
>>
>>As he doesn't define it or use it anywhere else we can both take it > to >>mean whatever we want it to mean.
> > With this approach, we can rapidly make mincemeat out of any subject. > No, the word was used because it has a meaning, and flouting this > meaning is not justified just because the word isn't given a > definition in the document in question! What harm would it do you to > simply drop the word "unison" when it doesn't apply?

I don't drop the word "unison" because it means something. It doesn't have to mean what you think it means.

>>The next part of the ... is
>>
>>"Three major thirds, from the origin 0,0,0 lead to a note 0,3,0. On > the >>ordinary key-instruments this note is taken to be identical with > the >>octave 0,0,0. It should be 125/128 flat. As a rule no attention is > paid >>to the difference of c (-2,0,0) and /c (2,-1,0)."
>>
>>So that implies that "unisonous" means "identical on ordinary >>key-instruments" for "musical practice" and that "as a rule no > attention >>is paid to the difference".
> > You're getting closer. Now, wouldn't you agree that according to this > definition, there's no way a fifth can be "unisonious"? Furthermore, > all the unison vectors Fokker considered were used by him as > *commatic* unison vectors -- he always had enough of them to define > an ET, and never derived scales with fewer than 12 notes.

A fifth would be unisonous in a system where two notes that differ by a fifth are considered to be unisons.

I don't know what you mean by "commatic". He doesn't always temper them out. But yes, I haven't seen any smaller scales and they're always consistent with ETs.

>>>Again, it's entirely unreasonable to assume a fifth is a unison.
>>
>>Why are you still arguing this? I've given you a quote from the >>originator of the term that shows that unison vectors are like > octaves >>but also vectors in octave-equivalent space. You haven't even >>acknowledged this let alone redefined your term to acknowledge that >>unison vectors don't have to be small.
> > Everything you've provided seems to indicate that there are no > reasonable circumstances under which a fifth could be considered a > unison or "unisonious". And yet you'd still like for that it could > be? Aren't you glaringly contradicting yourself? And what's the > point, when it seems you could simply drop the word "unison" when it > doesn't apply and stick to talking about "vectors" more generally?

If there are no reasonable circumstances where it could be considered unisonous, then there are no reasonable circumstances when it would be a problem to think of it as such. I can't drop the word "unison" because I'd lose the sense of being the same as a unison in a given system.

>>The point is that Gene claimed that you need to define a optimize > the >>generator to get a unique octave-equivalent mapping, or do a > reduction. > > Define a optimize the generator? I don't understand.

That looks like a half-complete edit. I should have said "optimize the tuning" or "define an optimization method".

> If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the > octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping > without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison > vectors or ET.

You may not have a wedgie. And you may be able to get the full mapping without additional unison vectors but I can't. Unless I substitute something that's like a unison vector but you don't want to call a unison vector.

>>That mapping (or even >>the original representative ET mapping)
> > What's that?

The original representative ET mapping is the mapping of the equal temperament you get by tempering out the additional unison vector. Or whatever you want to call it instead of a unison vector.

>>But >>insisting on a strict definition of "unison vector" so that > excludes >>some useful vectors outside it isn't at all helpful.
> > It isn't helpful if, in the documentation or description of your > procedure, you use the term "unison vector" when being in any > sense "unisonious" is irrelevant to it and often violated by it. Why > not just change your language and drop the word "unison"?

That would be the case if I were to do such a thing.

>>It may be that the other methods also give unique mappings. It > should >>be obvious that any deterministic wedgie-to-mapping algorithm will >>always give the same mapping for the same wedgie. But that's still >>somewhat irrelevant as the idea is to get rid of wedgies >>altogether. > > It is?

Yes.

>>>any augmented or diminished intervals "chromatic". "Diatonic > unison >>>vector" seems like, at best, it could refer to either a chromatic >>>unison vector or a commatic unison vector.
>>
>>Yes, it could be either. But if it were a commatic unison vector >>there'd be no point in specifying it as a unison vector of the > diatonic >>scale.
> > I agree that "diatonic unison vector" is pretty meaningless, but at > least if it's commatic, the term is correctly indicating that you'll > stay in the same diatonic scale and not introduce any chromatic > accidentals.

I don't agree with what you're agreeing with.

It correctly indicates that you stay in the same diatonic scale whether it's commatic or chromatic.

>>I agree that 25:24 is both a chromatic interval and a unison. But > it >>isn't both at the same time.
> > Sure -- it's an augmented unison.

Not when it's a chromatic interval.

Thanks to Herman for providing the secret decoder ring here. You're saying "chromatic unison" is actually a term? Well, if that's the case than chromatic-unison vector makes a but more sense. Except I'm already having trouble when I abbreviate "unison vector" to "UV".

>>And if we're going to be strict about the >>terminology it isn't a "chromatic unison vector" of the usual > musical >>system.
> > Why not? It's an augmented unison, which is a chromatic type of > unison.

So that would be chromatic-unison vector. And augmented-unison vector would have been clearer.

>>Musicians also talk about "the chromatic scale". And they talk > about >>instruments that can play all and only 12 notes as chromatic. On > such >>instruments, two notes differing by 25:24 don't share a note. They > do >>on a diatonic instrument (or would if you ever tried to play both).
>>The term "augmented unison" follows diatonic naming. The "unison" > has >>the same status as "second", "third", etc. as defining an interval > on a >>diatonic scale. It doesn't carry any connotations of chromaticism.
> > > But there are "chromatic unisons", "chromatic seconds", "chromatic > thirds", etc. These are variations on the diatonic intervals that > occur via the introduction of chromatic alterations relative to the > underlying diatonic scale. The keys to determining the generic type > of interval (unison, second, third) are the letter-names attached to > the notes.

The word "but" should introduce a contradiction.

>>So what about these "chromatic intervals"? I'm not sure if they > relate >>to unison vectors at all.
> > Most of them aren't even unisons.

Uh, nooo...

>>The best I can think of is that a chromatic >>interval must be the same as either a chromatic or diatonic > interval on >>a chromatic scale. Also, a chromatic interval always differs from > a >>diatonic interval by a chromatic semitone. So if the chromatic > semitone >>were a unison vector, there wouldn't be any need to talk about >>"chromatic intervals" because they wouldn't be any different from >>diatonic ones.
> > > Where did you make this last jump? F and F# would be a perfect > example here. They form a chromatic unison against one another, > specifically an augmented unison. Against a given reference pitch, > one might form a diatonic interval, in which case the other forms a > chromatic interval against that same reference pitch.

No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F# are the same and they both form the same interval against a reference pitch.

>>I'm not a musician, but I think this is why I was originally > confused by >>the term "chromatic unison vector". I was always thinking of it in >>terms of a chromatic scale when it really generates a diatonic > scale.
> > It delimits a diatonic scale, and thus has to go slightly outside of > what can be found within a diatonic scale. Thus it's a chromatic > interval -- in the diatonic case, it's an augmented unison.

That explanation doesn't make it any clearer to me. But the hyphen in chromatic-unison vector helps.

>>>It still won't be "unisonious" contrary to Fokker's description.
>>
>>Why not?
> > > Because if it's a fifth, it's far too wide for two notes separated by > it to be considered the same generic note (or note class) in any kind > of reasonable generalization of the diatonic scale. "Unisonious" has > a meaning in Fokker's description -- he put that word in there for a > reason. If you want to extend the concept to wider intervals, I can't > see for the life of me why you're going through these rhetorical > gymnastics instead of just dropping the word "unison".

Why be reasonable? I don't want to extend the concept. I only want to avoid restricting the concept when I don't need to.

Now, if the vector approximates the period rather than a unison that is a problem. I hadn't thought of that before. Or I forgot. But you said in one of your messages that it can arise. In that case maybe we do need another term. And "comma" won't do if the commatic unison vectors can break in the same way. How about "period vector"? Or "kernel vector"?

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:09:22 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

>>1) sum-abs of the weighted wedgie
>>2) max-min of the weighted generator mapping
>>3) max Kees-weighted complexity
<snip>

> One thing at a time! Now, I thought that instead of (2) you would > have said "max-min of the weighted octave-equivalent part of the > wedgie". And at least this applies just as readily for higher rank > temperaments.

You should have said "octave-equivalent part plus zero" and I should have said "generator mapping multiplied by the number of periods to an octave". What you should have said applies to higher rank temperaments, but I don't have any reason to suppose it makes sense.

>>Yes, the weighting's doing what we asked it to. The issue is that > the >>odd-limit complexity I was happy with won't work without an odd-
> limit. >>The max-min of the weighted mapping is the nearest weighted > equivalent >>to the odd limit complexity. But in practice it seems to give more >>divergent results than changing to weighted errors.
> > How so?

As below, with the 13-limit examples.

>>I'm not saying it's >>wrong, or even that I don't like the results, but I'm pointing out > that >>the 13-limit R2 landscale looks a lot different as a result. A >>temperament that used to be the clear number 1 now doesn't even > make the >>top 10 (although that may be partly because the cutoffs are > different).
> > Did it make the cutoff? And isn't the definition of badness -- how > you combine error and complexity for your rankings -- a whole > separate issue here? And below. You can't say "number 1" or "best" > unless you've defined this.

Yes, it makes the cutoff. The badness is a separate issue that needn't concern us. But for the record it's complexity**2 * error.

>>In other limits the weighting doesn't make much difference to the >>ordering. Schismic is the best 5-limit R2T,
> > Again, this is only true given certain badness formulations (and > cutoffs).

So do you have examples of badness where the weighting does make a big difference?

>>then Hanson I think and >>meantone. In the 7-limit, it's meantone, orwell, schismic, then > Orwell >>I think.
> > Is there a difference between orwell and Orwell?

There shouldn't be! It looks like neither of them are actually orwell. I should have said meantone, magic, schismic, miracle, orwell. Then sensisept according to your table.

> Gene gave a formula; let's work from there.

I think Gene's formula is the same as mine. So max-min of the weighted generator mapping, times the first element of the period mapping, is the same as the Kees complexity.

> OK, so what exactly is the analogy in this case?

Complexity and error are the duals of each other.

>>>Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use > the >>>max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?
>>No. The max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie doesn't > relate to >>anything.
> > Sorry -- I meant "max - min" instead of "max" -- I typed too fast. Is > that better?

Better, but you still need to add a zero to the mapping. Otherwise the results are too low when all the entries are either positive or negative.

>>Octave specific TOP error = max(w, -w) - 1 = max(abs(e))
>>Octave equivalent TOP error = (max(w) - min(w))/(max(w)+min(w))
> > Does this mean the maximum Kees error, or what?

It gives the same result as the TOP error, but doesn't require the octaves to be tempered. I originally thought it was the same as the optimal max Kees error but Gene disagrees.

>>Approximate TOP error = (max(e) - min(e))/2
> > Was this in the table?

What table? The one I gave? No. I don't think so. It's the TOP error multiplied by the optimal octave stretch. So it's a good approximation when the octaves don't need much tempering.

>>Wedgie complexity = max(W, -W) = max(abs(W))
> > But in my paper, I used sum(abs(W)). And I thought the numbers in > your table agreed with my paper . . . (?)

Did I write that? You are correct.

>>It's just struck me that any mapping might do in place of M. I > wonder...
> > Me too. I hope the Genie can enter the discussion at this point and > shed some light on everything . . .

I thought about this more, and couldn't make any sense out of it.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:09:33 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>No, because anybody can take my code and do the search they want.
> > Sure. All they need to do is install Python, and become a Python
> programmer. If that.

>>>>A unison vector is an interval from just intonation which is
>>>tempered to >>>>be the same as a unison. How complicated is that?

<snip>

> If you are counting octaves and fifths as unison vectors, that is not
> consistent with your definition.

Assuming I was, why? Where's the inconsistency?

>> I prefer "unison vector" because it's the first term in the
> literature >>with this specific meaning. > > But it doesn't have this meaning in Fokker, so that's not correct. At
> least, I understand Fokker used it for pitch classes, not pitches.

You mean Fokker used octave-equivalent vectors? Yes, but it's hardly worth inventing a new term because we're using slightly bigger vectors.

>>>It's a mapping denoted by <v2 v3 ... vp|, and given by integers vq
>>>which map the prime q to the integer vq, from p-limit intervals to the
>>>integers.
>>
>>So it's the notation, not the thing being notated?
> > I said "mapping". It's a mapping. "Denoted" means notation.

What's a mapping?

>>>So instead you call it an "equal temperament", which is outright
>>>gibberish.
>>
>>Why?
> > Because you are giving the name "equal temperament" to things which
> cannot remotely be considered equal temperaments, such as > <0 6 -7 -2 15|. That cannot be used as an equal temperament.

When did I call that an equal temperament?

>>Yes, it maps primes to integers. If those integers represented >>intervals it would be the mapping for an equal temperament. > > No it wouldn't. You don't even know how big the steps are.

What are you talking about? You're assuming I don't know something about a hypothetical situation you came up with and that doesn't make sense anyway?

>>Yes, that's a definition, and I don't see the point of it. Mine is
> simpler.
> > Yours is simply wrong, like calling an elephant a kind of dog, and
> therefore confusing.

No, it's like calling something that looks like a dog but bigger a dog.

>>"Equal mapping" is better than "val" because it relates to the terms >>"equal temperament" and "mapping" which have to be introduced first.
> > "Dog" is better than "elephant" for anyone familiar with dogs, but who
> only read about elephants in history class when Hannibal came up.
> Hence, we are going to tell the new arrivals that the huge animals
> with the huger noses are dogs. It will be less confusing, and they do
> have four legs.

"Mapping" -- one word.

"Equal Temperament" -- different word.

Total: two words.

"Dog" -- one word.

"Dog" -- same word.

Total: one word.

Grand total: flawed analogy.

>>No, I haven't defined "family of regular temperaments" but that's what >>we're talking about. So:
>>
>>A family of rank-r regular temperaments consists of different tunings >>that all share the same rank-r mapping. For example, meantone is a >>family of regular temperaments of rank 2. > > No one else is using this definition of temperament, and contradictory
> notions of what families of temperaments are are already in use.

This is the definition that "temperament" has had throughout most of its history. Other people do agree with me in another place. I used this notion of "temperament family" before any other usages I know of. I'll happily change to "class" but you object to that.

> 5, 7, 12 and 19 are examples >>of rank 1 temperaments that belong to this rank 2 family.
> > Why is this better than saying they are meantone tunings, or support
> meantone?

Don't break up my paragraphs.

>>>>An equal temperament is an object with a list of integers mapping
>>>
>>>primes >>>
>>>>to integers representing scale steps.

> This could certainly be an equal temperament, but it could represent a > far stranger sounding transformation of a JI original than that. For
> instance, the mapping <-12 -19 -28| applied to 5-limit JI and using a
> scale step of size 2^(1/12) inverts things. A mapping <0 19 28| using
> the same scale step, or 3^(1/19) if you prefer, will produce highly
> exotic results, collapsing all octaves to unisons. <12 21 29| and a
> scale step of 2^(1/12) will send 5-limit JI to something which
> approximates 5-limit JI, but it will be an approximation of a
> different JI original.

Good point. So we need some idea of approximation.

> I doubt you will find much support on the list for the idea that > <0 1 4 10| should be called an "equal temperament", a fifth a "unison
> vector", or that "meantone temperament" should be replaced with
> "family of meantone temperaments" but if someone does think that they
> could chime in now.

First point: straw man

Second point: straw man

Third point: under discussion in another place

>>> Or, in group theory terms, a >>>
>>>>homomorphism from ratios to a free abelian group of rank one. Did I
>>>
>>>get >>>
>>>>that right?
>>>
>>>More or less. Make it "p-limit ratios".
>>
>>Why the limit?
> > I orginally defined it without the limit, but in practice we always
> seem to assume the limit, and write it <v2 v3 ... vp|.

If you don't need the limit, don't define it with a limit. You can't write an equal temperament, you can only write music in one.

>>>Here is the least squares optimal tuning map for apollo:
>>>
>>><1200 1903.6 2781.1 3369.5 4155.0|
>>
>>That's not at all what I get :-S
> > Mine is an unweighted least-squares on the tonality diamond. What's yours?

Tenney weighted on the primes.
<
1199.83097522 1903.21651634 2781.21148045 3369.70111746 4155.65187867]

>>I defined them lower down, and you make a lot of fuss about using your >>scrollbar. I don't give a toss about standard vals.
> > > But unless other people have an easy way to determine what you mean by
> 8&14&15 they get little from your notation, and unless they have some
> way to compute it they get next to nothing. When I use something like
> that, it is clearly defined and extremely easy to compute.

Yes, they get next to nothing. Why are you writing so much about this nothing?

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:12:45 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> > >>>It's a mapping denoted by <v2 v3 ... vp|, and given by integers vq
>>>which map the prime q to the integer vq, from p-limit intervals > > to the
> >>>integers.
>>
>>So it's the notation, not the thing being notated?
> > > This is exactly what I was going to say to you regarding your funny > new "equal temperament" definition.

I relate the integers to scale steps. That means it describes something you can tune up, and a way of mapping primes to it. It may not be the way you'd normally define it, but I think that's what an equal temperament is.

>>Whether I choose to call it an equal temperament is distinct from >>whether it is an equal temperament by my definition.
> > ??????????

I usually call a generator mapping a "generator mapping". It may also be a possible mapping for an absurd equal temperament by the definition of "equal temperament" I'm using. But unless I actually say "this also describes an equal temperament" then I'm not calling it an equal temperament. And unless I were deliberately drawing attention to a paradox of the terminology I wouldn't do that.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:13:20 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>>>The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we still > don't >>>>have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector".
>>>
>>>I gave a better term, "generating interval". >>
>>Am I supposed to comment on this? You think calling two different >>things by the same name
> > What are the two different things?

The thing we've always called "the generator" and the thing we may once have called a "chromatic unison vector".

> I've learned to expect far, far less than this from Gene, who seems > to ignore most questions he is explicitly asked (let alone act as you > suggest above) and yet still he's an extremely valuable resource. > Let's be patient with one another -- you really did miss a lot > Graham, and I'm sure you still have a lot to teach us. Most of us are > still struggling to catch up. For my part, I'd like to get everyone > on the same page, or at least understanding what everyone else is > doing, in lower limits before we move on to higher ones. That's why I > haven't commented on the 13-limit stuff yet.

Higher limits behave differently to lower ones, and you need to look at them to see that. I don't want to be trapped into a decision based on lower limits when I know it makes less sense in higher limits. Not that I can think of examples off-hand.

Planar temperaments, in particular, are much easier to find in lower limits. If you don't want to look at the 13-limit then commas are fine and my new search code doesn't add anything.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:13:28 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

>>For unison vectors, see the online Fokker paper:
>>
>>http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html
>>
>>We use octave-specific vectors but otherwise it's the same. The >>chromatic unison vector is the one that you don't temper out.
> > When you're deriving/defining a DE scale. Not one of the concerns in > this thread if I've been reading it right.

How so? I use a chromatic-unison vector (CUV) (or something like one) to get the mapping for an equal temperament (or something like one). I then find the generator that turns the ET into a distributionaly even (DE, formerly MOS) scale (or something like one). From that, I deduce a period mapping that works.

Gene uses some things like CUVs to get things like equal temperaments, but doesn't worry about the generators. So is that your current reaso for saying he "doesn't use CUVs"? That he doesn't use the generators?

>>The >>Fokker determinant tells you how many notes there are in the MOS.
> > Or more generally, the DE scale. Seems like a different issue than > the ones we're addressing here.

Why? When you use octave-specific vectors, you get a full mapping instead of only a number of notes. That's what Gene uses, the mappings. So why is that a different method to using CUVs, but substituting things larger than UVs?

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:13:35 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> You want a specific set of two ETs? Why? This is the first I'm > hearing of it -- I thought you wanted the period and generator > mappings.

The old code does always spit out a pair of ETs as one of its results, but that's a side issue. You may get a different period mapping from different methods.

> The period mapping will be different if and only if the generator is > defined differently (any number of periods plus or minus the original > generator). But the mappings will still be equivalent overall.

Yes.

>>>Jamesbond has an OE part of 007. The reason to care is that I was
>>>using it as an example.
>>
>>Is it an example of something I'm likely to care about?
> > It's a theoretical case you should care about because similar cases > may arise but which are of more practical interest.

I know that similar cases arise in higher limits. They're very important and I make sure my code can handle them. So what theoretical reason could there be for caring about this example?

>>Please, do not accuse me of standardizing ambiguous vals. I've > argued >>against that before and I haven't changed my position. That's why > I >>always say explicitly how I arrive at my mappings -- as I did in > the bit >>you quoted. That way nobody has to remember my jargon from one > message >>to another. Which part of "best weighted-RMS mapping" are you > having >>difficulty weith?
> > I never heard of that before. Can you explain/define it?

"Best weighted-RMS mapping"? I'd like to have a short hand way of referring to them. "Best RMS Tenney-weighted prime mapping" is a bit of a mouthful and whatever bit I leave out gets questioned. It means you take lots of differnet mappings, calculate the optimal Tenney-weighted RMS error, and use the best mapping as a result.

>>As compared to what method that guarantees you won't miss anything?
> > Generating all valid wedgies up to some cutoff on complexity, for one > example.

It's far too inefficient and you'd never get a result. All octave-equivalent wedgies might work now that Gene's got an algorithm to find the octave-specific part. There might even be cleverer ways involving more constraints on the wedgie. But for now, pairing off ETs is the best we have.

>>The thing Paul objects to calling a "chromatic unison vector" in > the >>general case. To get an ET mapping (or "val" as you call them, for >>anybody following along) you need n-1 unison vectors for n prime >>dimensions. For a rank 2 temperament, you need n-2 unison > vectors. So >>one additional unison vector gives you the mapping for an equal >>temperament that belongs to the rank 2 family (maybe not a sensible >>temperament, but a mapping nonetheless).
> > But you just brought this in now (an equal temperament that belongs > to the rank 2 family). This is not what was being discussed before. > But in this case, it really *is* a *unison vector* you're talking > about!

So what did you think I was talking about before?

>>When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each of > the >>primes" as additional unison vectors
> > Nonsense.

And how is this different?

>>(which Paul says we aren't allowed >>to call "chromatic unison vectors" because they're too big).
> > You keep missing the point. It's the "unison" part that I object to > for big intervals, not the "chromatic" part! Though typically, primes > shouldn't have to be "chromatic" either . . .

I don't think I missed that point at all.

The point you seem to be missing is that an algorithm that uses chromatic unison vectors (CUVs) doesn't become a different algorithm if you apply something to it that isn't a CUV. And saying "you could use primes instead of CUVs" is much simpler than saying "you don't need CUVs" and explaining the whole method from scratch as if it were substantially different.

>>But it sounds >>like additional unison vectors to me.
> > It certainly is nothing of the sort, unless what you mean by "unison > vector" is even more obscure than I had suspected.

Wny so?

>>"Find something" and "solve the problem" isn't a method at all. >>It's an >>aspiration.
> > I don't understand.

What Gene said was "find the period mapping from the wedgie, and solve the equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when wedged
with the period mapping you get the wedgie." That isn't something I can go away and implement in Python.

>>Anyway, as you're using this as an excuse to push your results, > here are >>mine.
> > What happened to the spirit of collaboration here? Can't we view this > as a cross-validation exercise rather than each person "pushing their > results"?

It could be, if Gene told me what I was supposed to be validating.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:13:57 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> But what happens when the generator is very close to half a period? > Then the choice of minimal generator, and thus the mapping, can > depend on the precise optimization method used. This can happen with > arbitrarily low-error temperaments.

Can it? With the old way of finding ETs I think they were made unique, because the rounding always goes the same way. Very small generators may be my weakness, and maybe almost-half ones as well.

> :) This I'd like to see! Using wedgies still requires an additional > unison vector? How?

To get the representative ET (or DE scale, or val, or whatever). By every method I've seen properly defined so far.

Or maybe something like a unison vector that doesn't fit a particular definition. I'm not interested in algorithms that use unison vectors but still work when something else is substituted. Not that I'm much interested anyway.

>>Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit) get > an >>octave-specific mapping.
> > I think Herman just demonstrated how to do this.

Without a chromatic unison vector, or something like one.

>>I posted here about my sytematic rank 3 search, and got no > replies. I >>take that as meaning no interest.
> > > How about taking that as meaning people only have a certain number of > hours in the day instead?

Sorry, no pressure. But it on the shelf until you have time for it.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 11:13:46 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>The best term in any situation is usually the one people already >>understand. Last time we had a consensus on this list, it was > > about > >>"chromatic unison vector".
> > When was that? Or are you being sarcastic?

I was thinking about before Gene arrived. But maybe we weren't on this list then.

>>It's unstable in that it's less likely to give a generator that > lies >>between a unison and a period for an optimal (or any sensible) > tuning. > > I'm having trouble understanding this because it's so easy to just > subtract some number of periods from the generator and then just > restate everything in terms of this new generator. Why does the need > to do this amount to "instability" in any sense?

It amounts to instability because inputs that you'd expect to give the same output don't.

You have to optimize the temperament to find out if the initial choice of generator is wrong, and Gene wanted to be able to identify the temperaments without optimizing.

>>The reason is that the mapping you produce may not be for a > sensible >>equal temperament.
> > Not sure how the mapping from periods and generators to primes for an > R2 temperament can be interpreted as a mapping for a "sensible" (or > otherwise) equal temperament, or what that would mean.

That wasn't what I meant. When you add a chromatic-unison vector to a set of unison vectors, you get the mapping for an equal temperament out. You can use that mapping to get the generator mapping.

> Not necessarily -- 12 and 17 belong to both Superpyth and Garibaldi. > But if you generated the temperaments from pairs of equal > temperaments, you'd only have one answer for "12&17" in the 7-limit. > If you meant full ET vals/breeds, then what you say is true, but > seemingly useless . . . can you elaborate?

I meant the full ET mappings/vals. The point is that you don't need to generate both temperaments. Generate one temperament and show that the other pair of ETs belong to the same class.

>>If you generated the temperaments >>from commas, any temperament with the same unison vectors is the >>same.
> > Again, seemingly useless, but I'm probably missing something.

It takes a long time to find all temperaments implied by a big set of commas. If you want to check that the commas were sufficient to find the best of a given set of regular temperaments (RT), you can go through each RT and see if each comma gets tempered out. Then you can check subsets of those commas for linear independence. If you get the right number of linearly independent commas, then you know the RT would have been on the list of RTs produced by commas but, if you're only interested in a small fraction of the RTs you would have generated, with less computational effort.

>>A unison vector the same as a unison once it's tempered. Was that > your >>only problem? It was easily disposed of.
> > You've been very dismissive of high-error temperaments. But a > temperament that tempered out a perfect fifth would have *extremely* > high error. So you're seemingly being inconsistent here.

That goes to show you the wonderfully inconsistent way we use the English language. In a practical context, I don't think something that approximates intervals worse than it needs to should be called a temperament. But in an abstract context there's no need to exclude them.

>><0 1 4 10| could be the mapping for an equal temperament. That is, > it >>maps primes to tempered intervals. I can't see any point in > calling the >>thing it maps to anything other than an equal temperament.
> > Then don't expect anyone to understand what you're saying or doing. I didn't say anything!

>>I've defined "unison vector" now.
> > Where?

Did you lose that? It was relative to a temperament which may be controvesial.

>>A chromatic unison vector is a unison >>vector of an equal temperament which belongs to a family of regular >>temperaments. However, it is only a unison vector of that one > equal >>temperament.
> > I don't think chromatic unison vectors come in at all when you're > talking about equal temperaments. Rather, it's for DE scales that > they come in.

No, but this is an easy way to define it if you want to show what it's a unison vector of.

> And what about a fifth? How can that be a unison vector for any ET > that you'd care about?

Unlikely. But it might lead to something that looks exactly like an ET in a specific context and is used as an intermediate object in a calculation.

>>>Here's Maple code; see if that will do:
>>>
>>>lval7 := proc(l)
>>># subgroup vals of 7-limit wedgie
>>>-[[0, -l[1], -l[2], -l[3]], [l[1], 0, -l[4], -l[5]], >>>[l[2], l[4], 0, -l[6]], [l[3], l[5], l[6], 0]] end:
>>
>>Aren't these the chromatic unison vectors you said you weren't >>using.
> > These are vals/breeds, not commas/monzos. And even if they were the > latter, what would be chromatic (as opposed to commatic) about them?

If they're values produced by a wedgie there must have been a chromatic unison vector, or something very like a chromatic unison vector (UV), used to produce them. The putative UVs wouldn't be commatic because they aren't tempered out by the RT in question. It looks like the things like chromatic-UVs are prime intervals in this case, but I haven't checked the calculation to see if all the signs are correct. Are you seriously that things like chromatic-UVs aren't involved here?

>>Now, how about the method that doesn't use a chromatic unison > > vector?
> > I'm starting to think that you'd call a zebra a chromatic unison > vector if you had the chance.

How would a zebra fit my definition?

Graham

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/20/2006 12:36:33 PM

>Normally the octave is mapped to by zero "generators" and some number
>of "periods". But if you take an arbitrary basis pair of generators,
>say the major second and minor second, it's not true that you can get
>to the octave using only one of these (in 1/4-comma meantone, say).

Well that's precisely the assertion made by Graham, as I read it.

>> while it's ok if all the other primes are mapped by a combination
>> of generators.
>
>You can always express the basis so that any or none of the primes
>comes from a single generator by itself.

This hardly seems to agree with what you said about such a condition
(none) causing degeneracy to a lower dimensionality. But it does
explain why you'd call one generator a period.

>One point of doing it so that prime 2 does is that you can
>immediately spit out octave-repeating scales. Just start with one
>note per period, and then simply apply the generator over and over
>again.

Right. It's a convenience. And I've used this technique many
times.

>How would you do that using an
>arbitrary pair of generators (such as major second and minor second)?

Let's look at my original question:
""
Are there any named temperaments which require both "period" and
"generator" to map the octave?
""

The answer was,

""
I don't think that makes sense. If both generators divide the octave,
you can divide the octave into more parts and get an equal temperament.
So it means you don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.
""

-Carl

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/20/2006 12:41:35 PM

At 02:36 AM 1/20/2006, you wrote:
>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
>>
>> >> The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.
>> >
>> >They're the only way you can do away with odd limits and rely
>> >simply on the less restrictive prime limit.
>>
>> Why are they the only such way?
>
>Normally, 7-limit and 9-limit results will differ, for example. But
>with an inverse-log-of-product weighting on the ratios (which agrees
>with 1/log(p) weighted prime errors), all such distinctions disappear.
>It's the only way you can get sums of errors and errors of sums to
>agree while ranking all the ratios in the prime limit in numerical
>order.

Maybe you meant it's the only way to have the convenience of prime
limits agree with the psychoacoustics of odd limits... ?

-Carl

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/20/2006 1:41:35 PM

Carl Lumma wrote:
>>Normally the octave is mapped to by zero "generators" and some number >>of "periods". But if you take an arbitrary basis pair of generators, >>say the major second and minor second, it's not true that you can get >>to the octave using only one of these (in 1/4-comma meantone, say).
> > Well that's precisely the assertion made by Graham, as I read it.

Was it? I must have slipped up somewhere. I'm glad somebody else stepped in because I couldn't make it any clearer.

Oh, how about this? The period's defined as being a division of the octave. The generator's defined as being independent of the period. Therefore the generator is independent of the octave.

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/20/2006 1:55:41 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> Gene uses some things like CUVs to get things like equal temperaments,
> but doesn't worry about the generators.

I can get R1 temperaments supporting an R2 temperament by taking an
interior product of the wedgie with a comma. I think it's a bit
perverse to insist on calling that comma a "chromatic unison vector"
is that is what you are doing.

> > Or more generally, the DE scale. Seems like a different issue than
> > the ones we're addressing here.
>
> Why? When you use octave-specific vectors, you get a full mapping
> instead of only a number of notes. That's what Gene uses, the
mappings.

Actually, when computing Fokker blocks I use commas, one of which I
guess could be called a chromatic unison vector if people could ever
figure out what that was. I tried calling it that, and Paul said I was
wrong, if I recall.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/20/2006 2:05:18 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> It's far too inefficient and you'd never get a result.

Clearly you could get a result in the 5-limit. I think 7-limit might
make sense as a way to double check on low complexity temperaments,
which cause more trouble when using pairs of ets. Of course commas do
that also, and presumably more expeditiously.

All
> octave-equivalent wedgies might work now that Gene's got an
algorithm to
> find the octave-specific part.

An interesting thought. If we go up to 10 in the 7-limit, we'd need to
check 11*21^2 = 4851 possibilities, which would clearly be doable.

> What Gene said was "find the period mapping from the wedgie, and solve
> the equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when wedged
> with the period mapping you get the wedgie." That isn't something I
can
> go away and implement in Python.

Of course it is. Python is Turing-complete, is it not?

> It could be, if Gene told me what I was supposed to be validating.

Validating that we have a way for other people to run your programs
and that they work the way you say they do would be nice.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/20/2006 2:23:15 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:

> >>>lval7 := proc(l)
> >>># subgroup vals of 7-limit wedgie
> >>>-[[0, -l[1], -l[2], -l[3]], [l[1], 0, -l[4], -l[5]],
> >>>[l[2], l[4], 0, -l[6]], [l[3], l[5], l[6], 0]] end:
> >>
> >>Aren't these the chromatic unison vectors you said you weren't
> >>using.
> >
> > These are vals/breeds, not commas/monzos. And even if they were the
> > latter, what would be chromatic (as opposed to commatic) about them?
>
> If they're values produced by a wedgie there must have been a chromatic
> unison vector, or something very like a chromatic unison vector (UV),
> used to produce them.

They can be produced as the interior product of the wedgie with the
primes; the primes therefore would be the alleged "unison vectors" if
I actually used them, though of course in the above code I don't.

> Are you seriously that things like chromatic-UVs aren't involved here?

They appear nowhere in the code, so in the most obvious sense they
aren't being used. And primes are not "unison vectors".

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/20/2006 8:02:05 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...> > wrote:
>>It's precise and extremely easy to compute. It's also the first, naive
>>thing anyone would think of. As such, it allows one to use "the 17-
> > limit
> >>temperament 46&58&94" and have it mean something specific which can
>>easily be found. No altenative has been put forward.
> > > Perhaps because we don't want to set a "standard" per se; but certainly > alternatives have been proposed, such as the val which gives the lowest > error (however defined) when each val is tuned (multiplied by a scalar > to result in a tuning map) in a way that is optimal under that very > same error criterion.

If "standard" isn't appropriate, how about something like "rounded prime" (rounded prime val, or more specifically, rounded prime mapping)?

🔗Gene Ward Smith <gwsmith@svpal.org>

1/20/2006 8:28:02 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@I...> wrote:

> If "standard" isn't appropriate, how about something like "rounded
> prime" (rounded prime val, or more specifically, rounded prime mapping)?

Good question, but "rounded prime" doesn't make a lot of sense. What
about just "round val", as in "the 22-equal 11-limit rounded val"?

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/21/2006 8:58:23 AM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> wrote:
> >>Gene uses some things like CUVs to get things like equal temperaments, >>but doesn't worry about the generators. > > I can get R1 temperaments supporting an R2 temperament by taking an
> interior product of the wedgie with a comma. I think it's a bit
> perverse to insist on calling that comma a "chromatic unison vector"
> is that is what you are doing.

Yes. Perversity is in the eye of the beholder, clearly.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

1/21/2006 9:00:02 AM

Herman Miller wrote:

> If "standard" isn't appropriate, how about something like "rounded > prime" (rounded prime val, or more specifically, rounded prime mapping)?

I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years, because each tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant prime interval.

Graham

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

1/21/2006 10:13:10 AM

Graham Breed wrote:
> Herman Miller wrote:
> > >>If "standard" isn't appropriate, how about something like "rounded >>prime" (rounded prime val, or more specifically, rounded prime mapping)?
> > > I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years, because each > tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant prime interval.

Works for me.

I'm starting to put a vocabulary list together so that I can get my terminology straight for my other tuning-related pages.

http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/tuning-vocabulary.html

Some of these I'm not quite sure of -- whether having exactly two sizes of intervals in a period is the meaning of "distributionally even" or a consequence from other properties of "distributional evenness", for instance. Some of these could probably be worded better. But it's a start.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

1/21/2006 11:47:04 AM

At 08:02 PM 1/20/2006, you wrote:
>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
>> wrote:
>>>It's precise and extremely easy to compute. It's also the first, naive
>>>thing anyone would think of. As such, it allows one to use "the 17-
>>
>> limit
>>
>>>temperament 46&58&94" and have it mean something specific which can
>>>easily be found. No altenative has been put forward.
>>
>>
>> Perhaps because we don't want to set a "standard" per se; but certainly
>> alternatives have been proposed, such as the val which gives the lowest
>> error (however defined) when each val is tuned (multiplied by a scalar
>> to result in a tuning map) in a way that is optimal under that very
>> same error criterion.
>
>If "standard" isn't appropriate, how about something like "rounded
>prime" (rounded prime val, or more specifically, rounded prime mapping)?

Howabout "immediate val"?

-Carl

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 10:03:19 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
> >
> >>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> >>
> >>>A perfect fifth is no kind of unison vector.
> >>
> >>If an octave, why not a fifth?
> >
> > The octave is questionable too, but at least that's "octave
> > equivalent" to a unison.
>
> If a fifth isn't equivalent to a unison in a given system, then it
isn't
> a unison vector of that system.

I'm glad we agree on that! But I was sure you were calling it
a "unison vector" in some applications where it was anything but . . .

> >>>>http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html
> >>>>
> >>>>"All pairs of notes differing by octaves only are considered
> >>>
> >>>unisons.
> >>>
> >>>>There are other pairs of notes which in musical practice are
> >>>
> >>>considered
> >>>
> >>>>to be unisonous...The vectors, which in the harmonic note
lattice
> >>>>connect such notes taken for unisons will be called unison
> >
> > vectors."
> >
> >>>>Nothing about them being small,
> >>>
> >>>What do you think "unisonious" means??
> >>
> >>As he doesn't define it or use it anywhere else we can both take
it
> > to
> >>mean whatever we want it to mean.
> >
> > With this approach, we can rapidly make mincemeat out of any
subject.
> > No, the word was used because it has a meaning, and flouting this
> > meaning is not justified just because the word isn't given a
> > definition in the document in question! What harm would it do you
to
> > simply drop the word "unison" when it doesn't apply?
>
> I don't drop the word "unison" because it means something. It
doesn't
> have to mean what you think it means.

I happen to think words should be chosen in order to communicate
something to others. Or at least one should be communicative about
how one is using them.

> >>The next part of the ... is
> >>
> >>"Three major thirds, from the origin 0,0,0 lead to a note 0,3,0.
On
> > the
> >>ordinary key-instruments this note is taken to be identical with
> > the
> >>octave 0,0,0. It should be 125/128 flat. As a rule no attention
is
> > paid
> >>to the difference of c (-2,0,0) and /c (2,-1,0)."
> >>
> >>So that implies that "unisonous" means "identical on ordinary
> >>key-instruments" for "musical practice" and that "as a rule no
> > attention
> >>is paid to the difference".
> >
> > You're getting closer. Now, wouldn't you agree that according to
this
> > definition, there's no way a fifth can be "unisonious"?
Furthermore,
> > all the unison vectors Fokker considered were used by him as
> > *commatic* unison vectors -- he always had enough of them to
define
> > an ET, and never derived scales with fewer than 12 notes.
>
> A fifth would be unisonous in a system where two notes that differ
by a
> fifth are considered to be unisons.

Sounds like the kind of system you would be very eager to deem
totally impractical and irrelevant in another context . . .

> I don't know what you mean by "commatic". He doesn't always temper
them
> out.

Does he ever?

> > If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the
> > octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping
> > without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison
> > vectors or ET.
>
> You may not have a wedgie.

Why not?

> And you may be able to get the full mapping
> without additional unison vectors but I can't.

Herman may have given the most recent explanation of how to do that.

> Unless I substitute
> something that's like a unison vector but you don't want to call a
> unison vector.

Why do *you* want to call it a unison vector?

> >>That mapping (or even
> >>the original representative ET mapping)
> >
> > What's that?
>
> The original representative ET mapping is the mapping of the equal
> temperament you get by tempering out the additional unison vector.
Or
> whatever you want to call it instead of a unison vector.

I would think I'd definitely call it a chromatic unison vector then.
But how do you choose this additional unison vector, and what is the
significance of the "original representative ET mapping" in your
process? I guess if this is all just an interim step in your
calculation where any arbitrary thing will do, it might not matter.
But it's certainly confusing to think of practical temperaments in
terms of a "representative ET mapping" which has no resemblance with
practical ET mappings and a "chromatic unison vector" which has no
resemblance with practical chromatic unisons. Perhaps if we could
replace "representative ET mapping" with a suitably abstract term
like "val" or better yet "breed", and a similar change for "chromatic
unison vector," one might have a better chance of avoiding conceptual
confusion.

> >>But
> >>insisting on a strict definition of "unison vector" so that
> > excludes
> >>some useful vectors outside it isn't at all helpful.
> >
> > It isn't helpful if, in the documentation or description of your
> > procedure, you use the term "unison vector" when being in any
> > sense "unisonious" is irrelevant to it and often violated by it.
Why
> > not just change your language and drop the word "unison"?
>
> That would be the case if I were to do such a thing.

You mean if you were to document or describe your procedure? It's not
as if you've never described it, at least, contrary to the impression
this statement gives.

> >>It may be that the other methods also give unique mappings. It
> > should
> >>be obvious that any deterministic wedgie-to-mapping algorithm
will
> >>always give the same mapping for the same wedgie. But that's
still
> >>somewhat irrelevant as the idea is to get rid of wedgies
> >>altogether.
> >
> > It is?
>
> Yes.

I didn't know that. It seems to me that the wedgie gives you the part
of the matrix you need above (or below) the diagonal, with sign and
GCD taken care of in the appropriate way. Is it that you want to use
the matrix form instead of the wedgie form, or you actually want to
do without the information therein?

> >>>any augmented or diminished intervals "chromatic". "Diatonic
> > unison
> >>>vector" seems like, at best, it could refer to either a
chromatic
> >>>unison vector or a commatic unison vector.
> >>
> >>Yes, it could be either. But if it were a commatic unison vector
> >>there'd be no point in specifying it as a unison vector of the
> > diatonic
> >>scale.
> >
> > I agree that "diatonic unison vector" is pretty meaningless, but
at
> > least if it's commatic, the term is correctly indicating that
you'll
> > stay in the same diatonic scale and not introduce any chromatic
> > accidentals.
>
> I don't agree with what you're agreeing with.
>
> It correctly indicates that you stay in the same diatonic scale
whether
> it's commatic or chromatic.

There's absolutely no way to stay in the same diatonic scale if
you're moving by a chromatic unison vector.

> >>I agree that 25:24 is both a chromatic interval and a unison.
But
> > it
> >>isn't both at the same time.
> >
> > Sure -- it's an augmented unison.
>
> Not when it's a chromatic interval.

What do you mean? Augmented intervals are chromatic by definition.

> Thanks to Herman for providing the secret decoder ring here.
You're
> saying "chromatic unison" is actually a term?

Yes, yes, yes, this is what I've been saying all along, if you care
to re-read my posts.

> >>And if we're going to be strict about the
> >>terminology it isn't a "chromatic unison vector" of the usual
> > musical
> >>system.
> >
> > Why not? It's an augmented unison, which is a chromatic type of
> > unison.
>
> So that would be chromatic-unison vector. And augmented-unison
vector
> would have been clearer.

Well, I didn't invent this terminology, I got it from Paul Hahn, and
anyway "chromatic" seems like it's both more appropriate in the
generalized situation we actually care about (it's easier to infer a
generalization of "chromatic alteration" to non-diatonic situations
than of "augmented", it seems to me), and more worthy to stand
beside "commatic".

> >>Musicians also talk about "the chromatic scale". And they talk
> > about
> >>instruments that can play all and only 12 notes as chromatic. On
> > such
> >>instruments, two notes differing by 25:24 don't share a note.
They
> > do
> >>on a diatonic instrument (or would if you ever tried to play
both).
> >>The term "augmented unison" follows diatonic naming.
The "unison"
> > has
> >>the same status as "second", "third", etc. as defining an
interval
> > on a
> >>diatonic scale. It doesn't carry any connotations of
chromaticism.
> >
> >
> > But there are "chromatic unisons", "chromatic
seconds", "chromatic
> > thirds", etc. These are variations on the diatonic intervals that
> > occur via the introduction of chromatic alterations relative to
the
> > underlying diatonic scale. The keys to determining the generic
type
> > of interval (unison, second, third) are the letter-names attached
to
> > the notes.
>
> The word "but" should introduce a contradiction.

I don't get it. Is this an objection to the above?

> >>So what about these "chromatic intervals"? I'm not sure if they
> > relate
> >>to unison vectors at all.
> >
> > Most of them aren't even unisons.
>
> Uh, nooo...
>
> >>The best I can think of is that a chromatic
> >>interval must be the same as either a chromatic or diatonic
> > interval on
> >>a chromatic scale. Also, a chromatic interval always differs
from
> > a
> >>diatonic interval by a chromatic semitone. So if the chromatic
> > semitone
> >>were a unison vector, there wouldn't be any need to talk about
> >>"chromatic intervals" because they wouldn't be any different from
> >>diatonic ones.
> >
> >
> > Where did you make this last jump? F and F# would be a perfect
> > example here. They form a chromatic unison against one another,
> > specifically an augmented unison. Against a given reference
pitch,
> > one might form a diatonic interval, in which case the other forms
a
> > chromatic interval against that same reference pitch.
>
> No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F# are
the
> same

Nope, they just use the same letter name.

> and they both form the same interval against a reference pitch.

They form the same generic (in # of diatonic steps) interval, but not
the same specific interval.

> Now, if the vector approximates the period rather than a unison
that is
> a problem.

Sure.

> I hadn't thought of that before. Or I forgot. But you said
> in one of your messages that it can arise.

I did? Was I talking about this context of what you're calling "the
vector" immediately above and "chromatic unison vector" earlier,
within your particular process? Or __________ ?

> In that case maybe we do
> need another term. And "comma" won't do if the commatic unison
vectors
> can break in the same way.

Break in the same way?

> How about "period vector"?

Is it _always_ going to be a period? I thought not.

> Or "kernel vector"?

That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 10:37:42 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
> >
> >>>>The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we
still
> > don't
> >>>>have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector".
> >>>
> >>>I gave a better term, "generating interval".
> >>
> >>Am I supposed to comment on this? You think calling two
different
> >>things by the same name
> >
> > What are the two different things?
>
> The thing we've always called "the generator" and the thing we may
once
> have called a "chromatic unison vector".

As you often do, you've snipped out too much for me to remember what
this was about. Right now I have no idea in what sense the chromatic
unison vector could possibly determine or have any influence on the
generator.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 10:49:57 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> > You want a specific set of two ETs? Why? This is the first I'm
> > hearing of it -- I thought you wanted the period and generator
> > mappings.
>
> The old code does always spit out a pair of ETs as one of its
results,
> but that's a side issue. You may get a different period mapping
from
> different methods.
>
> > The period mapping will be different if and only if the generator
is
> > defined differently (any number of periods plus or minus the
original
> > generator). But the mappings will still be equivalent overall.
>
> Yes.
>
> >>>Jamesbond has an OE part of 007. The reason to care is that I was
> >>>using it as an example.
> >>
> >>Is it an example of something I'm likely to care about?
> >
> > It's a theoretical case you should care about because similar
cases
> > may arise but which are of more practical interest.
>
> I know that similar cases arise in higher limits. They're very
> important and I make sure my code can handle them. So what
theoretical
> reason could there be for caring about this example?

Pass.

> >>Please, do not accuse me of standardizing ambiguous vals. I've
> > argued
> >>against that before and I haven't changed my position. That's
why
> > I
> >>always say explicitly how I arrive at my mappings -- as I did in
> > the bit
> >>you quoted. That way nobody has to remember my jargon from one
> > message
> >>to another. Which part of "best weighted-RMS mapping" are you
> > having
> >>difficulty weith?
> >
> > I never heard of that before. Can you explain/define it?
>
> "Best weighted-RMS mapping"? I'd like to have a short hand way of
> referring to them. "Best RMS Tenney-weighted prime mapping" is a
bit of
> a mouthful and whatever bit I leave out gets questioned. It means
you
> take lots of differnet mappings, calculate the optimal Tenney-
weighted
> RMS error,

In the tuning which minimizes this quantity given the mapping in
question?

> and use the best mapping as a result.

If the answer to the above is "yes", this seems like it would make
for a more reasonable definition of "standard val" than the current
one. But anyway, how are you using the above in your process?

> >>When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each of
> > the
> >>primes" as additional unison vectors
> >
> > Nonsense.
>
> And how is this different?

Primes as unisons?

> >>(which Paul says we aren't allowed
> >>to call "chromatic unison vectors" because they're too big).
> >
> > You keep missing the point. It's the "unison" part that I object
to
> > for big intervals, not the "chromatic" part! Though typically,
primes
> > shouldn't have to be "chromatic" either . . .
>
> I don't think I missed that point at all.
>
> The point you seem to be missing is that an algorithm that uses
> chromatic unison vectors (CUVs) doesn't become a different
algorithm if
> you apply something to it that isn't a CUV.

No, you've simply described the algorithm poorly.

> And saying "you could use
> primes instead of CUVs" is much simpler than saying "you don't need
> CUVs" and explaining the whole method from scratch as if it were
> substantially different.

Not if you care about transparency.

> >>"Find something" and "solve the problem" isn't a method at all.
> >>It's an
> >>aspiration.
> >
> > I don't understand.
>
> What Gene said was "find the period mapping from the wedgie, and
solve
> the equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when
wedged
> with the period mapping you get the wedgie." That isn't something
I can
> go away and implement in Python.

You don't have a means to solve systems of linear equations?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 10:54:22 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

> > :) This I'd like to see! Using wedgies still requires an
additional
> > unison vector? How?
>
> To get the representative ET (or DE scale, or val, or whatever).

I still don't know how you define this for a particular R2
temperament or why you'd even need to.

> I'm not interested in algorithms that use unison vectors
> but still work when something else is substituted. Not that I'm
much
> interested anyway.

That's two sentences seemingly saying you're not interested in this
stuff. If so, I hope to increase your interest, someday, somehow.

> >>Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit)
get
> > an
> >>octave-specific mapping.
> >
> > I think Herman just demonstrated how to do this.
>
> Without a chromatic unison vector, or something like one.

Exactly.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 11:16:34 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
> >
> >>The best term in any situation is usually the one people already
> >>understand. Last time we had a consensus on this list, it was
> >
> > about
> >
> >>"chromatic unison vector".
> >
> > When was that? Or are you being sarcastic?
>
> I was thinking about before Gene arrived. But maybe we weren't on
this
> list then.

Still, I don't recall this consensus you speak of.

> >>It's unstable in that it's less likely to give a generator that
> > lies
> >>between a unison and a period for an optimal (or any sensible)
> > tuning.
> >
> > I'm having trouble understanding this because it's so easy to
just
> > subtract some number of periods from the generator and then just
> > restate everything in terms of this new generator. Why does the
need
> > to do this amount to "instability" in any sense?
>
> It amounts to instability because inputs that you'd expect to give
the
> same output don't.

Doesn't seem fundamentally different than trivial things like
enforcing sign conventions. I certainly wouldn't call
this "instability!"

> >>If you generated the temperaments
> >>from commas, any temperament with the same unison vectors is the
> >>same.
> >
> > Again, seemingly useless, but I'm probably missing something.
>
> It takes a long time to find all temperaments implied by a big set
of
> commas.

It depends.

> If you want to check that the commas were sufficient to find
> the best of a given set of regular temperaments (RT), you can go
through
> each RT and see if each comma gets tempered out. Then you can
check
> subsets of those commas for linear independence. If you get the
right
> number of linearly independent commas, then you know the RT would
have
> been on the list of RTs produced by commas but, if you're only
> interested in a small fraction of the RTs you would have generated,
with
> less computational effort.

I don't follow.

> >>A unison vector the same as a unison once it's tempered. Was
that
> > your
> >>only problem? It was easily disposed of.
> >
> > You've been very dismissive of high-error temperaments. But a
> > temperament that tempered out a perfect fifth would have
*extremely*
> > high error. So you're seemingly being inconsistent here.
>
> That goes to show you the wonderfully inconsistent way we use the
> English language.

I do try to do a bit better.

> In a practical context, I don't think something that
> approximates intervals worse than it needs to should be called a
> temperament. But in an abstract context there's no need to exclude
them.

Then why not invoke an abstract name for the more inclusive case (the
abstract context) instead of confusing things by overloading a
practical name?

> >><0 1 4 10| could be the mapping for an equal temperament. That
is,
> > it
> >>maps primes to tempered intervals. I can't see any point in
> > calling the
> >>thing it maps to anything other than an equal temperament.
> >
> > Then don't expect anyone to understand what you're saying or
doing.
>
> I didn't say anything!

If you're not calling it anything other than an equal temperament,
you're calling it an equal temperament, right?

> >>A chromatic unison vector is a unison
> >>vector of an equal temperament which belongs to a family of
regular
> >>temperaments. However, it is only a unison vector of that one
> > equal
> >>temperament.
> >
> > I don't think chromatic unison vectors come in at all when you're
> > talking about equal temperaments. Rather, it's for DE scales that
> > they come in.
>
> No, but this is an easy way to define it if you want to show what
it's a
> unison vector of.
>
> > And what about a fifth? How can that be a unison vector for any
ET
> > that you'd care about?
>
> Unlikely. But it might lead to something that looks exactly like
an ET
> in a specific context and is used as an intermediate object in a
> calculation.

As I suspected, and commented on earlier.

> >>>Here's Maple code; see if that will do:
> >>>
> >>>lval7 := proc(l)
> >>># subgroup vals of 7-limit wedgie
> >>>-[[0, -l[1], -l[2], -l[3]], [l[1], 0, -l[4], -l[5]],
> >>>[l[2], l[4], 0, -l[6]], [l[3], l[5], l[6], 0]] end:
> >>
> >>Aren't these the chromatic unison vectors you said you weren't
> >>using.
> >
> > These are vals/breeds, not commas/monzos. And even if they were
the
> > latter, what would be chromatic (as opposed to commatic) about
them?
>
> If they're values produced by a wedgie there must have been a
chromatic
> unison vector, or something very like a chromatic unison vector
(UV),
> used to produce them.

It seems crystal clear that no such thing is used above. Instead, you
just zero out one element at a time and adjust some signs. Am I
missing something?

> The putative UVs wouldn't be commatic because
> they aren't tempered out by the RT in question.

Again, these look like vals/breeds, not commas/monzovectors.

> It looks like the
> things like chromatic-UVs are prime intervals in this case,

:)

> but I
> haven't checked the calculation to see if all the signs are
correct.
> Are you seriously that things like chromatic-UVs aren't involved
here?

I'm seriously that primes aren't UVs, and if it's primes you use in
every case, then there's no sense thinking about them as, or calling
them, UVs.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 11:27:15 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>
> >Normally the octave is mapped to by zero "generators" and some
number
> >of "periods". But if you take an arbitrary basis pair of
generators,
> >say the major second and minor second, it's not true that you can
get
> >to the octave using only one of these (in 1/4-comma meantone, say).
>
> Well that's precisely the assertion made by Graham, as I read it.

That you can?

> >> while it's ok if all the other primes are mapped by a combination
> >> of generators.
> >
> >You can always express the basis so that any or none of the primes
> >comes from a single generator by itself.
>
> This hardly seems to agree with what you said about such a condition
> (none) causing degeneracy to a lower dimensionality.

You must have misunderstood what I said. Repeat it and I'll try to
clarify for you. There's no contradiction with what I did say
about "degeneracy to a lower dimensionality." What I'm saying above
is exemplified by the meantone example -- if you basis is the major
second and minor second, then none of the primes comes from a single
generator by itself.

> But it does
> explain why you'd call one generator a period.
>
> >One point of doing it so that prime 2 does is that you can
> >immediately spit out octave-repeating scales. Just start with one
> >note per period, and then simply apply the generator over and over
> >again.
>
> Right. It's a convenience. And I've used this technique many
> times.
>
> >How would you do that using an
> >arbitrary pair of generators (such as major second and minor
second)?
>
> Let's look at my original question:
> ""
> Are there any named temperaments which require both "period" and
> "generator" to map the octave?
> ""
>
> The answer was,
>
> ""
> I don't think that makes sense. If both generators divide the
octave,
> you can divide the octave into more parts and get an equal
temperament.
> So it means you don't have a rank 2 temperament at all.
> ""

If the generator basis is chosen such that one of the generators can
be called a "period", then this generator, the period, will be all
you need/want in order to generate the octave. If there's *also* a
way to generate the octave using a nonzero number of the *other*
generator, *the* "generator", then you have a degeneracy and didn't
specify the basis correctly in the first place. Because a correct
basis will associate one and only one mapping (from the basis
vectors) to each and every interval in the tuning.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 11:29:26 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>
> At 02:36 AM 1/20/2006, you wrote:
> >--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@l...> wrote:
> >>
> >> >> The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.
> >> >
> >> >They're the only way you can do away with odd limits and rely
> >> >simply on the less restrictive prime limit.
> >>
> >> Why are they the only such way?
> >
> >Normally, 7-limit and 9-limit results will differ, for example.
But
> >with an inverse-log-of-product weighting on the ratios (which
agrees
> >with 1/log(p) weighted prime errors), all such distinctions
disappear.
> >It's the only way you can get sums of errors and errors of sums to
> >agree while ranking all the ratios in the prime limit in numerical
> >order.
>
> Maybe you meant it's the only way to have the convenience of prime
> limits agree with the psychoacoustics of odd limits... ?

I guess I didn't explain this well, but Graham has done a lot of
explaining of this very point, so I'll let him have a go at it
now . . .

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/6/2006 12:11:14 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
wrote:
Perhaps if we could
> replace "representative ET mapping" with a suitably abstract term
> like "val" or better yet "breed", and a similar change for "chromatic
> unison vector," one might have a better chance of avoiding conceptual
> confusion.

(1) Is there some reason why "breed" is better? "Val" suggests
"valuation".

(2) What does Graham think of it?

> I didn't know that. It seems to me that the wedgie gives you the part
> of the matrix you need above (or below) the diagonal, with sign and
> GCD taken care of in the appropriate way. Is it that you want to use
> the matrix form instead of the wedgie form, or you actually want to
> do without the information therein?

I think he wants to use them, but not talk about them.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/6/2006 12:33:53 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
wrote:

> If the generator basis is chosen such that one of the generators can
> be called a "period", then this generator, the period, will be all
> you need/want in order to generate the octave. If there's *also* a
> way to generate the octave using a nonzero number of the *other*
> generator, *the* "generator", then you have a degeneracy and didn't
> specify the basis correctly in the first place.

What it's degenerating to is specifically an equal temperament for a
composite number. Examples are 1/3 and 1/4 as a basis for 12-et, or
1/9 and 1/19 as a basis for 171-et.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 10:18:28 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
>
> >>1) sum-abs of the weighted wedgie
> >>2) max-min of the weighted generator mapping
> >>3) max Kees-weighted complexity
> <snip>
>
> > One thing at a time! Now, I thought that instead of (2) you would
> > have said "max-min of the weighted octave-equivalent part of the
> > wedgie". And at least this applies just as readily for higher
rank
> > temperaments.
>
> You should have said "octave-equivalent part plus zero" and I
should
> have said "generator mapping multiplied by the number of periods to
an
> octave". What you should have said applies to higher rank
temperaments,

It does?

> but I don't have any reason to suppose it makes sense.

You don't?

I'm mystified . . .

> >>Yes, the weighting's doing what we asked it to. The issue is
that
> > the
> >>odd-limit complexity I was happy with won't work without an odd-
> > limit.
> >>The max-min of the weighted mapping is the nearest weighted
> > equivalent
> >>to the odd limit complexity. But in practice it seems to give
more
> >>divergent results than changing to weighted errors.
> >
> > How so?
>
> As below, with the 13-limit examples.

Below?

> >>I'm not saying it's
> >>wrong, or even that I don't like the results, but I'm pointing
out
> > that
> >>the 13-limit R2 landscale looks a lot different as a result. A
> >>temperament that used to be the clear number 1 now doesn't even
> > make the
> >>top 10 (although that may be partly because the cutoffs are
> > different).
> >
> > Did it make the cutoff? And isn't the definition of badness --
how
> > you combine error and complexity for your rankings -- a whole
> > separate issue here? And below. You can't say "number 1"
or "best"
> > unless you've defined this.
>
> Yes, it makes the cutoff. The badness is a separate issue that
needn't
> concern us.

Why not? Ultimately, it's what determines these rankings.

> But for the record it's complexity**2 * error.
>
> >>In other limits the weighting doesn't make much difference to the
> >>ordering. Schismic is the best 5-limit R2T,
> >
> > Again, this is only true given certain badness formulations (and
> > cutoffs).
>
> So do you have examples of badness where the weighting does make a
big
> difference?

It can make a big difference in the rankings, even if it's not making
a big difference in the relative badnesses. We've seen this in the 7-
limit.

> >>then Hanson I think and
> >>meantone. In the 7-limit, it's meantone, orwell, schismic, then
> > Orwell
> >>I think.
> >
> > Is there a difference between orwell and Orwell?
>
> There shouldn't be! It looks like neither of them are actually
orwell.
> I should have said meantone, magic, schismic, miracle, orwell.
Then
> sensisept according to your table.
>
> > Gene gave a formula; let's work from there.
>
> I think Gene's formula is the same as mine. So max-min of the
weighted
> generator mapping, times the first element of the period mapping,
is the
> same as the Kees complexity.
>
> > OK, so what exactly is the analogy in this case?
>
> Complexity and error are the duals of each other.

Kind of but not really . . . right Gene? Anyway, I don't remember the
original context of what "the analogy" was . . .

> >>>Right, but there appears to be a close relationship when you use
> > the
> >>>max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie instead -- Gene?
> >>No. The max of the weighted octave-equivalent wedgie doesn't
> > relate to
> >>anything.
> >
> > Sorry -- I meant "max - min" instead of "max" -- I typed too
fast. Is
> > that better?
>
> Better, but you still need to add a zero to the mapping.

Gotcha.

> Otherwise the
> results are too low when all the entries are either positive or
negative.
>
>
> >>Octave specific TOP error = max(w, -w) - 1 = max(abs(e))
> >>Octave equivalent TOP error = (max(w) - min(w))/(max(w)+min(w))
> >
> > Does this mean the maximum Kees error, or what?
>
> It gives the same result as the TOP error,

You mean the same result as the maximum Tenney-weighted damage? But
that's true if and only if the tuning in which the maximum Tenney-
weighted damage is calculated is already TOP, right?

> but doesn't require the
> octaves to be tempered. I originally thought it was the same as
the
> optimal max Kees error but Gene disagrees.
>
> >>Approximate TOP error = (max(e) - min(e))/2
> >
> > Was this in the table?
>
> What table? The one I gave? No. I don't think so. It's the TOP
error
> multiplied by the optimal octave stretch. So it's a good
approximation
> when the octaves don't need much tempering.

We definitely should look at all of this stuff in a more centralized
way. Do you feel like maybe writing up a preliminary document on this?

> >>Wedgie complexity = max(W, -W) = max(abs(W))
> >
> > But in my paper, I used sum(abs(W)). And I thought the numbers in
> > your table agreed with my paper . . . (?)
>
> Did I write that? You are correct.

Huh?

> >>It's just struck me that any mapping might do in place of M. I
> > wonder...
> >
> > Me too. I hope the Genie can enter the discussion at this point
and
> > shed some light on everything . . .
>
> I thought about this more, and couldn't make any sense out of it.

Complexity should be basis-invariant.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/6/2006 10:41:23 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
wrote:
>
> >>For unison vectors, see the online Fokker paper:
> >>
> >>http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/doc/fokkerpb.html
> >>
> >>We use octave-specific vectors but otherwise it's the same. The
> >>chromatic unison vector is the one that you don't temper out.
> >
> > When you're deriving/defining a DE scale. Not one of the concerns
in
> > this thread if I've been reading it right.
>
> How so? I use a chromatic-unison vector (CUV) (or something like
one)
> to get the mapping for an equal temperament (or something like
one). I
> then find the generator that turns the ET into a distributionaly
even
> (DE, formerly MOS) scale (or something like one). From that, I
deduce a
> period mapping that works.
>
> Gene uses some things like CUVs to get things like equal
temperaments,
> but doesn't worry about the generators. So is that your current
reaso
> for saying he "doesn't use CUVs"? That he doesn't use the
generators?

I'll let Gene speak for himself . . .

> >>The
> >>Fokker determinant tells you how many notes there are in the MOS.
> >
> > Or more generally, the DE scale. Seems like a different issue
than
> > the ones we're addressing here.
>
> Why?

In an R2 temperament, there is no "number of notes".

> When you use octave-specific vectors, you get a full mapping
> instead of only a number of notes. That's what Gene uses, the
mappings.
> So why is that a different method to using CUVs, but substituting
> things larger than UVs?

Gene?

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/6/2006 3:56:14 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
wrote:

> > Gene uses some things like CUVs to get things like equal
> temperaments,
> > but doesn't worry about the generators. So is that your current
> reaso
> > for saying he "doesn't use CUVs"? That he doesn't use the
> generators?
>
> I'll let Gene speak for himself . . .

I can't very well speak for myself using Graham's definitions. Anyway,
I don't even know what the claim means.

> > When you use octave-specific vectors, you get a full mapping
> > instead of only a number of notes. That's what Gene uses, the
> mappings.
> > So why is that a different method to using CUVs, but substituting
> > things larger than UVs?
>
> Gene?

Again, I don't understand Graham's language.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

2/6/2006 6:31:27 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
> wrote:
>>like "val" or better yet "breed", and a similar change for "chromatic >>unison vector," one might have a better chance of avoiding conceptual >>confusion.
> > > (1) Is there some reason why "breed" is better? "Val" suggests
> "valuation".

Ah, that's what "val" is short for? "Valuation" you can at least look up on Wikipedia, although apparently in the UK it means "real estate appraisal" and it also has a specialized meaning in financial jargon. Wikipedia defines it as "a map from the set of variables of a first-order language to the universe of some interpretation of that language," which suggests that "map" would actually be a better term (one less likely to be misinterpreted). "Val" suggests "value", which makes little sense.

Since we've established "tuning map" as a kind of map that's very similar to a "val" (specifically one that defines a tuning by setting the size of the prime intervals), does it make sense to use "map" as a general term which includes "tuning" maps and (some other kind of) maps?

Or we could just call them "valuations".

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 6:58:40 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

>>>You're getting closer. Now, wouldn't you agree that according to > this >>>definition, there's no way a fifth can be "unisonious"? > Furthermore, >>>all the unison vectors Fokker considered were used by him as >>>*commatic* unison vectors -- he always had enough of them to > define >>>an ET, and never derived scales with fewer than 12 notes.
>>A fifth would be unisonous in a system where two notes that differ > by a >>fifth are considered to be unisons.
> > Sounds like the kind of system you would be very eager to deem > totally impractical and irrelevant in another context . . .

I haven't said it was practical or relevant in any context. You brought it up.

>>I don't know what you mean by "commatic". He doesn't always temper > them >>out.
> > Does he ever?

Yes, in "Les math�matiques et la musique. Trois conf�rences" (I don't have the URL to hand).

"""On peut suivre la m�me voie si l'on se sert du r�seau harmonique � trois dimensions. Persistons dans l'identification de deux tons diff�rant d'un comma. D'un point arbitraire du r�s�au, d'un son quelconque, on tracera une ar�te au point o� se trouve le second son, qui sera consid�r� comme homophonique. Ce sera un vecteur d'homophonie. Les coordonn�es de ce point seront quatre quintes, et une sous-tierce, c'est-�-dire (4, -1, 0).

Plus subtile encore est la diff�rence entre les deux demi-tons majeurs 15 : 16 et 14 : 15, ou, ce qui revient au m�me, la distinction de 224 et 225. Alors on identifiera 224 et 225, 25.7 et 32.52, et on tracera dans le r�seau un second vecteur d'homophonie, de l'origine au point qui diff�re de deux quintes, de deux tierces, et d'une sous-septi�me; de coordonn�es (2, 2, -1).

En dernier lieu on remarquera que trois septi�mes suivies d'une quinte nous portent � un son presque identique au son de d�part (3 � 7 � 7 � 7 = 1029, 210 = 1024. Nous identifierons ces deux sons. Dans le r�seau harmonique cette paire de s�ns nous fournit un troisi�me vecteur d'homophonie, aux coordonn�es (1, 0, 3).

Ces trois vecteurs nous d�finissent dans le r�seau un parall�l�pip�de, une base de p�riodicit�. . . Cette m�thode nous fournit le temp�rament �gal de trente-et-un cinqui�mes de ton, tel qu'il a �t� calcul� par Christiaan Huygens.
"""

In that, "vecteurs d'homophonie" are unison vectors. Same concept, different language.

>>>If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the >>>octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping >>>without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison >>>vectors or ET.
>>
>>You may not have a wedgie.
> > Why not?

You might be using matrices.

>>And you may be able to get the full mapping >>without additional unison vectors but I can't.
> > Herman may have given the most recent explanation of how to do that.

Then I didn't see it.

>>Unless I substitute >>something that's like a unison vector but you don't want to call a >>unison vector.
> > Why do *you* want to call it a unison vector?

I don't want to call it a unison vector. I'd rather not talk about it at all. I only want to acknowledge that it functions like a unison vector if somebody brings it up.

> I would think I'd definitely call it a chromatic unison vector then. > But how do you choose this additional unison vector, and what is the > significance of the "original representative ET mapping" in your > process? I guess if this is all just an interim step in your > calculation where any arbitrary thing will do, it might not matter. > But it's certainly confusing to think of practical temperaments in > terms of a "representative ET mapping" which has no resemblance with > practical ET mappings and a "chromatic unison vector" which has no > resemblance with practical chromatic unisons. Perhaps if we could > replace "representative ET mapping" with a suitably abstract term > like "val" or better yet "breed", and a similar change for "chromatic > unison vector," one might have a better chance of avoiding conceptual > confusion.

The way I choose it now is to take intervals from the second-order tonality diamond. I'm not dealing with unison vectors in any context where I don't have tonality diamonds to hand. I used to use primes but I've learned the error of my ways.

It's an interim step if all you want is the period mapping. The results I give in that particular context do include the ET mappings and they make more sense if you use a sensible chromatic-unison vector. That's why I changed the code, because Paul Hjelmstad didn't like the ET mappings that were coming out.

I also think it's a useful concept to leave in when you're explaining how the algorithm works. It means you don't have to talk about implementation details like wedge products and matrix operations until you need to.

Yes, it's confusing to think about the things you say. I'd prefer not to think about them rather than add another layer of confusion.

>>>It isn't helpful if, in the documentation or description of your >>>procedure, you use the term "unison vector" when being in any >>>sense "unisonious" is irrelevant to it and often violated by it. > Why >>>not just change your language and drop the word "unison"?
>>
>>That would be the case if I were to do such a thing.
> > You mean if you were to document or describe your procedure? It's not > as if you've never described it, at least, contrary to the impression > this statement gives.

If I were to use the term "unison vector" when the sense of being "unisonous" as inferred from Fokker's writing is irrelevant or violated.

> I didn't know that. It seems to me that the wedgie gives you the part > of the matrix you need above (or below) the diagonal, with sign and > GCD taken care of in the appropriate way. Is it that you want to use > the matrix form instead of the wedgie form, or you actually want to > do without the information therein?

Does it? I don't know.

I want to avoid implementation details when I don't need them.

> There's absolutely no way to stay in the same diatonic scale if > you're moving by a chromatic unison vector.

Yes, that's what makes it a unison vector. In an equal temperament, a unison vector is an interval that approximates a unison (or number of octaves where equivalent). In a periodicity block, a unison vector is an interval by which you can transpose the block to fill space without overlapping. 25:24 is clearly the unison vector of the diatonic scale.

>>>>I agree that 25:24 is both a chromatic interval and a unison. > But >>>it >>>
>>>>isn't both at the same time.
>>>
>>>Sure -- it's an augmented unison.
>>
>>Not when it's a chromatic interval.
> > What do you mean? Augmented intervals are chromatic by definition.

By your definition, yes. But the two terms arise from different contexts.

>>Thanks to Herman for providing the secret decoder ring here. > You're >>saying "chromatic unison" is actually a term?
> > Yes, yes, yes, this is what I've been saying all along, if you care > to re-read my posts.

Yes, I understand that now. But it's got to be an obscure one. I searched for "chromatic unison" on Google, and what did I find? Posts on chromatic unison vectors in the top positions!

> Well, I didn't invent this terminology, I got it from Paul Hahn, and > anyway "chromatic" seems like it's both more appropriate in the > generalized situation we actually care about (it's easier to infer a > generalization of "chromatic alteration" to non-diatonic situations > than of "augmented", it seems to me), and more worthy to stand > beside "commatic". If it's established, we'll keep it. I only suggested avoiding it because you were contradicting Fokker on the "unison vector" part and I thought you might be claiming ownership of the term.

>>No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F# are > the >>same
> > Nope, they just use the same letter name.

If two intervals differ by a unison vector, they're the same in the system in which the unison vector applies. I thought we agreed on that.

>>and they both form the same interval against a reference pitch.
> > They form the same generic (in # of diatonic steps) interval, but not > the same specific interval.

Not when the chromatic semitone's being a unison vector, they don't.

>>Now, if the vector approximates the period rather than a unison > that is >>a problem.
> > Sure.
> > >>I hadn't thought of that before. Or I forgot. But you said >>in one of your messages that it can arise.
> > I did? Was I talking about this context of what you're calling "the > vector" immediately above and "chromatic unison vector" earlier, > within your particular process? Or __________ ?

I can't remember now.

>>In that case maybe we do >>need another term. And "comma" won't do if the commatic unison > vectors >>can break in the same way.
> > Break in the same way?

If something can work in place of a commatic unison vector, but approximate a finite number of periods instead of a unison. Then the word "comma" won't do as a substitute.

>>How about "period vector"?
> > Is it _always_ going to be a period? I thought not.

I think it's always going to be a number of periods (including zero and negative numbers) like a unison vector is always a whole number of unisons.

>>Or "kernel vector"?
> > That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.

I thought a kernel only implied a homomorphism, not a particular tuning of the thing being mapped to. Maybe I can check my group theory book to see if there's a better word. But I'd prefer to avoid the whole issue.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 6:59:02 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
> wrote:
> Perhaps if we could >>replace "representative ET mapping" with a suitably abstract term >>like "val" or better yet "breed", and a similar change for "chromatic >>unison vector," one might have a better chance of avoiding conceptual >>confusion.
> > (1) Is there some reason why "breed" is better? "Val" suggests
> "valuation".
> > (2) What does Graham think of it?

If you really need an abstract term, you can define one in that context. I don't think we need such a term for most of what we talk about -- or even anything I can understand.

When I talk about equal temperaments, how well they approximate JI is usually relevant. So your "val" as I understand it isn't the abstraction I want anyway.

I do think it would be useful to have a term for regular temperaments that doesn't imply a regular tuning. Then well temperaments and periodicity blocks can be considered alongside equal temperaments. The term "val" doesn't do what I want because it only applies to equal temperaments. Similarly with "constant structure". I'd like to talk about rank 2 temperaments where the tuning doesn't matter as well and there isn't a word for them. Lacking such a word, I keep talking about temperaments.

>>I didn't know that. It seems to me that the wedgie gives you the part >>of the matrix you need above (or below) the diagonal, with sign and >>GCD taken care of in the appropriate way. Is it that you want to use >>the matrix form instead of the wedgie form, or you actually want to >>do without the information therein?
> > I think he wants to use them, but not talk about them.

I don't want to talk about wedgies until I need to. There are plenty of ideas we still need to get across to the world at large that don't require wedgies. We need them to quantify higher-rank temperaments, and either wedge products or matrix operations to implement an algorithm to find the mapping for a periodicity block. The important problem is finding and describing equal and rank 2 temperaments. Wedgies are a distraction there.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 6:59:22 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
> >>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>>
>>>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...> > > wrote:
> >>>>>>The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we > > still > >>>don't >>>
>>>>>>have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector".
>>>>>
>>>>>I gave a better term, "generating interval". >>>>
>>>>Am I supposed to comment on this? You think calling two > > different > >>>>things by the same name
>>>
>>>What are the two different things?
>>
>>The thing we've always called "the generator" and the thing we may > > once > >>have called a "chromatic unison vector".
> > As you often do, you've snipped out too much for me to remember what > this was about. Right now I have no idea in what sense the chromatic > unison vector could possibly determine or have any influence on the > generator.

Gene proposed we use "generating interval" instead of "chromatic unison vector". It's all there in the quote so I won't snip it. There is an answer to your question but it probably doesn't matter.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 7:01:22 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
> >>"Best weighted-RMS mapping"? I'd like to have a short hand way of >>referring to them. "Best RMS Tenney-weighted prime mapping" is a > bit of >>a mouthful and whatever bit I leave out gets questioned. It means > you >>take lots of differnet mappings, calculate the optimal Tenney-
> weighted >>RMS error,
> > In the tuning which minimizes this quantity given the mapping in > question?

Yes. The best mapping for the best tuning.

>>and use the best mapping as a result.
> > If the answer to the above is "yes", this seems like it would make > for a more reasonable definition of "standard val" than the current > one. But anyway, how are you using the above in your process?

It's more useful because the best ET is more likely to work with a good regular temperament. I still prefer to avoid standards because people will forget them.

I only use it in convenience methods, to return an equal temperament from a limit and an integer, or a linear temperament from a limit and two integers, and so on.

>>>>When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each of >>>the >>>>primes" as additional unison vectors
>>>
>>>Nonsense.
>>
>>And how is this different?
> > Primes as unisons?

Unison vectors as following Fokker's usage of "unison vector" as being something considered the same as a number of octaves (octave being a prime ratio).

>>The point you seem to be missing is that an algorithm that uses >>chromatic unison vectors (CUVs) doesn't become a different > algorithm if >>you apply something to it that isn't a CUV.
> > No, you've simply described the algorithm poorly.

Thank you!

>>And saying "you could use >>primes instead of CUVs" is much simpler than saying "you don't need >>CUVs" and explaining the whole method from scratch as if it were >>substantially different.
> > Not if you care about transparency.

What's obscure about "you could use primes instead of chromatic-unison vectors"?

>>What Gene said was "find the period mapping from the wedgie, and > solve >>the equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when > wedged
>>with the period mapping you get the wedgie." That isn't something > I can >>go away and implement in Python.
> > You don't have a means to solve systems of linear equations?

Where do you see equations in that quote, let alone linear ones?

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 7:01:39 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

>>>>1) sum-abs of the weighted wedgie
>>>>2) max-min of the weighted generator mapping [times periods per octave]
>>>>3) max Kees-weighted complexity
>>
>><snip>
>>
>>>One thing at a time! Now, I thought that instead of (2) you would >>>have said "max-min of the weighted octave-equivalent part of the >>>wedgie". And at least this applies just as readily for higher > rank >>>temperaments.
>>
>>You should have said "octave-equivalent part plus zero"

>>octave". What you should have said applies to higher rank > temperaments, > > It does?

Yes, all regular temperaments have an octave-equivalent wedgie.

>>but I don't have any reason to suppose it makes sense.
> > You don't?
> > I'm mystified . . .

If you can see a reason why it would make sense you'll have to explain it. All I can say is I can't see one.

It also troubles me that you have to add the zero. That's an arbitrary feature which suggests wedgies aren't the right way of looking at this.

>>>>The max-min of the weighted mapping is the nearest weighted >>>equivalent >>>>to the odd limit complexity. But in practice it seems to give > more >>>>divergent results than changing to weighted errors.
>>>
>>>How so?
>>
>>As below, with the 13-limit examples.
> > Below?

Go back through the thread and search for mystery.

>>Yes, it makes the cutoff. The badness is a separate issue that > needn't >>concern us.
> > Why not? Ultimately, it's what determines these rankings.

But it's the complexity that's changing. Any badness that involves complexity will also change.

>>So do you have examples of badness where the weighting does make a > big >>difference?
> > It can make a big difference in the rankings, even if it's not making > a big difference in the relative badnesses. We've seen this in the 7-
> limit.

What examples?

>>Complexity and error are the duals of each other.
> > Kind of but not really . . . right Gene? Anyway, I don't remember the > original context of what "the analogy" was . . .

The formula for worst-Kees compelexity is the same as an approximate TOP formula. I've since come up with a complexity that works with RMS instead of max error, and that's an approximate max error formula. But I don't have any other justification for it and for now I'm sticking with the worst-Kees.

I'd like to divide the worst-Kees by 2 so that it's closer to the other measure, but I don't know if I can justify that either. It does sort of make sense, though, that after subtracting weighted intervals we should normalize the result.

>>>>Octave specific TOP error = max(w, -w) - 1 = max(abs(e))
>>>>Octave equivalent TOP error = (max(w) - min(w))/(max(w)+min(w))
>>>
>>>Does this mean the maximum Kees error, or what?
>>
>>It gives the same result as the TOP error,
> > You mean the same result as the maximum Tenney-weighted damage? But > that's true if and only if the tuning in which the maximum Tenney-
> weighted damage is calculated is already TOP, right?

Yes. TOP implies an optimal tuning. If you take that tuning and unstretch it to get pure octaves, the octave-equivalent quantity above doesn't change.

> We definitely should look at all of this stuff in a more centralized > way. Do you feel like maybe writing up a preliminary document on this?

Now isn't a good time because I'm about to get busy. But yes, sometime.

>>>>Wedgie complexity = max(W, -W) = max(abs(W))
>>>
>>>But in my paper, I used sum(abs(W)). And I thought the numbers in >>>your table agreed with my paper . . . (?)
>>
>>Did I write that? You are correct.
> > Huh?

It's sum(abs(W)), not max(abs(W)), and I agree with the numbers in your paper.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 7:01:46 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

>>It takes a long time to find all temperaments implied by a big set > of >>commas.
> > It depends.

Depends on what? I did a 13-limit rank 2 search and it took ages. I've never heard of anybody getting it to work in higher limits (although I don't know what Gene's been doing). I can do paired ET searches up to the 31-limit really easily. With rank 3, the two methods have equal complexity in the 11-limit.

>>If you want to check that the commas were sufficient to find >>the best of a given set of regular temperaments (RT), you can go > through >>each RT and see if each comma gets tempered out. Then you can > check >>subsets of those commas for linear independence. If you get the > right >>number of linearly independent commas, then you know the RT would > have >>been on the list of RTs produced by commas but, if you're only >>interested in a small fraction of the RTs you would have generated, > with >>less computational effort.
> > I don't follow.

If you have n commas in d-dimensional ratio space and you want to find rank r temperaments, you need to consider all combinations of d-r commas. That means

n!/(d-r)!/(n+r-d)!

different sets of commas, which is roughly proportional to n to the power d-r. If you start with a list of equal temperaments, the time to check all combinations is proportional to the square of the number of them. So it's much easier to generate a complete list of regular temperaments that way.

Once you have a list of regular temperaments, you can throw away the ones you're not interested in. That list's going to be pretty small because your interest can't stretch very far. Checking all commas against all regular temperaments is proportional to the number of regular temperaments times the number of commas. This is a quadratic dependency. When d is high and the number of commas is large it's likely to be the only practical way of checking if the commas work with the temperaments you're interested in. At least, it's a useful technique to have available.

I don't remember what the context of this is.

>>In a practical context, I don't think something that >>approximates intervals worse than it needs to should be called a >>temperament. But in an abstract context there's no need to exclude > them.
> > Then why not invoke an abstract name for the more inclusive case (the > abstract context) instead of confusing things by overloading a > practical name?

Because people do that all the time! I don't think I'm far enough from the meaning to confuse things unless you go out looking for confusion. It isn't worth defining a new set of terms that people are going to have to remember as being different from things that they already understand. You don't in the Middle Path paper (at least not the copy I have) and Fokker didn't in what I've read either.

> If you're not calling it anything other than an equal temperament, > you're calling it an equal temperament, right?

No, I could not be talking about it.

> It seems crystal clear that no such thing is used above. Instead, you > just zero out one element at a time and adjust some signs. Am I > missing something?

How do you know which element to zero out and which signs to adjust? There are a host of algorithms we can expand out to remove the concepts that originally motivated them. The distinction between matrices and wedge products disappears. But that makes them difficult to explain.

>>Are you seriously that things like chromatic-UVs aren't involved > here?
> > I'm seriously that primes aren't UVs, and if it's primes you use in > every case, then there's no sense thinking about them as, or calling > them, UVs.

So call them "things like UVs". That's a completely peripheral issue.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 7:01:57 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
> > >>>:) This I'd like to see! Using wedgies still requires an > additional >>>unison vector? How?
>>To get the representative ET (or DE scale, or val, or whatever).
> > I still don't know how you define this for a particular R2 > temperament or why you'd even need to.

You define it as being the ET that tempers out the chromatic-unison vector. I need it because I can't get the mapping otherwise. I think it's also an easy way to explain the algorithm. And you can use it to get the diatonic scale for a notation system or the white keys on a keyboard.

>>I'm not interested in algorithms that use unison vectors >>but still work when something else is substituted. Not that I'm > much >>interested anyway.
> > That's two sentences seemingly saying you're not interested in this > stuff. If so, I hope to increase your interest, someday, somehow.

When I say I'm not interested, I mean I'm not interested in having it described as a new algorithm.

>>>>Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit) > get >>>an >>>
>>>>octave-specific mapping.
>>>
>>>I think Herman just demonstrated how to do this.
>>
>>Without a chromatic unison vector, or something like one.
> > Exactly.

Well, the message is lost in the archives now.

Graham

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

2/6/2006 7:54:11 PM

>> >Normally the octave is mapped to by zero "generators" and some
>> >number of "periods". But if you take an arbitrary basis pair of
>> >generators, say the major second and minor second, it's not true
>> >that you can get to the octave using only one of these (in
>> >1/4-comma meantone, say).
>>
>> Well that's precisely the assertion made by Graham, as I read it.
>
>That you can?

Yes.

""
> [Why must the octave map the period directly?]

If both generators divide the octave, you can divide the
octave into more parts and get an equal temperament.
""

>> >> while it's ok if all the other primes are mapped by a combination
>> >> of generators.
>> >
>> >You can always express the basis so that any or none of the primes
>> >comes from a single generator by itself.
>>
>> This hardly seems to agree with what you said about such a condition
>> (none) causing degeneracy to a lower dimensionality.
>
>You must have misunderstood what I said. Repeat it and I'll try to
>clarify for you. There's no contradiction with what I did say
>about "degeneracy to a lower dimensionality." What I'm saying above
>is exemplified by the meantone example -- if you basis is the major
>second and minor second, then none of the primes comes from a single
>generator by itself.

""
If there is more than one way to get to the prime using
periods and generators, then your "basis" must have too many
elements in it.
""

What on Earth this has to do with the reason for calling one
generator a "period", I don't know.

>If the generator basis is chosen such that one of the generators can
>be called a "period", then this generator, the period, will be all
>you need/want in order to generate the octave. If there's *also*

In the same basis, right?

>a way to generate the octave using a nonzero number of the *other*
>generator, *the* "generator", then you have a degeneracy and didn't
>specify the basis correctly in the first place. Because a correct
>basis will associate one and only one mapping (from the basis
>vectors) to each and every interval in the tuning.

But that's not what I was saying. I was saying some mappings
don't allow one generator to map the period by itself. That
appears to be true.

-Carl

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/6/2006 10:30:30 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@...> wrote:

> > (1) Is there some reason why "breed" is better? "Val" suggests
> > "valuation".
>
> Ah, that's what "val" is short for? "Valuation" you can at least
look up
> on Wikipedia, although apparently in the UK it means "real estate
> appraisal" and it also has a specialized meaning in financial jargon.
> Wikipedia defines it as "a map from the set of variables of a
> first-order language to the universe of some interpretation of that
> language," which suggests that "map" would actually be a better term
> (one less likely to be misinterpreted). "Val" suggests "value", which
> makes little sense.

You are reading the section on model theory. You are supposed to be
reading the section on algebra and algebraic geometry, and then down
to the "examples" section, where you look at example 1. The guy who
wrote this slanted it towards algebraic geometry; maybe I should
intoduce a tad more number theory.

> Since we've established "tuning map" as a kind of map that's very
> similar to a "val" (specifically one that defines a tuning by setting
> the size of the prime intervals), does it make sense to use "map" as a
> general term which includes "tuning" maps and (some other kind of) maps?

"Map" is just a synonym for "function".

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/6/2006 10:43:13 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

> When I talk about equal temperaments, how well they approximate JI is
> usually relevant. So your "val" as I understand it isn't the
> abstraction I want anyway.

When you talk about meantone temperament, how well <0 1 4 10| r

The
> term "val" doesn't do what I want because it only applies to equal
> temperaments.

You have that idea stuck in your head for some reason, but it's just
wrong.

Similarly with "constant structure". I'd like to talk
> about rank 2 temperaments where the tuning doesn't matter as well and
> there isn't a word for them.

Carl is pondering such a word even as I write this, or so I hope.
Meanwhile, R2 temperaments will do, surely?

>The important problem is
> finding and describing equal and rank 2 temperaments. Wedgies are a
> distraction there.

The way you do things, perhaps. I've found them very useful over the
years.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/6/2006 10:46:52 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

> >>What Gene said was "find the period mapping from the wedgie, and
> > solve
> >>the equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when
> > wedged
> >>with the period mapping you get the wedgie." That isn't something
> > I can
> >>go away and implement in Python.
> >
> > You don't have a means to solve systems of linear equations?
>
> Where do you see equations in that quote, let alone linear ones?

You see equations in the word "equations". The equations you get will
be linear ones.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/6/2006 10:50:07 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

> So call them "things like UVs". That's a completely peripheral issue.

People have objected to the term "monzo", but I don't see "things like
UVs" as any kind of improvement.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/6/2006 10:56:19 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>>:) This I'd like to see! Using wedgies still requires an
> > additional
> >>>unison vector? How?
> >>To get the representative ET (or DE scale, or val, or whatever).
> >
> > I still don't know how you define this for a particular R2
> > temperament or why you'd even need to.
>
> You define it as being the ET that tempers out the chromatic-unison
> vector.

This is not a definition, because R2 temperaments do not come equipped
with chromatic-unison vectors.

>I need it because I can't get the mapping otherwise.

I've explain how to do that a number of times, but you seem to object
on the grounds that the vals obtained by interior products with primes
really involve chromatic-unisons even though primes are obviously not
unisons. Anyway, what the heck does it matter? The primes work,
whatever you call them. And as has been pointed out, you don't need to
invoke them at all; I don't in my code.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 11:51:39 PM

Carl:
>>>>>>The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.

Paul E:
>>>>>They're the only way you can do away with odd limits and rely
>>>>>simply on the less restrictive prime limit.
<snip>
>>>Normally, 7-limit and 9-limit results will differ, for example. > But >>>with an inverse-log-of-product weighting on the ratios (which > agrees >>>with 1/log(p) weighted prime errors), all such distinctions > disappear.
> >>>It's the only way you can get sums of errors and errors of sums to >>>agree while ranking all the ratios in the prime limit in numerical >>>order.

Carl:
>>Maybe you meant it's the only way to have the convenience of prime
>>limits agree with the psychoacoustics of odd limits... ?

Paul:
> I guess I didn't explain this well, but Graham has done a lot of > explaining of this very point, so I'll let him have a go at it > now . . .

I can't explain it because I don't agree with it. Any weighting will get you from an odd limit to a prime limit. Tenney weighting has some nice properties, like it's dimensionless, you can implement it without prime factorization, and it relates to the odd limits. But it does rely on a prime limit and the only way you can get rid of that limit is to make the weights fall off more quickly with the prime size.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/6/2006 11:52:31 PM

Carl Lumma wrote:
>>>>Normally the octave is mapped to by zero "generators" and some
>>>>number of "periods". But if you take an arbitrary basis pair of
>>>>generators, say the major second and minor second, it's not true
>>>>that you can get to the octave using only one of these (in
>>>>1/4-comma meantone, say).
>>>
>>>Well that's precisely the assertion made by Graham, as I read it.
>>
>>That you can?

What did I say?

> Yes.
> > ""
> >>[Why must the octave map the period directly?]

That's not the question I thought I was answering. What you actually said was `Are there any named temperaments which require both "period" and "generator" to map the octave?'

> If both generators divide the octave, you can divide the
> octave into more parts and get an equal temperament. > ""

That's a syllogism. The second part is only true of the first part is true. The first part's never true. It can't be true because the second part is unreasonable, and breaks the definition of an R2 temperament (well, some definitions, anyway, but it at least has to depend on the tuning). It doesn't say anything about a case where neither generator divides the octave.

> ""
> If there is more than one way to get to the prime using > periods and generators, then your "basis" must have too many > elements in it.
> ""
> > What on Earth this has to do with the reason for calling one
> generator a "period", I don't know.

That quote must refer to a specific period and generator, not generators in general.

> But that's not what I was saying. I was saying some mappings
> don't allow one generator to map the period by itself. That
> appears to be true.

The period is a generator. Do you mean one generator doesn't have to map the octave (or equivalence interval) by itself? That's true.

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 1:03:37 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> Herman Miller wrote:
>
> > If "standard" isn't appropriate, how about something like "rounded
> > prime" (rounded prime val, or more specifically, rounded prime
mapping)?
>
> I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years, because each
> tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant prime
interval.
>
>
> Graham

This is only true if you first insist on pure octaves. Meanwhile, my ET
charts contain many non-standard vals, even for 12-equal, and yet
technically they are all obtained as "nearest prime." I simply multiply
the JIP by a continuously varying variable, and then round off to the
nearest integers.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 1:07:09 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@...> wrote:
>
> Graham Breed wrote:
> > Herman Miller wrote:
> >
> >
> >>If "standard" isn't appropriate, how about something
like "rounded
> >>prime" (rounded prime val, or more specifically, rounded prime
mapping)?
> >
> >
> > I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years, because
each
> > tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant prime
interval.
>
> Works for me.

Feh.

> I'm starting to put a vocabulary list together so that I can get my
> terminology straight for my other tuning-related pages.
>
> http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/tuning-vocabulary.html
>
> Some of these I'm not quite sure of -- whether having exactly two
sizes
> of intervals in a period is the meaning of "distributionally even"
or a
> consequence from other properties of "distributional evenness", for
> instance. Some of these could probably be worded better. But it's a
>start.

Your definition of distributionally even is wrong. The melodic minor
scale in 12-equal is not distributionally even. The two sizes of step
have to be *distributed* as *evenly* as possible around the octave.
An equivalent condition is that every generic interval comes in at
most two specific sizes.

Remind me to look at your page again later -- I'm in a hurry to catch
up at the moment . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 2:12:42 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith"
<genewardsmith@...> wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@>
> wrote:
> Perhaps if we could
> > replace "representative ET mapping" with a suitably abstract term
> > like "val" or better yet "breed", and a similar change
for "chromatic
> > unison vector," one might have a better chance of avoiding
conceptual
> > confusion.
>
> (1) Is there some reason why "breed" is better?

(a) It parallels "monzo" on the covector side. Graham Breed was
expressing tuning systems "melodically" -- hence in terms of ET vals -
- long ago, but has put little to no emphasis on the dual approach
that starts from monzos/commas.

(b) It suggests breeds of dogs, cats, etc., i.e., that you're talking
about a closely related set of tuning systems (ETs) without regard to
individual speciation (stretch). Since the wedge product is a
generalized cross product, bibreeds (and beyond) can be called "cross-
breeds", which gives a good sense of the idea of combining ETs to
arrive at new creatures (higher-dimensional temperaments). If we
say "Meantone is a cross-breed of 12-equal and 19-equal", we get
across more of our meaning to the layperson or even the somewhat
mathematical tuning enthusiast, without depriving ourselves of the
opportunity to make and use rigorous definitions of things.

> "Val" suggests
> "valuation".

After all these years, this continues to be pretty meaningless to me
(though I'm open to being changed on this). "Linear functional,"
though, I've grasped and internalized.

> > I didn't know that. It seems to me that the wedgie gives you the
part
> > of the matrix you need above (or below) the diagonal, with sign
and
> > GCD taken care of in the appropriate way. Is it that you want to
use
> > the matrix form instead of the wedgie form, or you actually want
to
> > do without the information therein?
>
> I think he wants to use them, but not talk about them.

:)

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 3:18:59 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
>
> >>>You're getting closer. Now, wouldn't you agree that according to
> > this
> >>>definition, there's no way a fifth can be "unisonious"?
> > Furthermore,
> >>>all the unison vectors Fokker considered were used by him as
> >>>*commatic* unison vectors -- he always had enough of them to
> > define
> >>>an ET, and never derived scales with fewer than 12 notes.
> >>A fifth would be unisonous in a system where two notes that
differ
> > by a
> >>fifth are considered to be unisons.
> >
> > Sounds like the kind of system you would be very eager to deem
> > totally impractical and irrelevant in another context . . .
>
> I haven't said it was practical or relevant in any context. You
brought
> it up.

I guess this is a problem with this communication format. It seemed
to me you were the one who brought up chromatic unison vectors, and
also insisted on practical relevancy in your various communications
with Gene . . .

> >>I don't know what you mean by "commatic". He doesn't always
temper
> > them
> >>out.
> >
> > Does he ever?
>
> Yes, in "Les mathématiques et la musique. Trois conférences" (I
don't
> have the URL to hand).
>
> Cette méthode nous fournit le tempérament
> égal de trente-et-un cinquièmes de ton, tel qu'il a été calculé par
> Christiaan Huygens.

This seems like the only section where they are conceived of as
tempered out, and clearly this is not a rigorous handling of the
situation, as it amounts to pure hand-waving and would not lead to a
correct conclusion in cases of torsion.

> In that, "vecteurs d'homophonie" are unison vectors. Same concept,
> different language.
>
> >>>If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the
> >>>octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping
> >>>without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison
> >>>vectors or ET.
> >>
> >>You may not have a wedgie.
> >
> > Why not?
>
> You might be using matrices.

Probably equivalent, but if not, then the above seems like an
argument for the wedgie approach.

> >>Unless I substitute
> >>something that's like a unison vector but you don't want to call
a
> >>unison vector.
> >
> > Why do *you* want to call it a unison vector?
>
> I don't want to call it a unison vector. I'd rather not talk about
it
> at all. I only want to acknowledge that it functions like a unison
> vector if somebody brings it up.

"Functions like a unison vector" means that it amounts to at most an
accidental, not a change in the nominal, when applied to a note in a
scale.

> > I would think I'd definitely call it a chromatic unison vector
then.
> > But how do you choose this additional unison vector, and what is
the
> > significance of the "original representative ET mapping" in your
> > process? I guess if this is all just an interim step in your
> > calculation where any arbitrary thing will do, it might not
matter.
> > But it's certainly confusing to think of practical temperaments
in
> > terms of a "representative ET mapping" which has no resemblance
with
> > practical ET mappings and a "chromatic unison vector" which has
no
> > resemblance with practical chromatic unisons. Perhaps if we could
> > replace "representative ET mapping" with a suitably abstract term
> > like "val" or better yet "breed", and a similar change
for "chromatic
> > unison vector," one might have a better chance of avoiding
conceptual
> > confusion.
>
> The way I choose it now is to take intervals from the second-order
> tonality diamond. I'm not dealing with unison vectors in any
context
> where I don't have tonality diamonds to hand. I used to use primes
but
> I've learned the error of my ways.

Sorry, none of this means anything to me.

> >>>It isn't helpful if, in the documentation or description of your
> >>>procedure, you use the term "unison vector" when being in any
> >>>sense "unisonious" is irrelevant to it and often violated by it.
> > Why
> >>>not just change your language and drop the word "unison"?
> >>
> >>That would be the case if I were to do such a thing.
> >
> > You mean if you were to document or describe your procedure? It's
not
> > as if you've never described it, at least, contrary to the
impression
> > this statement gives.
>
> If I were to use the term "unison vector" when the sense of being
> "unisonous" as inferred from Fokker's writing is irrelevant or
>violated.

I think it's clear you've done so already, unless I've totally
misinterpreted all your posts about using fifths as chromatic unison
vectors and the like over the years.

> > I didn't know that. It seems to me that the wedgie gives you the
part
> > of the matrix you need above (or below) the diagonal, with sign
and
> > GCD taken care of in the appropriate way. Is it that you want to
use
> > the matrix form instead of the wedgie form, or you actually want
to
> > do without the information therein?
>
> Does it? I don't know.
>
> I want to avoid implementation details when I don't need them.

That doesn't seem like an answer.

> > There's absolutely no way to stay in the same diatonic scale if
> > you're moving by a chromatic unison vector.
>
> Yes, that's what makes it a unison vector. In an equal
temperament, a
> unison vector is an interval that approximates a unison (or number
of
> octaves where equivalent). In a periodicity block, a unison vector
is
> an interval by which you can transpose the block to fill space
without
> overlapping. 25:24 is clearly the unison vector of the diatonic
scale.

It's a chromatic unison vector in the diatonic case. I don't know why
you say "the" or omit "chromatic," though the latter concept
includes/implies the ordinary notation system for the diatonic scale.

> >>>>I agree that 25:24 is both a chromatic interval and a unison.
> > But
> >>>it
> >>>
> >>>>isn't both at the same time.
> >>>
> >>>Sure -- it's an augmented unison.
> >>
> >>Not when it's a chromatic interval.
> >
> > What do you mean? Augmented intervals are chromatic by definition.
>
> By your definition, yes. But the two terms arise from different
contexts.

Not always.

> >>Thanks to Herman for providing the secret decoder ring here.
> > You're
> >>saying "chromatic unison" is actually a term?
> >
> > Yes, yes, yes, this is what I've been saying all along, if you
care
> > to re-read my posts.
>
> Yes, I understand that now. But it's got to be an obscure one. I
> searched for "chromatic unison" on Google, and what did I find?
Posts
> on chromatic unison vectors in the top positions!

Try "augmented unison" if you don't mind something a bit more
specific. "Chroma" is analogous to "comma" in much of the existing
literature, so it makes sense to use these two terms in a parallel
manner.

> > Well, I didn't invent this terminology, I got it from Paul Hahn,
and
> > anyway "chromatic" seems like it's both more appropriate in the
> > generalized situation we actually care about (it's easier to
infer a
> > generalization of "chromatic alteration" to non-diatonic
situations
> > than of "augmented", it seems to me), and more worthy to stand
> > beside "commatic".
>
> If it's established, we'll keep it. I only suggested avoiding it
> because you were contradicting Fokker on the "unison vector" part

I don't know about that -- given how much attention he puts on the
untempered JI scales that arise from his periodicity block
construction, it's reasonable to say that in some cases at least, in
a sense, *all* of Fokker's unison vectors were chromatic.

> and I
> thought you might be claiming ownership of the term.

Certainly not.

> >>No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F#
are
> > the
> >>same
> >
> > Nope, they just use the same letter name.
>
> If two intervals differ by a unison vector, they're the same in the
> system in which the unison vector applies. I thought we agreed on
that.

I don't know what you mean by "applies", so I don't know if there's a
disagreement here, or what . . .

> >>and they both form the same interval against a reference pitch.
> >
> > They form the same generic (in # of diatonic steps) interval, but
not
> > the same specific interval.
>
> Not when the chromatic semitone's being a unison vector, they don't.

What part of the above are you disagreeing with? If the reference
pitch is C, the # of diatonic steps is 3 in both cases. The chromatic
semitone *is* a unison vector in this case, because the two notes
separated by it are F and F#, and the distance between those notes is
not a fourth, a third, or a second, it's a *unison* -- specifically,
an augmented unison. Mainstream music theory is very clear and
consistent on this.

> >>In that case maybe we do
> >>need another term. And "comma" won't do if the commatic unison
> > vectors
> >>can break in the same way.
> >
> > Break in the same way?
>
> If something can work in place of a commatic unison vector, but
> approximate a finite number of periods instead of a unison.

Seems even more impossible, or at least no more possible, than the
idea of a chromatic unison vector approximating a finite number of
periods.

> Then the
> word "comma" won't do as a substitute.
>
> >>How about "period vector"?
> >
> > Is it _always_ going to be a period? I thought not.
>
> I think it's always going to be a number of periods (including zero
and
> negative numbers) like a unison vector is always a whole number of
unisons.

You lost me. What's always going to be a number of periods? The
interval of equivalence will, but I didn't see that referenced thin
this discussion . . .

> >>Or "kernel vector"?
> >
> > That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.
>
> I thought a kernel only implied a homomorphism, not a particular
tuning
> of the thing being mapped to.

Exactly.

> Maybe I can check my group theory book to
> see if there's a better word.

What's wrong with this? Commatic unison vectors or kernels in no way
imply particular tunings, just particular temperament classes.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 3:23:14 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
> >
> >>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> >>
> >>>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@g...>
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> >>>>>>The generator is uniquely defined by the choice of what we
> >
> > still
> >
> >>>don't
> >>>
> >>>>>>have a better term for than "chromatic unison vector".
> >>>>>
> >>>>>I gave a better term, "generating interval".
> >>>>
> >>>>Am I supposed to comment on this? You think calling two
> >
> > different
> >
> >>>>things by the same name
> >>>
> >>>What are the two different things?
> >>
> >>The thing we've always called "the generator" and the thing we
may
> >
> > once
> >
> >>have called a "chromatic unison vector".
> >
> > As you often do, you've snipped out too much for me to remember
what
> > this was about. Right now I have no idea in what sense the
chromatic
> > unison vector could possibly determine or have any influence on
the
> > generator.
>
> Gene proposed we use "generating interval" instead of "chromatic
unison
> vector". It's all there in the quote so I won't snip it. There is
an
> answer to your question but it probably doesn't matter.
>
>
> Graham

When in doubt, consider the conventional diatonic case. The chromatic
unison vector is represented by a sharp or flat in notation, leaving
the nominal unchanged. What, exactly, gets "generated" by a long
series of multiple flats to multiple sharps all applied to the same
nominal? Gene?

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/10/2006 3:32:33 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
wrote:

Since the wedge product is a
> generalized cross product, bibreeds (and beyond) can be called "cross-
> breeds", which gives a good sense of the idea of combining ETs to
> arrive at new creatures (higher-dimensional temperaments).

That's pretty cute, but after all this time, is it a good idea to
switch? There's also the possobility of calling any covariant vector,
where the coefficients could be real, by a separate name.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 3:33:17 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

> >>>>When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each
of
> >>>the
> >>>>primes" as additional unison vectors
> >>>
> >>>Nonsense.
> >>
> >>And how is this different?
> >
> > Primes as unisons?
>
> Unison vectors as following Fokker's usage of "unison vector" as
being
> something considered the same as a number of octaves (octave being
a
> prime ratio).

What about fifths? And I think Fokker's usage needs a bit of
reinforcement, since his statements seem to become fallacious in
cases of torsion.

> >>And saying "you could use
> >>primes instead of CUVs" is much simpler than saying "you don't
need
> >>CUVs" and explaining the whole method from scratch as if it were
> >>substantially different.
> >
> > Not if you care about transparency.
>
> What's obscure about "you could use primes instead of chromatic-
unison
> vectors"?

Well, it would make me scratch my head, at least.

> >>What Gene said was "find the period mapping from the wedgie, and
> > solve
> >>the equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when
> > wedged
> >>with the period mapping you get the wedgie." That isn't
something
> > I can
> >>go away and implement in Python.
> >
> > You don't have a means to solve systems of linear equations?
>
> Where do you see equations in that quote,

The second word in the second line, or in the third line as I see it
quoted above.

> let alone linear ones?

They're obviously linear ones, since the generator mapping is a
linear relation.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/10/2006 3:37:43 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
wrote:

> When in doubt, consider the conventional diatonic case. The chromatic
> unison vector is represented by a sharp or flat in notation, leaving
> the nominal unchanged. What, exactly, gets "generated" by a long
> series of multiple flats to multiple sharps all applied to the same
> nominal? Gene?

If we are in meantone, then # represents a tempered apotome, seven
generator steps. Hence, we obtain a subgroup of the full meantone
group of index 7, generated by # and octaves. If we are in the
3-limit, we get a subgroup of index 7 of the 3-limit.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 3:51:41 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

> It also troubles me that you have to add the zero. That's an
arbitrary
> feature which suggests wedgies aren't the right way of looking at
this.

That's a very strange way of looking at things! Max-min with a zero
appended seems no more arbitrary than max-min without the zero
appended, especially if we revert back to our old way of thinking
about generator complexities of R2 temperaments. Meanwhile, when you
use the full wedgie, you *don't* add the zero. So if anything, the
suggestions is that looking only at the octave-equivalent part isn't
the right way of looking at this.

>
> >>>>The max-min of the weighted mapping is the nearest weighted
> >>>equivalent
> >>>>to the odd limit complexity. But in practice it seems to give
> > more
> >>>>divergent results than changing to weighted errors.
> >>>
> >>>How so?
> >>
> >>As below, with the 13-limit examples.
> >
> > Below?
>
> Go back through the thread and search for mystery.

No time now, I guess we'll probably want to revisit this eventually.

> >>Yes, it makes the cutoff. The badness is a separate issue that
> > needn't
> >>concern us.
> >
> > Why not? Ultimately, it's what determines these rankings.
>
> But it's the complexity that's changing. Any badness that involves
> complexity will also change.

Right -- but sometimes a small change in how complexity is computed
can lead to large changes in badness rankings, depending on how
you're defining badness.

> >>So do you have examples of badness where the weighting does make
a
> > big
> >>difference?
> >
> > It can make a big difference in the rankings, even if it's not
making
> > a big difference in the relative badnesses. We've seen this in
the 7-
> > limit.
>
> What examples?

I don't recall offhand, though we spend quite a lot of time looking
at this.

> >>Complexity and error are the duals of each other.
> >
> > Kind of but not really . . . right Gene? Anyway, I don't remember
the
> > original context of what "the analogy" was . . .
>
> The formula for worst-Kees compelexity is the same as an
approximate TOP
> formula.

Can you remind me of these?

> I've since come up with a complexity that works with RMS
> instead of max error, and that's an approximate max error formula.
But
> I don't have any other justification for it and for now I'm
sticking
> with the worst-Kees.
>
> I'd like to divide the worst-Kees by 2 so that it's closer to the
other
> measure, but I don't know if I can justify that either. It does
sort of
> make sense, though, that after subtracting weighted intervals we
should
> normalize the result.
>
> >>>>Octave specific TOP error = max(w, -w) - 1 = max(abs(e))
> >>>>Octave equivalent TOP error = (max(w) - min(w))/(max(w)+min(w))
> >>>
> >>>Does this mean the maximum Kees error, or what?
> >>
> >>It gives the same result as the TOP error,
> >
> > You mean the same result as the maximum Tenney-weighted damage?
But
> > that's true if and only if the tuning in which the maximum Tenney-
> > weighted damage is calculated is already TOP, right?
>
> Yes. TOP implies an optimal tuning.

There are a lot of reasons to think this way but it can't be taken
for granted. For example, Gene doesn't seem to think this way at all.

> If you take that tuning and
> unstretch it to get pure octaves, the octave-equivalent quantity
above
> doesn't change.
>
> > We definitely should look at all of this stuff in a more
centralized
> > way. Do you feel like maybe writing up a preliminary document on
this?
>
> Now isn't a good time because I'm about to get busy. But yes,
sometime.

OK, sometime we will delve into a deep discussion of, and attempt a
nice documentation of, various interesting complexity and error
measures, and their relationships. I look forward to it, and hope my
brain survives until then :)

> >>>>Wedgie complexity = max(W, -W) = max(abs(W))
> >>>
> >>>But in my paper, I used sum(abs(W)). And I thought the numbers
in
> >>>your table agreed with my paper . . . (?)
> >>
> >>Did I write that? You are correct.
> >
> > Huh?
>
> It's sum(abs(W)), not max(abs(W)), and I agree with the numbers in
your
> paper.

Oh, so "max" was a typo here . . .

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 4:02:57 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> >>It takes a long time to find all temperaments implied by a big
set
> > of
> >>commas.
> >
> > It depends.
>
> Depends on what?

Dimension and codimension, mainly. But you knew that.

> >>If you want to check that the commas were sufficient to find
> >>the best of a given set of regular temperaments (RT), you can go
> > through
> >>each RT and see if each comma gets tempered out. Then you can
> > check
> >>subsets of those commas for linear independence. If you get the
> > right
> >>number of linearly independent commas, then you know the RT would
> > have
> >>been on the list of RTs produced by commas but, if you're only
> >>interested in a small fraction of the RTs you would have
generated,
> > with
> >>less computational effort.
> >
> > I don't follow.
>
> If you have n commas in d-dimensional ratio space and you want to
find
> rank r temperaments, you need to consider all combinations of d-r
> commas. That means
>
> n!/(d-r)!/(n+r-d)!
>
> different sets of commas, which is roughly proportional to n to the
> power d-r. If you start with a list of equal temperaments, the
time to
> check all combinations is proportional to the square of the number
of
> them. So it's much easier to generate a complete list of regular
> temperaments that way.

Not if d-r is 2 or less. It seems like you slipped up here. Did you
revert to talking about rank 2 temperaments while you kept
writing "regular temperaments"?

> Once you have a list of regular temperaments, you can throw away
the
> ones you're not interested in. That list's going to be pretty
small
> because your interest can't stretch very far.

This seems kind of backwards. The list of ones you're not interested
in is going to be pretty small because your interest can't stretch
very far?

> >>Are you seriously that things like chromatic-UVs aren't involved
> > here?
> >
> > I'm seriously that primes aren't UVs, and if it's primes you use
in
> > every case, then there's no sense thinking about them as, or
calling
> > them, UVs.
>
> So call them "things like UVs".

Makes no sense to me, as all intervals are represented by vectors,
but some are clearly not going to be functioning as unisons.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 4:06:57 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>>:) This I'd like to see! Using wedgies still requires an
> > additional
> >>>unison vector? How?
> >>To get the representative ET (or DE scale, or val, or whatever).
> >
> > I still don't know how you define this for a particular R2
> > temperament or why you'd even need to.
>
> You define it as being the ET that tempers out the chromatic-unison
> vector.

Now you've gone circular on me. There's a hole in the bucket!

> I need it because I can't get the mapping otherwise. I think
> it's also an easy way to explain the algorithm. And you can use it
to
> get the diatonic scale for a notation system or the white keys on a
> keyboard.

Anything that's useful to explain the algorithm, I encourage. Does a
full explanation along these lines exist somewhere?

> >>>>Starting from a list of commas (or a wedgie, I can do that bit)
> > get
> >>>an
> >>>
> >>>>octave-specific mapping.
> >>>
> >>>I think Herman just demonstrated how to do this.
> >>
> >>Without a chromatic unison vector, or something like one.
> >
> > Exactly.
>
> Well, the message is lost in the archives now.

Lost? I certainly hope not! Herman?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 4:37:19 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>
> >> >Normally the octave is mapped to by zero "generators" and some
> >> >number of "periods". But if you take an arbitrary basis pair of
> >> >generators, say the major second and minor second, it's not true
> >> >that you can get to the octave using only one of these (in
> >> >1/4-comma meantone, say).
> >>
> >> Well that's precisely the assertion made by Graham, as I read it.
> >
> >That you can?
>
> Yes.

Thankfully I see Graham is already working to correct your misreading
of his assertion.

> >> >> while it's ok if all the other primes are mapped by a
combination
> >> >> of generators.
> >> >
> >> >You can always express the basis so that any or none of the
primes
> >> >comes from a single generator by itself.
> >>
> >> This hardly seems to agree with what you said about such a
condition
> >> (none) causing degeneracy to a lower dimensionality.
> >
> >You must have misunderstood what I said. Repeat it and I'll try to
> >clarify for you. There's no contradiction with what I did say
> >about "degeneracy to a lower dimensionality." What I'm saying
above
> >is exemplified by the meantone example -- if you basis is the
major
> >second and minor second, then none of the primes comes from a
single
> >generator by itself.
>
> ""
> If there is more than one way to get to the prime using
> periods and generators, then your "basis" must have too many
> elements in it.
> ""
>
> What on Earth this has to do with the reason for calling one
> generator a "period", I don't know.

I was simply trying to correct your misunderstanding above. As for
why we call one generator of rank-2 tunings "the period," it's
because if the tuning is used to create an octave-repeating scale
(the normal case), there's an almost-unique basis of generators such
that one of the generators always spans the same structure of notes
and intervals within the octave-repeating scale, so we use this basis
(for the convenience you already noted) and call that generator "the
period" (as the tuning/scale will be *periodic* at that interval).

> >If the generator basis is chosen such that one of the generators
can
> >be called a "period", then this generator, the period, will be all
> >you need/want in order to generate the octave. If there's *also*
>
> In the same basis, right?

Right.

> >a way to generate the octave using a nonzero number of the *other*
> >generator, *the* "generator", then you have a degeneracy and
didn't
> >specify the basis correctly in the first place. Because a correct
> >basis will associate one and only one mapping (from the basis
> >vectors) to each and every interval in the tuning.
>
> But that's not what I was saying. I was saying some mappings

You mean some bases? If so, your statement below is correct.

> don't allow one generator to map the period by itself.

Is the major-second/minor-second basis of meantone example of what
you're talking about here?

> That
> appears to be true.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 4:45:40 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> Carl:
> >>>>>>The 1/log(p) weighted prime errors look arbitrary to me.
>
> Paul E:
> >>>>>They're the only way you can do away with odd limits and rely
> >>>>>simply on the less restrictive prime limit.
> <snip>
> >>>Normally, 7-limit and 9-limit results will differ, for example.
> > But
> >>>with an inverse-log-of-product weighting on the ratios (which
> > agrees
> >>>with 1/log(p) weighted prime errors), all such distinctions
> > disappear.
> >
> >>>It's the only way you can get sums of errors and errors of sums
to
> >>>agree while ranking all the ratios in the prime limit in
numerical
> >>>order.
>
> Carl:
> >>Maybe you meant it's the only way to have the convenience of prime
> >>limits agree with the psychoacoustics of odd limits... ?
>
> Paul:
> > I guess I didn't explain this well, but Graham has done a lot of
> > explaining of this very point, so I'll let him have a go at it
> > now . . .
>
> I can't explain it because I don't agree with it. Any weighting
will
> get you from an odd limit to a prime limit. Tenney weighting has
some
> nice properties, like it's dimensionless, you can implement it
without
> prime factorization, and it relates to the odd limits.

*Relates* -- can you make this precise? This is what I was trying to
get at for Carl. You're getting warm, and in fact you yourself posted
some interesting things that go further -- including some of your
earliest reactions to TOP.

> But it does rely
> on a prime limit and the only way you can get rid of that limit is
to
> make the weights fall off more quickly with the prime size.

This part simply makes no sense to me because no matter how quickly
the weights fall off, you still have to specify how each of the
primes is mapped.

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

2/10/2006 5:33:12 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@...> wrote:
>>>I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years, because > > each > >>>tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant prime > > interval.
> >>Works for me.
> > > Feh.

Any better suggestions (or should I count this as a vote for "standard val")?

> Your definition of distributionally even is wrong. The melodic minor > scale in 12-equal is not distributionally even. The two sizes of step > have to be *distributed* as *evenly* as possible around the octave. > An equivalent condition is that every generic interval comes in at > most two specific sizes.

I don't know the details of these concepts, which is why I'm asking. Are there any cases where any interval other than the period (or a multiple of the period) comes in only one size? (I'm guessing you read this hastily and assumed that I was talking about step sizes, but I was referring to all classes of intervals.) My impression was that each interval smaller than a period comes in two sizes.

A definition in terms of step sizes would be useful, though, in that it would avoid any potential confusion as to what a "generic interval" might be, but I couldn't think of how I might describe what is meant by distributing step sizes "evenly". (I think "interval containing the same number of steps" might do to define "generic interval", is that right?)

It would also be useful to know the difference between "distributionally even", "MOS", and "Myhill's property", since these are easily confused.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 6:26:05 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith"
<genewardsmith@...> wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@>
> wrote:
>
> Since the wedge product is a
> > generalized cross product, bibreeds (and beyond) can be
called "cross-
> > breeds", which gives a good sense of the idea of combining ETs to
> > arrive at new creatures (higher-dimensional temperaments).
>
> That's pretty cute, but after all this time, is it a good idea to
> switch?

I wouldn't be switching, since I've been saying "breed" all this time,
or at least "val/breed" in many instances over the past few years.
Maybe you never noticed.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 6:27:47 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith"
<genewardsmith@...> wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@>
> wrote:
>
> > When in doubt, consider the conventional diatonic case. The
chromatic
> > unison vector is represented by a sharp or flat in notation,
leaving
> > the nominal unchanged. What, exactly, gets "generated" by a long
> > series of multiple flats to multiple sharps all applied to the same
> > nominal? Gene?
>
> If we are in meantone, then # represents a tempered apotome, seven
> generator steps. Hence, we obtain a subgroup of the full meantone
> group of index 7, generated by # and octaves. If we are in the
> 3-limit, we get a subgroup of index 7 of the 3-limit.

So why would it make sense to use "generating interval" in place
of "chromatic unison vector" if it can only generate a subgroup of the
full tuning? This was the context that you snipped above. But it may be
moot if Graham is gone for a while.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 6:43:03 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@>
wrote:
> >>>I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years, because
> >
> > each
> >
> >>>tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant prime
> >
> > interval.
> >
> >>Works for me.
> >
> >
> > Feh.
>
> Any better suggestions (or should I count this as a vote
for "standard
> val")?

No. I suggest "naive val", but we might want to replace "val" with
something else anyway . . .

> > Your definition of distributionally even is wrong. The melodic
minor
> > scale in 12-equal is not distributionally even. The two sizes of
step
> > have to be *distributed* as *evenly* as possible around the
octave.
> > An equivalent condition is that every generic interval comes in
at
> > most two specific sizes.
>
> I don't know the details of these concepts, which is why I'm
asking. Are
> there any cases where any interval other than the period (or a
multiple
> of the period) comes in only one size?

No; that would be an ET.

> (I'm guessing you read this
> hastily and assumed that I was talking about step sizes, but I was
> referring to all classes of intervals.)

Oh. Whoops! Well, it's a bit unclear right now; a reader is unlikely
to know what "each interval" is supposed to mean.

> My impression was that each
> interval smaller than a period comes in two sizes.

Yes, where "each interval" really means "for each N, the set of
instances of the interval formed by N contiguous scale steps."

> A definition in terms of step sizes would be useful, though, in
that it
> would avoid any potential confusion as to what a "generic interval"
> might be, but I couldn't think of how I might describe what is
meant by
> distributing step sizes "evenly".

Hmm . . .

>(I think "interval containing the same
> number of steps" might do to define "generic interval", is that
right?)

Yes, but I'd probably use "subtending" instead of "containing."

> It would also be useful to know the difference
between "distributionally
> even", "MOS", and "Myhill's property", since these are easily
confused.

The best I've been able to gather is that MOS and Myhill's property
are the same -- all generic interval classes smaller than the
interval of equivalence come in two specific sizes --
while "distributionally even" allows for the interval of equivalence
to be broken down into N equal periods, where the period (and all its
multiples) is the only specific size of interval with its number of
steps.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 6:58:23 PM

Herman: it's funny, the problem I thought I saw with distributionally
even actually afflicts your definition of MOS:

"
moment of symmetry (MOS) In a linear temperament, a scale having
exactly two sizes of steps.
"

Here, it does seem that the melodic minor scale in any meantone
tuning fits the definition, but in fact it's not an MOS.

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@> wrote:
> >
> > wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Herman Miller <hmiller@>
> wrote:
> > >>>I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years,
because
> > >
> > > each
> > >
> > >>>tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant
prime
> > >
> > > interval.
> > >
> > >>Works for me.
> > >
> > >
> > > Feh.
> >
> > Any better suggestions (or should I count this as a vote
> for "standard
> > val")?
>
> No. I suggest "naive val", but we might want to replace "val" with
> something else anyway . . .
>
> > > Your definition of distributionally even is wrong. The melodic
> minor
> > > scale in 12-equal is not distributionally even. The two sizes
of
> step
> > > have to be *distributed* as *evenly* as possible around the
> octave.
> > > An equivalent condition is that every generic interval comes in
> at
> > > most two specific sizes.
> >
> > I don't know the details of these concepts, which is why I'm
> asking. Are
> > there any cases where any interval other than the period (or a
> multiple
> > of the period) comes in only one size?
>
> No; that would be an ET.
>
> > (I'm guessing you read this
> > hastily and assumed that I was talking about step sizes, but I
was
> > referring to all classes of intervals.)
>
> Oh. Whoops! Well, it's a bit unclear right now; a reader is
unlikely
> to know what "each interval" is supposed to mean.
>
> > My impression was that each
> > interval smaller than a period comes in two sizes.
>
> Yes, where "each interval" really means "for each N, the set of
> instances of the interval formed by N contiguous scale steps."
>
> > A definition in terms of step sizes would be useful, though, in
> that it
> > would avoid any potential confusion as to what a "generic
interval"
> > might be, but I couldn't think of how I might describe what is
> meant by
> > distributing step sizes "evenly".
>
> Hmm . . .
>
> >(I think "interval containing the same
> > number of steps" might do to define "generic interval", is that
> right?)
>
> Yes, but I'd probably use "subtending" instead of "containing."
>
> > It would also be useful to know the difference
> between "distributionally
> > even", "MOS", and "Myhill's property", since these are easily
> confused.
>
> The best I've been able to gather is that MOS and Myhill's property
> are the same -- all generic interval classes smaller than the
> interval of equivalence come in two specific sizes --
> while "distributionally even" allows for the interval of
equivalence
> to be broken down into N equal periods, where the period (and all
its
> multiples) is the only specific size of interval with its number of
> steps.
>

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 7:34:37 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

>>>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:

>>You define it as being the ET that tempers out the chromatic-unison >>vector.
> > Now you've gone circular on me. There's a hole in the bucket!

Um, yes...

A full set of unison vectors defines a periodicity block. The chromatic unison vectors are defined as the ones that aren't tempered out. If only one unison vector is chromatic then you have an MOS scale of a rank 2 temperament. One particular tuning will make the MOS an ET, so that's the representative ET. And that's the order the definitions lie.

In this case, the equal temperedness of the equal temperament isn't important so "val" may be a valid abstraction. That also allows for period and generator mappings to come out. But when you lose the equal temperedness of the equal temperaments you lose the unisonousness of the unison vectors as well. So it's best to stick to equal temperaments when we talk about unison vectors.

>>I need it because I can't get the mapping otherwise. I think >>it's also an easy way to explain the algorithm. And you can use it > to >>get the diatonic scale for a notation system or the white keys on a >>keyboard.
> > Anything that's useful to explain the algorithm, I encourage. Does a > full explanation along these lines exist somewhere?

No, but it's something we should be thinking about. The work's a few years' old now.

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 7:41:12 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> >>>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
>
> >>You define it as being the ET that tempers out the chromatic-
unison
> >>vector.
> >
> > Now you've gone circular on me. There's a hole in the bucket!
>
> Um, yes...

You know why I said that, right?

> A full set of unison vectors defines a periodicity block. The
chromatic
> unison vectors are defined as the ones that aren't tempered out.
If
> only one unison vector is chromatic then you have an MOS scale

It might not be MOS, but at least it'll be DE in most reasonable
cases . . .

> of a rank
> 2 temperament. One particular tuning will make the MOS an ET, so
that's
> the representative ET. And that's the order the definitions lie.

You're not telling me anything new here.

> In this case, the equal temperedness of the equal temperament isn't
> important so "val" may be a valid abstraction. That also allows
for
> period and generator mappings to come out. But when you lose the
equal
> temperedness of the equal temperaments you lose the unisonousness
of the
> unison vectors as well. So it's best to stick to equal
temperaments
> when we talk about unison vectors.

This sounds like you're arguing against speaking about chromatic
unison vectors of DE scales, but it seemed you just argued *for* that
higher up (above).

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 7:45:48 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

>>If you have n commas in d-dimensional ratio space and you want to > find >>rank r temperaments, you need to consider all combinations of d-r >>commas. That means
>>
>>n!/(d-r)!/(n+r-d)!
>>
>>different sets of commas, which is roughly proportional to n to the >>power d-r. If you start with a list of equal temperaments, the > time to >>check all combinations is proportional to the square of the number > of >>them. So it's much easier to generate a complete list of regular >>temperaments that way.
> > Not if d-r is 2 or less. It seems like you slipped up here. Did you > revert to talking about rank 2 temperaments while you kept > writing "regular temperaments"?

I said "square" once, which implies rank 2. If the commas give fewer combinations, you can use commas. Most of the time equal temperaments are the easier approach. They're both equal for rank 3 in the 11-limit, so I'll guess the 13-limit for rank 4. Is anybody interested in higher ranks? Or even rank 3 temperaments with fewer consonances than the 13-limit?

>>Once you have a list of regular temperaments, you can throw away > the >>ones you're not interested in. That list's going to be pretty > small >>because your interest can't stretch very far.
> > This seems kind of backwards. The list of ones you're not interested > in is going to be pretty small because your interest can't stretch > very far?

How many temperaments do you have time to be interested in?

>>>>Are you seriously that things like chromatic-UVs aren't involved >>>here?
>>>
>>>I'm seriously that primes aren't UVs, and if it's primes you use > in >>>every case, then there's no sense thinking about them as, or > calling >>>them, UVs.
>>
>>So call them "things like UVs".
> > Makes no sense to me, as all intervals are represented by vectors, > but some are clearly not going to be functioning as unisons.

Yes, that's why we have vectors, and things like unison vectors. Because the things like unison vectors function as unisons in things like equal temperaments.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 7:50:09 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
> > >>>>>>When you say "each of the primes" I think you mean using "each > > of > >>>>>the >>>>>
>>>>>>primes" as additional unison vectors
>>>>>
>>>>>Nonsense.
>>>>
>>>>And how is this different?
>>>
>>>Primes as unisons?
>>
>>Unison vectors as following Fokker's usage of "unison vector" as > > being > >>something considered the same as a number of octaves (octave being > > a > >>prime ratio).
> > > What about fifths? And I think Fokker's usage needs a bit of > reinforcement, since his statements seem to become fallacious in > cases of torsion.

What about fifths?

Yes, Fokker neglected torsion, but I don't see what that has to do with this issue. He also chose sensible examples, and so can we.

>>>>What Gene said was "find the period mapping from the wedgie, and >>>
>>>solve >>>
>>>>the equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when >>>
>>>wedged
>>>
>>>>with the period mapping you get the wedgie." That isn't > > something > >>>I can >>>
>>>>go away and implement in Python.
>>>
>>>You don't have a means to solve systems of linear equations?
>>
>>Where do you see equations in that quote,
> > The second word in the second line, or in the third line as I see it > quoted above.

I don't mean the word "equations" I mean actual equations.

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 7:53:17 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> >>If you have n commas in d-dimensional ratio space and you want to
> > find
> >>rank r temperaments, you need to consider all combinations of d-r
> >>commas. That means
> >>
> >>n!/(d-r)!/(n+r-d)!
> >>
> >>different sets of commas, which is roughly proportional to n to
the
> >>power d-r. If you start with a list of equal temperaments, the
> > time to
> >>check all combinations is proportional to the square of the
number
> > of
> >>them. So it's much easier to generate a complete list of regular
> >>temperaments that way.
> >
> > Not if d-r is 2 or less. It seems like you slipped up here. Did
you
> > revert to talking about rank 2 temperaments while you kept
> > writing "regular temperaments"?
>
> I said "square" once, which implies rank 2.

Ha ha ha! You should be a politician.

> If the commas give fewer
> combinations, you can use commas. Most of the time equal
temperaments
> are the easier approach. They're both equal for rank 3 in the 11-
limit,
> so I'll guess the 13-limit for rank 4. Is anybody interested in
higher
> ranks? Or even rank 3 temperaments with fewer consonances than the
> 13-limit?

Yes; Herman Miller's Starling is rank 3 and 7-limit for a start.

> >>Once you have a list of regular temperaments, you can throw away
> > the
> >>ones you're not interested in. That list's going to be pretty
> > small
> >>because your interest can't stretch very far.
> >
> > This seems kind of backwards. The list of ones you're not
interested
> > in is going to be pretty small because your interest can't
stretch
> > very far?
>
> How many temperaments do you have time to be interested in?

A hell of a lot more than I have time to play around in, so I'd like
to choose my playing time wisely. But you missed my point, which is
that what you wrote seems backwards. Doesn't it?

> >>>>Are you seriously that things like chromatic-UVs aren't
involved
> >>>here?
> >>>
> >>>I'm seriously that primes aren't UVs, and if it's primes you use
> > in
> >>>every case, then there's no sense thinking about them as, or
> > calling
> >>>them, UVs.
> >>
> >>So call them "things like UVs".
> >
> > Makes no sense to me, as all intervals are represented by
vectors,
> > but some are clearly not going to be functioning as unisons.
>
> Yes, that's why we have vectors, and things like unison vectors.
> Because the things like unison vectors function as unisons in
things
> like equal temperaments.

:)

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 7:54:41 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

>>I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years, because each >>tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant prime > interval.
> > This is only true if you first insist on pure octaves. Meanwhile, my ET > charts contain many non-standard vals, even for 12-equal, and yet > technically they are all obtained as "nearest prime." I simply multiply > the JIP by a continuously varying variable, and then round off to the > nearest integers.

Yes, and when I started saying it we could assume pure octaves anyway. Now you have to slip an "EDO" in there to be strict. I prefer "nearest" as an abbreviation of "round to nearest" at least, as there are other ways of doing rounding.

Your idea sounds good. I haven't implemented anything like that myself.

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 7:57:51 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

> > What about fifths? And I think Fokker's usage needs a bit of
> > reinforcement, since his statements seem to become fallacious in
> > cases of torsion.
>
> What about fifths?

I was sure I had seen you refer to them as "chromatic unison vectors".

> Yes, Fokker neglected torsion, but I don't see what that has to do
with
> this issue.

Because explicitly recognizing that octaves are *not* unisons is the
key to dealing properly with the torsional cases.

>He also chose sensible examples, and so can we.

Indeed.

> >>>>What Gene said was "find the period mapping from the wedgie,
and
> >>>
> >>>solve
> >>>
> >>>>the equations for the generator mapping, by requiring that when
> >>>
> >>>wedged
> >>>
> >>>>with the period mapping you get the wedgie." That isn't
> >
> > something
> >
> >>>I can
> >>>
> >>>>go away and implement in Python.
> >>>
> >>>You don't have a means to solve systems of linear equations?
> >>
> >>Where do you see equations in that quote,
> >
> > The second word in the second line, or in the third line as I see
it
> > quoted above.
>
> I don't mean the word "equations" I mean actual equations.

The mappings give you a system of linear equations expressing the
primes in terms of the generators. Now solve for the generators.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 8:02:43 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

>>I can't explain it because I don't agree with it. Any weighting > will >>get you from an odd limit to a prime limit. Tenney weighting has > some >>nice properties, like it's dimensionless, you can implement it > without >>prime factorization, and it relates to the odd limits.
> > *Relates* -- can you make this precise? This is what I was trying to > get at for Carl. You're getting warm, and in fact you yourself posted > some interesting things that go further -- including some of your > earliest reactions to TOP.

The Tenney weighting tells you how many instances of a prime you can expect in a higher odd limit. So in the 9-limit you have 9 as well as 3. I think of it statistically. The weighting is the probability of a given factor being involved in any given ratio. That's also why I prefer means to maxima when we use Tenney weighting.

>>But it does rely >>on a prime limit and the only way you can get rid of that limit is > to >>make the weights fall off more quickly with the prime size.
> > This part simply makes no sense to me because no matter how quickly > the weights fall off, you still have to specify how each of the > primes is mapped.

Yes, but you don't have to limit the number of primes you look at. So it's by primes but not a prime *limit*. Or at least it's a limit for prime limits where the limit tends to infinity ;-)

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 8:20:03 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
>
> >>I've been saying "nearest prime" for the past few years, because
each
> >>tempered interval is as near as it can get to the relevant prime
> > interval.
> >
> > This is only true if you first insist on pure octaves. Meanwhile,
my ET
> > charts contain many non-standard vals, even for 12-equal, and yet
> > technically they are all obtained as "nearest prime." I simply
multiply
> > the JIP by a continuously varying variable, and then round off to
the
> > nearest integers.
>
> Yes, and when I started saying it we could assume pure octaves
anyway.
> Now you have to slip an "EDO" in there to be strict. I
prefer "nearest"
> as an abbreviation of "round to nearest" at least, as there are
other
> ways of doing rounding.
>
> Your idea sounds good. I haven't implemented anything like that
myself.
>
>
> Graham

Here's what I get for a prime limit of 7 and letting the continuous
variable go from 1 to 34.5 in steps of 0.01. The first four numbers
in each row are the "val", and the last is the maximum Tenney-
weighted damage of the TOP tuning:

0 1 1 1 1200

1 1 1 1 569.64

1 1 1 2 477.53

1 1 2 2 271.55

1 1 2 3 309.04

1 2 2 3 226.36

1 2 3 3 152.89

1 2 3 4 210.24

2 2 3 4 271.55

2 3 4 4 201.53

2 3 4 5 89.385

2 3 5 5 113.57

2 3 5 6 77.286

2 4 5 6 138.93

2 4 5 7 138.93

2 4 6 7 152.89

3 4 6 7 110.65

3 4 6 8 103.47

3 4 7 8 106.39

3 5 7 8 60.955

3 5 7 9 39.807

3 5 8 9 82.926

3 5 8 10 102.79

3 6 8 10 138.93

4 6 9 10 69.493

4 6 9 11 33.049

4 7 10 12 59.384

4 7 10 13 87.691

5 7 10 13 89.385

5 7 11 13 74.358

5 8 11 13 51.673

5 8 11 14 38.017

5 8 12 14 21.414

5 8 12 15 39.807

5 9 12 15 76.233

5 9 13 15 76.233

6 9 13 15 69.493

6 9 13 16 41.508

6 9 14 16 35.987

6 9 14 17 38.571

6 10 14 17 30.153

6 10 15 18 44.316

7 10 15 18 62.275

7 10 15 19 62.275

7 11 15 19 48.129

7 11 16 19 20.226

7 11 16 20 19.977

7 11 17 20 32.081

7 12 17 20 47.037

7 12 17 21 47.037

8 12 17 21 53.141

8 12 18 21 40.282

8 13 18 22 33.84

8 13 19 22 27.349

8 13 19 23 14.967

8 13 19 24 39.807

8 13 20 24 44.316

9 13 20 24 55.662

9 14 20 24 30.841

9 14 20 25 26.33

9 14 21 25 14.176

9 14 21 26 28.409

9 15 21 26 30.153

9 15 22 26 30.845

9 15 22 27 39.807

10 15 22 27 33.049

10 15 23 27 33.049

10 16 23 27 29.055

10 16 23 28 11.359

10 16 24 29 19.841

10 17 24 29 42.023

11 17 24 29 37.693

11 17 24 30 37.332

11 17 25 30 17.363

11 17 25 31 17.454

11 17 26 31 25.824

11 18 26 31 19.148

11 18 26 32 21.356

11 18 27 32 33.318

12 18 27 32 33.049

12 19 27 33 18.879

12 19 28 33 15.324

12 19 28 34 6.1437

12 19 29 34 24.608

12 19 29 35 24.608

12 20 29 35 30.153

13 20 29 35 25.103

13 20 29 36 24.028

13 20 30 36 17.865

13 21 30 36 19.61

13 21 30 37 15.097

13 21 31 37 15.983

13 21 31 38 24.233

14 21 31 38 33.049

14 22 32 39 9.4314

14 22 33 39 14.176

14 22 33 40 15.692

14 23 33 40 21.523

14 23 34 41 26.939

15 23 34 41 19.868

15 23 34 42 19.868

15 24 34 42 20.116

15 24 35 42 7.2396

15 24 35 43 12.544

15 24 36 43 19.841

15 25 36 43 30.153

16 25 36 44 18.879

16 25 37 44 12.385

16 25 37 45 9.6626

16 26 37 45 17.408

16 26 38 45 14.967

17 26 38 46 22.812

17 26 38 47 22.812

17 26 39 47 21.404

17 27 39 47 10.422

17 27 39 48 10.676

17 27 40 48 7.9608

17 27 40 49 15.818

17 28 40 49 23.055

17 28 41 49 23.055

18 28 41 49 18.475

18 28 41 50 11.518

18 29 42 51 9.8178

18 29 43 51 17.057

18 29 43 52 17.176

19 29 43 52 22.62

19 30 43 52 15.381

19 30 43 53 15.381

19 30 44 53 3.8339

19 30 44 54 9.6626

19 30 45 54 14.176

19 31 45 54 17.391

19 31 45 55 18.389

20 31 45 55 18.879

20 31 46 55 13.383

20 31 46 56 13.383

20 32 47 56 8.7843

20 32 47 57 9.0456

20 32 48 57 19.841

21 32 48 58 23.605

21 33 48 58 9.7931

21 33 48 59 9.8947

21 33 49 59 8.0852

21 34 49 59 12.766

21 34 49 60 12.766

21 34 50 60 15.061

22 34 50 61 15.145

22 34 51 61 15.145

22 35 51 61 9.6935

22 35 51 62 3.2784

22 35 52 62 10.682

22 35 52 63 11.909

22 36 52 63 19.148

23 36 52 63 15.988

23 36 53 64 7.5215

23 36 53 65 11.511

23 37 53 65 13.477

23 37 54 65 8.9176

23 37 54 66 13.15

23 37 55 66 17.663

24 37 55 66 16.617

24 38 55 66 12.385

24 38 55 67 7.871

24 38 56 67 6.3023

24 39 56 68 14.967

24 39 57 68 14.967

25 39 57 69 10.933

25 39 57 70 10.933

25 39 58 70 9.5248

25 40 58 70 7.2396

25 40 58 71 7.4351

25 40 59 71 9.758

25 40 59 72 15.328

26 40 59 72 17.865

26 41 59 72 13.774

26 41 60 72 8.2038

26 41 60 73 3.762

26 41 61 73 9.2786

26 42 61 74 11.407

27 42 62 74 14.408

27 42 62 75 11.236

27 43 62 75 9.5415

27 43 62 76 9.5415

27 43 63 76 2.94

27 43 63 77 9.4353

27 43 64 77 12.389

27 44 64 77 16.674

28 44 64 77 12.385

28 44 65 78 5.1453

28 44 65 79 8.1456

28 45 65 79 8.4673

28 45 66 79 9.0312

28 45 66 80 10.547

29 45 66 80 12.716

29 45 67 80 12.716

29 45 67 81 12.716

29 46 67 81 3.5245

29 46 67 82 7.309

29 46 68 82 5.8883

29 47 68 82 13.374

29 47 68 83 13.374

30 47 68 83 14.452

30 47 69 83 8.7595

30 47 69 84 6.9662

30 47 70 84 9.9061

30 48 70 85 5.6657

30 48 71 85 11.45

30 48 71 86 12.544

31 48 71 86 14.008

31 49 71 86 8.223

31 49 72 86 7.2981

31 49 72 87 1.8052

31 49 72 88 8.3006

31 49 73 88 10.081

31 50 73 88 10.485

32 50 73 88 12.385

32 50 73 89 10.604

32 50 74 89 8.564

32 51 74 89 8.9226

32 51 74 90 5.7586

32 51 75 90 5.6125

32 51 75 91 7.7284

33 52 75 91 12.85

33 52 76 91 10.734

33 52 76 92 4.9033

33 52 77 93 6.4347

33 53 77 93 7.934

33 53 77 94 8.7265

33 53 78 94 10.682

34 53 78 94 9.9774

34 53 78 95 9.9774

34 54 78 95 8.4673

34 54 79 95 4.0735

34 54 79 96 3.447

34 54 80 97 9.6644

34 55 80 97 12.247

35 55 80 97 9.4314

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 8:24:01 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
> > >>It also troubles me that you have to add the zero. That's an > arbitrary >>feature which suggests wedgies aren't the right way of looking at > this.
> > That's a very strange way of looking at things! Max-min with a zero > appended seems no more arbitrary than max-min without the zero > appended, especially if we revert back to our old way of thinking > about generator complexities of R2 temperaments. Meanwhile, when you > use the full wedgie, you *don't* add the zero. So if anything, the > suggestions is that looking only at the octave-equivalent part isn't > the right way of looking at this.

The odd-limit complexity is max-min of the number of steps to a harmonic. It has to be harmonics to cover 9:1, 15:1 and the like. Replacing 9 with 3 is like giving 3 a weighting of 2. So max-min of the weighted generator mapping is the weighted prime-limit equivalent. All this assumes period=octave.

Yes, the octave-equivalent part of the wedgie isn't the right way of looking at this. The thing like an ET mapping (which you can call a val) you get by using the octave as something like a unison vector (which we don't have a name for) is.

>>The formula for worst-Kees compelexity is the same as an > approximate TOP >>formula.
> > Can you remind me of these?

They're both max-min of something weighted. The approximate TOP formula is

(max(w)-min(w))/2

where w are the weighted primes. I think the worst-Kees complexity should be divided by 2 as well, but so far it isn't and I don't know if I'd disagree with anybody else by making it so.

>>>>>>Octave specific TOP error = max(w, -w) - 1 = max(abs(e))
>>>>>>Octave equivalent TOP error = (max(w) - min(w))/(max(w)+min(w))
>>>>>
>>>>>Does this mean the maximum Kees error, or what?
>>>>
>>>>It gives the same result as the TOP error,
>>>
>>>You mean the same result as the maximum Tenney-weighted damage? > > But >>>that's true if and only if the tuning in which the maximum Tenney-
>>>weighted damage is calculated is already TOP, right?
>>
>>Yes. TOP implies an optimal tuning.
> > There are a lot of reasons to think this way but it can't be taken > for granted. For example, Gene doesn't seem to think this way at all.

One of the things "TOP" stands for is "Tenney OPtimal" isn't it? I don't see any reason to favor primes when the tuning isn't optimal.

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/10/2006 8:29:10 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>It also troubles me that you have to add the zero. That's an
> > arbitrary
> >>feature which suggests wedgies aren't the right way of looking at
> > this.
> >
> > That's a very strange way of looking at things! Max-min with a
zero
> > appended seems no more arbitrary than max-min without the zero
> > appended, especially if we revert back to our old way of thinking
> > about generator complexities of R2 temperaments. Meanwhile, when
you
> > use the full wedgie, you *don't* add the zero. So if anything,
the
> > suggestions is that looking only at the octave-equivalent part
isn't
> > the right way of looking at this.
>
> The odd-limit complexity is max-min of the number of steps to a
> harmonic. It has to be harmonics to cover 9:1, 15:1 and the like.
> Replacing 9 with 3 is like giving 3 a weighting of 2. So max-min
of the
> weighted generator mapping is the weighted prime-limit equivalent.
All
> this assumes period=octave.
>
> Yes, the octave-equivalent part of the wedgie isn't the right way
of
> looking at this. The thing like an ET mapping (which you can call
a
> val) you get by using the octave as something like a unison vector
> (which we don't have a name for) is.
>
> >>The formula for worst-Kees compelexity is the same as an
> > approximate TOP
> >>formula.
> >
> > Can you remind me of these?
>
> They're both max-min of something weighted. The approximate TOP
formula is
>
> (max(w)-min(w))/2
>
> where w are the weighted primes. I think the worst-Kees complexity
> should be divided by 2 as well, but so far it isn't and I don't
know if
> I'd disagree with anybody else by making it so.
>
> >>>>>>Octave specific TOP error = max(w, -w) - 1 = max(abs(e))
> >>>>>>Octave equivalent TOP error = (max(w) - min(w))/(max(w)+min
(w))
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Does this mean the maximum Kees error, or what?
> >>>>
> >>>>It gives the same result as the TOP error,
> >>>
> >>>You mean the same result as the maximum Tenney-weighted damage?
> >
> > But
> >>>that's true if and only if the tuning in which the maximum
Tenney-
> >>>weighted damage is calculated is already TOP, right?
> >>
> >>Yes. TOP implies an optimal tuning.
> >
> > There are a lot of reasons to think this way but it can't be
taken
> > for granted. For example, Gene doesn't seem to think this way at
all.
>
> One of the things "TOP" stands for is "Tenney OPtimal" isn't it? I
> don't see any reason to favor primes when the tuning isn't optimal.

Exactly! Yet Gene seems to have missed or ignored this important
consideration, such as when he stated that his standard val is the
one with lowest TOP damage or however he put it.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 10:26:58 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> I guess this is a problem with this communication format. It seemed > to me you were the one who brought up chromatic unison vectors, and > also insisted on practical relevancy in your various communications > with Gene . . .

Yes, but you brought up fifths. Same as Gene brought up primes.

>>Cette m�thode nous fournit le temp�rament >>�gal de trente-et-un cinqui�mes de ton, tel qu'il a �t� calcul� par >>Christiaan Huygens.
> > This seems like the only section where they are conceived of as > tempered out, and clearly this is not a rigorous handling of the > situation, as it amounts to pure hand-waving and would not lead to a > correct conclusion in cases of torsion.

So they're tempered out. It's more than hand-waving because it uses the determinant to get the number of notes to the octave.

He doesn't look at torsion at all, so there are no special problems with equal temperaments.

>>>>>If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the >>>>>octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping >>>>>without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison >>>>>vectors or ET.
>>>>
>>>>You may not have a wedgie.
>>>
>>>Why not?
>>
>>You might be using matrices.
> > Probably equivalent, but if not, then the above seems like an > argument for the wedgie approach.

Yes, the result's equivalent. That's why it's best to describe it in a way that doesn't depend on the implementation. It's also possible to check that the results are correct without using wedge products or the more difficult matrix operations. All you have to do is check that each unison vector is mapped to a unison by the mapping (or val) produced.

What above?

>>>>Unless I substitute >>>>something that's like a unison vector but you don't want to call > a >>>>unison vector.
>>>
>>>Why do *you* want to call it a unison vector?
>>
>>I don't want to call it a unison vector. I'd rather not talk about > it >>at all. I only want to acknowledge that it functions like a unison >>vector if somebody brings it up.
> > > "Functions like a unison vector" means that it amounts to at most an > accidental, not a change in the nominal, when applied to a note in a > scale.

Where did that come from? "Functions like a unison vector" means it sits in a formula where unison vectors are expected.

>>The way I choose it now is to take intervals from the second-order >>tonality diamond. I'm not dealing with unison vectors in any > context >>where I don't have tonality diamonds to hand. I used to use primes > but >>I've learned the error of my ways.
> > Sorry, none of this means anything to me.

You know the tonality diamond is all intervals n:d where n and d are both in the odd limit? Well the second order diamond is all intervals between intervals in the first-order diamond. This contains lots of intervals small enough to be chromatic unison vectors, and guaranteed to be linearly independent. So one of them will work.

>>If I were to use the term "unison vector" when the sense of being >>"unisonous" as inferred from Fokker's writing is irrelevant or >>violated.
> > I think it's clear you've done so already, unless I've totally > misinterpreted all your posts about using fifths as chromatic unison > vectors and the like over the years.

Whenever I talk about unison vectors, they're in a context where such intervals are considered to be the same as a unison.

>>>I didn't know that. It seems to me that the wedgie gives you the > part >>>of the matrix you need above (or below) the diagonal, with sign > and >>>GCD taken care of in the appropriate way. Is it that you want to > use >>>the matrix form instead of the wedgie form, or you actually want > to >>>do without the information therein?
>>
>>Does it? I don't know.
>>
>>I want to avoid implementation details when I don't need them.
> > That doesn't seem like an answer.

It depends if your "either/or" was a fair question. I don't want to use either of them when I can avoid it.

>>>There's absolutely no way to stay in the same diatonic scale if >>>you're moving by a chromatic unison vector.
>>
>>Yes, that's what makes it a unison vector. In an equal > temperament, a >>unison vector is an interval that approximates a unison (or number > of >>octaves where equivalent). In a periodicity block, a unison vector > is >>an interval by which you can transpose the block to fill space > without >>overlapping. 25:24 is clearly the unison vector of the diatonic > scale.
> > It's a chromatic unison vector in the diatonic case. I don't know why > you say "the" or omit "chromatic," though the latter concept > includes/implies the ordinary notation system for the diatonic scale.

I was thinking of the diatonic scale in a meantone space, so there's only one interval to temper out, which I called 25:24. I'm trying to address the core idea of "unison vector".

>>Yes, I understand that now. But it's got to be an obscure one. I >>searched for "chromatic unison" on Google, and what did I find? > Posts >>on chromatic unison vectors in the top positions!
> > Try "augmented unison" if you don't mind something a bit more > specific. "Chroma" is analogous to "comma" in much of the existing > literature, so it makes sense to use these two terms in a parallel > manner.

I'm happy with "augmented unison" which is a real term in real books that I own. But what we're talking about here is a putative "chromatic unison".

>>>>No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F# > are >>>the >>>>same
>>>
>>>Nope, they just use the same letter name.
>>
>>If two intervals differ by a unison vector, they're the same in the >>system in which the unison vector applies. I thought we agreed on > that.
> > I don't know what you mean by "applies", so I don't know if there's a > disagreement here, or what . . .

"Applies" is a useless word I used to connect the unison vector to a system of music. A unison vector's only a unison vector in some specific system.

>>>>In that case maybe we do >>>>need another term. And "comma" won't do if the commatic unison >>>vectors >>>>can break in the same way.
>>>
>>>Break in the same way?
>>
>>If something can work in place of a commatic unison vector, but >>approximate a finite number of periods instead of a unison.
> > Seems even more impossible, or at least no more possible, than the > idea of a chromatic unison vector approximating a finite number of > periods.

Yes, that's why we'd need a new term if we cared about them.

>>>>How about "period vector"?
>>>
>>>Is it _always_ going to be a period? I thought not.
>>
>>I think it's always going to be a number of periods (including zero > and >>negative numbers) like a unison vector is always a whole number of > unisons.
> > You lost me. What's always going to be a number of periods? The > interval of equivalence will, but I didn't see that referenced thin > this discussion . . .

Anything that functions like a unison vector, after it's tempered out.

>>>>Or "kernel vector"?
>>>
>>>That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.
>>
>>I thought a kernel only implied a homomorphism, not a particular > tuning >>of the thing being mapped to.
> > Exactly.

So if you have a homomorphism from primes to a diatonic scale, the chromatic unison vector's still going to be in the kernel.

>>Maybe I can check my group theory book to >>see if there's a better word.
> > What's wrong with this? Commatic unison vectors or kernels in no way > imply particular tunings, just particular temperament classes.

Isn't a temperament class the same as a set of tunings?

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 11:14:26 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> Here's what I get for a prime limit of 7 and letting the continuous > variable go from 1 to 34.5 in steps of 0.01. The first four numbers > in each row are the "val", and the last is the maximum Tenney-
> weighted damage of the TOP tuning:

<snip>

Ah, so the variable's fixed for any given ET. I thought about calculating the optimal stretch for the primes you have, and using that to guess the next prime. I expect it'll give better answers than the naive method but still not perfect.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 11:19:52 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

>>If the commas give fewer >>combinations, you can use commas. Most of the time equal > temperaments >>are the easier approach. They're both equal for rank 3 in the 11-
> limit, >>so I'll guess the 13-limit for rank 4. Is anybody interested in > higher >>ranks? Or even rank 3 temperaments with fewer consonances than the >>13-limit?
> > Yes; Herman Miller's Starling is rank 3 and 7-limit for a start.

I meant rank 4 below the 13-limit.

>>>>Once you have a list of regular temperaments, you can throw away >>>the >>>>ones you're not interested in. That list's going to be pretty >>>small >>>>because your interest can't stretch very far.

>>>This seems kind of backwards. The list of ones you're not > interested >>>in is going to be pretty small because your interest can't > stretch >>>very far?
>>
>>How many temperaments do you have time to be interested in?
> > A hell of a lot more than I have time to play around in, so I'd like > to choose my playing time wisely. But you missed my point, which is > that what you wrote seems backwards. Doesn't it?

Oh, yes, if you read it backwards. If I start with a list, and throw some things away, the list I have at the end is going to contain the things I *didn't* throw away.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/10/2006 11:24:01 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
> >>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
>>
>>>>You define it as being the ET that tempers out the chromatic-
> unison >>>>vector.
>>>
>>>Now you've gone circular on me. There's a hole in the bucket!
>>
>>Um, yes...
> > You know why I said that, right?

Of course. You meant, um, well, ... Okay, I don't know why you said it.

>>A full set of unison vectors defines a periodicity block. The > chromatic >>unison vectors are defined as the ones that aren't tempered out. > If >>only one unison vector is chromatic then you have an MOS scale
> > It might not be MOS, but at least it'll be DE in most reasonable > cases . . .

It depends on what the current definition of "MOS" is.

>>In this case, the equal temperedness of the equal temperament isn't >>important so "val" may be a valid abstraction. That also allows > for >>period and generator mappings to come out. But when you lose the > equal >>temperedness of the equal temperaments you lose the unisonousness > of the >>unison vectors as well. So it's best to stick to equal > temperaments >>when we talk about unison vectors.
> > This sounds like you're arguing against speaking about chromatic > unison vectors of DE scales, but it seemed you just argued *for* that > higher up (above).

I have to say "equal temperaments" because I don't have a word for "things like equal temperaments that don't have to be equally tempered." But maybe "constant structure" would do it.

Graham

🔗Herman Miller <hmiller@IO.COM>

2/11/2006 2:17:57 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> Herman: it's funny, the problem I thought I saw with distributionally > even actually afflicts your definition of MOS:
> > "
> moment of symmetry (MOS) In a linear temperament, a scale having > exactly two sizes of steps.
> "
> > Here, it does seem that the melodic minor scale in any meantone > tuning fits the definition, but in fact it's not an MOS.

You're right about that. It needs to be a scale built from the generator of the temperament (without any breaks in the chain). I thought I had that bit in there, but I guess I must have got sidetracked defining "linear temperament", "generator", and so on, and never got back to this one.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/22/2006 11:15:25 PM

Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the only one that makes the effective weighting on any ratio greater than the effective weighting on any more complex ratio.

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
>
> >>I can't explain it because I don't agree with it. Any weighting
> > will
> >>get you from an odd limit to a prime limit. Tenney weighting has
> > some
> >>nice properties, like it's dimensionless, you can implement it
> > without
> >>prime factorization, and it relates to the odd limits.
> >
> > *Relates* -- can you make this precise? This is what I was trying to
> > get at for Carl. You're getting warm, and in fact you yourself posted
> > some interesting things that go further -- including some of your
> > earliest reactions to TOP.
>
> The Tenney weighting tells you how many instances of a prime you can
> expect in a higher odd limit. So in the 9-limit you have 9 as well as
> 3. I think of it statistically. The weighting is the probability of a
> given factor being involved in any given ratio. That's also why I
> prefer means to maxima when we use >Tenney weighting.

I don't get it. When we use maxima, it suddenly becomes "concrete" as opposed to "statistical" -- this is what the TOP proofs in the endnotes of my 'Middle Path' paper show.

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

2/22/2006 11:24:59 PM

At 11:15 PM 2/22/2006, you wrote:
>Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the only one that
>makes the effective weighting on any ratio greater than the effective
>weighting on any more complex ratio.

Did you say this backward? I'm lost.

-Carl

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/23/2006 1:25:01 AM

>
> >>Cette méthode nous fournit le tempérament
> >>égal de trente-et-un cinquièmes de ton, tel qu'il a été calculé par
> >>Christiaan Huygens.
> >
> > This seems like the only section where they are conceived of as
> > tempered out, and clearly this is not a rigorous handling of the
> > situation, as it amounts to pure hand-waving and would not lead to a
> > correct conclusion in cases of torsion.
>
> So they're tempered out. It's more than hand-waving because it uses the
> determinant to get the number of notes to the >octave.

What I'm saying is that it's hand waving to say that this determinant, which gives you the number of JI notes in the block when the UVs are not tempered out, must therefore give you the number of notes in the ET when they are.

> He doesn't look >at torsion at all,

You mean he had the luck not to run into it . . .

> so there are no special problems with
> equal temperaments.

Huh? The hand-waving above is not valid in some cases, as we know, and falls apart specifically when the UVs form a torsional kernel basis for thr ET.

> >>>>>If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the
> >>>>>octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping
> >>>>>without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison
> >>>>>vectors or ET.
> >>>>
> >>>>You may not have a wedgie.
> >>>
> >>>Why not?
> >>
> >>You might be using matrices.
> >
> > Probably equivalent, but if not, then the above seems like an
> > argument for the wedgie approach.
>
> Yes, the result's equivalent. That's why it's best to describe it in a
> way that doesn't depend on the implementation. It's also possible to
> check that the results are correct without using wedge products or the
> more difficult matrix operations. All you have to do is check that each
> unison vector is mapped to a unison by the mapping (or val) produced.
>
> What above?

Huh?

> >>>>Unless I substitute
> >>>>something that's like a unison vector but you don't want to call
> > a
> >>>>unison vector.
> >>>
> >>>Why do *you* want to call it a unison vector?
> >>
> >>I don't want to call it a unison vector. I'd rather not talk about
> > it
> >>at all. I only want to acknowledge that it functions like a unison
> >>vector if somebody brings it up.
> >
> >
> > "Functions like a unison vector" means that it amounts to at most an
> > accidental, not a change in the nominal, when applied to a note in a
> > scale.
>
> Where did that >come from?

That's what chromatic unisons do -- they involve an accidental (that's the "chromatic" part) and no change in the nominal (that's the "unison" part).

> "Functions like a unison vector" means it
> sits in a formula where unison vectors are >expected.

I think you're interpreting the formula in question too narrowly. Determinants are the calculations involved in taking wedge products, and we've seen many different applications of those. Besides, a lot of formulas look the same; that doesn't mean the things going into them are the same kinds of things.

> >>The way I choose it now is to take intervals from the second-order
> >>tonality diamond. I'm not dealing with unison vectors in any
> > context
> >>where I don't have tonality diamonds to hand. I used to use primes
> > but
> >>I've learned the error of my ways.
> >
> > Sorry, none of this means anything to me.
>
> You know the tonality diamond is all intervals n:d where n and d are
> both in the odd limit? Well the second order diamond is all intervals
> between intervals in the first-order diamond. This contains lots of
> intervals small enough to be chromatic unison vectors, and guaranteed to
> be linearly independent. So one of them will work.
>
> >>If I were to use the term "unison vector" when the sense of being
> >>"unisonous" as inferred from Fokker's writing is irrelevant or
> >>violated.
> >
> > I think it's clear you've done so already, unless I've totally
> > misinterpreted all your posts about using fifths as chromatic unison
> > vectors and the like over the years.
>
> Whenever I talk about unison vectors, they're in a context where such
> intervals are considered to be the same as a unison.

Wow. You could have fooled me. In fact, you did.

I'll have to go over your webpages again and point out the mind-boggling occurences of "chromatic unison vector" if they're still there.

> >>>I didn't know that. It seems to me that the wedgie gives you the
> > part
> >>>of the matrix you need above (or below) the diagonal, with sign
> > and
> >>>GCD taken care of in the appropriate way. Is it that you want to
> > use
> >>>the matrix form instead of the wedgie form, or you actually want
> > to
> >>>do without the information therein?
> >>
> >>Does it? I don't know.
> >>
> >>I want to avoid implementation details when I don't need them.
> >
> > That doesn't seem like an answer.
>
> It depends if your "either/or" was a fair question. I don't want to use
> either of them when I can avoid it.
>
> >>>There's absolutely no way to stay in the same diatonic scale if
> >>>you're moving by a chromatic unison vector.
> >>
> >>Yes, that's what makes it a unison vector. In an equal
> > temperament, a
> >>unison vector is an interval that approximates a unison (or number
> > of
> >>octaves where equivalent). In a periodicity block, a unison vector
> > is
> >>an interval by which you can transpose the block to fill space
> > without
> >>overlapping. 25:24 is clearly the unison vector of the diatonic
> > scale.
> >
> > It's a chromatic unison vector in the diatonic case. I don't know why
> > you say "the" or omit "chromatic," though the latter concept
> > includes/implies the ordinary notation system for the diatonic scale.
>
> I was thinking of the diatonic scale in a meantone space, so there's
> only one interval to temper out, which I called ]25:24.

You mean if you want to convert the diatonic scale into 7-equal?

> I'm trying to
> address the core idea of "unison vector".

Let's do it.

> >>Yes, I understand that now. But it's got to be an obscure one. I
> >>searched for "chromatic unison" on Google, and what did I find?
> > Posts
> >>on chromatic unison vectors in the top positions!
> >
> > Try "augmented unison" if you don't mind something a bit more
> > specific. "Chroma" is analogous to "comma" in much of the existing
> > literature, so it makes sense to use these two terms in a parallel
> > manner.
>
> I'm happy with "augmented unison" which is a real term in real books
> that I own.

Unfortunaly, we're using "augmented" to refer to a temperament.

> But what we're talking about here is a putative "chromatic
> unison".

"Chromatic" is a term that can be used to apply to augmented and diminished (and doubly-augmented, etc.) intervals to distinguish them from perfect, major, and minor ones. Plus, "chroma" is already used to refer to the augmented unison.

> >>>>No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F#
> > are
> >>>the
> >>>>same
> >>>
> >>>Nope, they just use the same letter name.
> >>
> >>If two intervals differ by a unison vector, they're the same in the
> >>system in which the unison vector applies. I thought we agreed on
> > that.
> >
> > I don't know what you mean by "applies", so I don't know if there's a
> > disagreement here, or what . . .
>
> "Applies" is a useless word I used to connect the unison vector to a
> system of music. A unison vector's only a unison vector in some
> specific system.

OK. Then what you're saying above applies to commatic unison vectors, but not to chromatic ones.

> >>>>In that case maybe we do
> >>>>need another term. And "comma" won't do if the commatic unison
> >>>vectors
> >>>>can break in the same way.
> >>>
> >>>Break in the same way?
> >>
> >>If something can work in place of a commatic unison vector, but
> >>approximate a finite number of periods instead of a unison.
> >
> > Seems even more impossible, or at least no more possible, than the
> > idea of a chromatic unison vector approximating a finite number of
> > periods.
>
> Yes, that's why we'd need a new term if we cared about them.

But how could such acontradictory situation arise?

> >>>>How about "period vector"?
> >>>
> >>>Is it _always_ going to be a period? I thought not.
> >>
> >>I think it's always going to be a number of periods (including zero
> > and
> >>negative numbers) like a unison vector is always a whole number of
> > unisons.
> >
> > You lost me. What's always going to be a number of periods? The
> > interval of equivalence will, but I didn't see that referenced thin
> > this discussion . . .
>
> Anything that functions like a unison vector, after it's tempered out.

That must always be zero periodsn by the definition of "tempered out".

> >>>>Or "kernel vector"?
> >>>
> >>>That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.
> >>
> >>I thought a kernel only implied a homomorphism, not a particular
> > tuning
> >>of the thing being mapped to.
> >
> > Exactly.
>
> So if you have a homomorphism from primes to a diatonic scale, the
> chromatic unison vector's still going to be in the kernel.

Remind me of the definition of "homomorphism".

> >>Maybe I can check my group theory book to
> >>see if there's a better word.
> >
> > What's wrong with this? Commatic unison vectors or kernels in no way
> > imply particular tunings, just particular temperament classes.
>
> Isn't a temperament class the same as a set of tunings?

Not really. A tuning can obey different mappings, or none at all. A temperament class obeys one mapping; even the best tuning for it may look even better under some other mappings. So no, a temperament class isn't quite a set of tunings, because a given tuning can't be sharply associated with one, or even a finite set, of temperament classes.

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/23/2006 4:01:05 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>>>>Cette m�thode nous fournit le temp�rament >>>>�gal de trente-et-un cinqui�mes de ton, tel qu'il a �t� calcul� par >>>>Christiaan Huygens.
>>>
>>>This seems like the only section where they are conceived of as >>>tempered out, and clearly this is not a rigorous handling of the >>>situation, as it amounts to pure hand-waving and would not lead to a >>>correct conclusion in cases of torsion.
>>
>>So they're tempered out. It's more than hand-waving because it uses the >>determinant to get the number of notes to the >octave.
> > > What I'm saying is that it's hand waving to say that this determinant, which gives you the number of JI notes in the block when the UVs are not tempered out, must therefore give you the number of notes in the ET when they are.

No, it's a reliable way of getting the number of notes provided the periodicity block doesn't have torsion. He does say "Seuls les notes int�rieures � ce parall�l�pip�de seront ind�pendantes." He doesn't say "Touts les notes int�rieures � ce parall�l�pip�de seront ind�pendantes." but you can bet he knows that they are. Provided the notes are independant (no two of them are tempered the same) you don't have torsion. So although he doesn't mention torsional blocks he does show he's aware of the reason why the calculation wouldn't work for them.

He does specify that the notes have to be independent in the two previous examples: "Il ne reste donc que douze sons distincts." and "On peut compter le nombre des sons ind�pendants dans le tableau."

>>He doesn't look >at torsion at all,
> > You mean he had the luck not to run into it . . .

I don't know why he didn't talk about it, and I don't really care. The point is that I don't expect to understand what he meant by considering the things he didn't talk about. He plainly *does* talk about unison vectors and periodicity blocks (but in another language) in the context of equal temperaments.

>>so there are no special problems with >>equal temperaments.
> > > Huh? The hand-waving above is not valid in some cases, as we know, and falls apart specifically when the UVs form a torsional kernel basis for thr ET.

It's not hand-waving when he specifically says he's counting independent notes. A torsional block wouldn't fulfil that criterion. The determinant's only a means of counting the number of notes in a block, and a perfectly valid one.

>>>>>>>If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the >>>>>>>octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping >>>>>>>without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison >>>>>>>vectors or ET.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>You may not have a wedgie.
>>>>>
>>>>>Why not?
>>>>
>>>>You might be using matrices.
>>>
>>>Probably equivalent, but if not, then the above seems like an >>>argument for the wedgie approach.
>>
>>Yes, the result's equivalent. That's why it's best to describe it in a >>way that doesn't depend on the implementation. It's also possible to >>check that the results are correct without using wedge products or the >>more difficult matrix operations. All you have to do is check that each >> unison vector is mapped to a unison by the mapping (or val) produced.
>>
>>What above?
> > Huh?

Where above do you see an argument for wedgie products?

>>>>>>Unless I substitute >>>>>>something that's like a unison vector but you don't want to call >>>
>>>a >>>
>>>>>>unison vector.
>>>>>
>>>>>Why do *you* want to call it a unison vector?
>>>>
>>>>I don't want to call it a unison vector. I'd rather not talk about >>>
>>>it >>>
>>>>at all. I only want to acknowledge that it functions like a unison >>>>vector if somebody brings it up.
>>>
>>>
>>>"Functions like a unison vector" means that it amounts to at most an >>>accidental, not a change in the nominal, when applied to a note in a >>>scale.
>>
>>Where did that >come from?
> > > That's what chromatic unisons do -- they involve an accidental (that's the "chromatic" part) and no change in the nominal (that's the "unison" part).

What have chromatic unisons got to do with it? The most common definition of "unison" is that the two notes should be the same. That's clearly what Fokker's talking about with "unison vectors".

>>"Functions like a unison vector" means it >>sits in a formula where unison vectors are >expected.
> > I think you're interpreting the formula in question too narrowly. Determinants are the calculations involved in taking wedge products, and we've seen many different applications of those. Besides, a lot of formulas look the same; that doesn't mean the things going into them are the same kinds of things.

Yes, and the English word "like" doesn't mean "the same as". Did "functions like" somehow get displayed as "is" in your e-mail reader?

>>Whenever I talk about unison vectors, they're in a context where such >>intervals are considered to be the same as a unison.
> > Wow. You could have fooled me. In fact, you did.
> > I'll have to go over your webpages again and point out the mind-boggling occurences of "chromatic unison vector" if they're still there.

I can't find a single example of the phrase "chromatic unison vector" on my website, and neither can Google. I don't recall removing any in the past few years.

>>>>overlapping. 25:24 is clearly the unison vector of the diatonic >>>scale.
>>>
>>>It's a chromatic unison vector in the diatonic case. I don't know why >>>you say "the" or omit "chromatic," though the latter concept >>>includes/implies the ordinary notation system for the diatonic scale.
>>
>>I was thinking of the diatonic scale in a meantone space, so there's >>only one interval to temper out, which I called ]25:24.
> > You mean if you want to convert the diatonic scale into 7-equal?

If you want 7-equal you have to temper out that unison vector, yes.

>>I'm happy with "augmented unison" which is a real term in real books >>that I own.
> > Unfortunaly, we're using "augmented" to refer to a temperament.

Why is that a problem?

>>But what we're talking about here is a putative "chromatic >>unison".
> > "Chromatic" is a term that can be used to apply to augmented and diminished (and doubly-augmented, etc.) intervals to distinguish them from perfect, major, and minor ones. Plus, "chroma" is already used to refer to the augmented unison.

That's another definition I can't find anybody else using. "Chromatic" usually refers to notes outside a diatonic scale. Chromatic intervals would logically be intervals outside a diatonic scale -- so augmented fourths and diminished fifths would not be chromatic.

>>>>>>No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F# >>>
>>>are >>>
>>>>>the >>>>>
>>>>>>same
>>>>>
>>>>>Nope, they just use the same letter name.
>>>>
>>>>If two intervals differ by a unison vector, they're the same in the >>>>system in which the unison vector applies. I thought we agreed on >>>
>>>that.
>>>
>>>I don't know what you mean by "applies", so I don't know if there's a >>>disagreement here, or what . . .
>>
>>"Applies" is a useless word I used to connect the unison vector to a >>system of music. A unison vector's only a unison vector in some >>specific system.
> > OK. Then what you're saying above applies to commatic unison vectors, but not to chromatic ones.

It applies to all unison vectors as I understand them, and I don't see why chromatic unison vectors should break the rule.

>>>>If something can work in place of a commatic unison vector, but >>>>approximate a finite number of periods instead of a unison.
>>>
>>>Seems even more impossible, or at least no more possible, than the >>>idea of a chromatic unison vector approximating a finite number of >>>periods.
>>
>>Yes, that's why we'd need a new term if we cared about them.
> > But how could such acontradictory situation arise? I expect a Pythagorean comma used to define mystery temperament (29&58) would do it but I haven't checked.

>>>>>>How about "period vector"?
>>>>>
>>>>>Is it _always_ going to be a period? I thought not.
>>>>
>>>>I think it's always going to be a number of periods (including zero >>>
>>>and >>>
>>>>negative numbers) like a unison vector is always a whole number of >>>
>>>unisons.
>>>
>>>You lost me. What's always going to be a number of periods? The >>>interval of equivalence will, but I didn't see that referenced thin >>>this discussion . . .
>>
>>Anything that functions like a unison vector, after it's tempered out.
> > That must always be zero periodsn by the definition of "tempered out".

It depends on the definition, doesn't it? If the definition is "tempered to be the same as a finite number of periods" then they needn't be zero periods.

>>>>>>Or "kernel vector"?
>>>>>
>>>>>That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.
>>>>
>>>>I thought a kernel only implied a homomorphism, not a particular >>>tuning >>>>of the thing being mapped to.
>>>
>>>Exactly.
>>
>>So if you have a homomorphism from primes to a diatonic scale, the >>chromatic unison vector's still going to be in the kernel.
> > Remind me of the definition of "homomorphism".

A homomorphism is a mapping from one set onto another such that generalized addition and subtraction work the same way before the mapping as after it. Every element in the big set has to map to the little set, and every element in the little set has to be mapped to from at least one element in the big set.

For scales, this means that every interval in the scale has to be an approximation of some JI interval, and every interval in the relevant JI (usually prime) limit has to have an approximation in the scale. If you add two intervals and them approximate them it's the same as approximating them both first and then adding them.

>>>>Maybe I can check my group theory book to >>>>see if there's a better word.
>>>
>>>What's wrong with this? Commatic unison vectors or kernels in no way >>>imply particular tunings, just particular temperament classes.
>>
>>Isn't a temperament class the same as a set of tunings?
> > Not really. A tuning can obey different mappings, or none at all. A temperament class obeys one mapping; even the best tuning for it may look even better under some other mappings. So no, a temperament class isn't quite a set of tunings, because a given tuning can't be sharply associated with one, or even a finite set, of temperament classes.

I can't remember what the point of this bit is.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/23/2006 4:55:50 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

> Remind me of the definition of "homomorphism".

Oh, I think I defined "epimorphism" before, but it doesn't matter.

Graham

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/23/2006 10:46:21 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
wrote:
> Determinants are the calculations involved in taking wedge products,
> and we've seen many different applications of those.

From a definitional point of view, it makes more sense to say wedge
products are the calculations involved in defining determinants.

> > So if you have a homomorphism from primes to a diatonic scale, the
> > chromatic unison vector's still going to be in the kernel.
>
> Remind me of the definition of "homomorphism".

An abelian group homomorphism is a mapping from one abelian group A to
another B, h:A-->B, satisfying h(x+y) = h(x)+h(y). If the abelian
groups are written mulitplicatively, this would read h(ab) = h(a)h(b).
A val is a homomorphism from the p-limit group to the integers. A an
abstract temperament or "temperament class" is a homomorphism from the
p-limit group to a group of lower rank, and a concrete temperament
(temperament with a tuning) is a homomorphism into a subgroup of the
positive reals under multiplication.

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/23/2006 10:57:38 AM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:

> A homomorphism is a mapping from one set onto another such that
> generalized addition and subtraction work the same way before the
> mapping as after it. Every element in the big set has to map to the
> little set, and every element in the little set has to be mapped to
from
> at least one element in the big set.

You should say "one group to another", not set. And the image of the
map, that is the subgroup of the group being mapped to consisting of
all elements which are mapped from the first group, is not required to
be all of the group being mapped to. If h:A-->B is a group
homomorphism, then im(h), the image of h, is a subgroup of B, and
ker(h), the kernel of h, consisting of elements mapped to the identity
of B, is a subgroup of A.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/23/2006 3:58:35 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> > Here's what I get for a prime limit of 7 and letting the continuous
> > variable go from 1 to 34.5 in steps of 0.01. The first four numbers
> > in each row are the "val", and the last is the maximum Tenney-
> > weighted damage of the TOP tuning:
>
> <snip>
>
> Ah, so the variable's fixed for any given ET.

No, it isn't.

> I thought about
> calculating the optimal stretch for the primes you have, and using that
> to guess the next prime. I expect it'll give better answers than the
> naive method but still not perfect.

Why not just include all the primes you want in the first place?

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/23/2006 4:54:18 PM

Gene Ward Smith wrote:

> An abelian group homomorphism is a mapping from one abelian group A to > another B, h:A-->B, satisfying h(x+y) = h(x)+h(y). If the abelian
> groups are written mulitplicatively, this would read h(ab) = h(a)h(b).
> A val is a homomorphism from the p-limit group to the integers. A an
> abstract temperament or "temperament class" is a homomorphism from the
> p-limit group to a group of lower rank, and a concrete temperament
> (temperament with a tuning) is a homomorphism into a subgroup of the
> positive reals under multiplication.

I take it your subgroup of positive reals represent frequency ratios. In that case what you say is only true of regular temperaments. For example, 3:2 can be approximated two different ways in most well temperaments. That means if you map it from a frequency ratio to an interval class and back to a frequency ratio, you could get two different results.

In general, a temperament has a homomorphism from JI intervals (or integer frequency ratios) to interval classes, and a musical scale has a mapping from notes to frequencies.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/23/2006 4:57:07 PM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
> >>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Here's what I get for a prime limit of 7 and letting the continuous >>>variable go from 1 to 34.5 in steps of 0.01. The first four numbers >>>in each row are the "val", and the last is the maximum Tenney-
>>>weighted damage of the TOP tuning:
>>
>><snip>
>>
>>Ah, so the variable's fixed for any given ET.
> > No, it isn't.

Ah, even if you define a temperament as having a specific tuning?

>> I thought about >>calculating the optimal stretch for the primes you have, and using that >>to guess the next prime. I expect it'll give better answers than the >>naive method but still not perfect.
> > Why not just include all the primes you want in the first place?

Firstly, you may not know what primes you need up front. Secondly, it's a chicken and egg problem. How do you no the optimal stretch until you map the primes, and how do you know how to map the primes until you have the optimal stretch?

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/23/2006 6:56:10 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>
> At 11:15 PM 2/22/2006, you wrote:
> >Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the only one that
> >makes the effective weighting on any ratio greater than the effective
> >weighting on any more complex ratio.
>
> Did you say this >backward?

No.

> I'm lost.
>
> -Carl
>
You said that, if we're looking at the primes, a weighting of 1/log(p) was arbitrary. In fact, it's anything but.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/23/2006 8:06:14 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> >>>>Cette méthode nous fournit le tempérament
> >>>>égal de trente-et-un cinquièmes de ton, tel qu'il a été calculé par
> >>>>Christiaan Huygens.
> >>>
> >>>This seems like the only section where they are conceived of as
> >>>tempered out, and clearly this is not a rigorous handling of the
> >>>situation, as it amounts to pure hand-waving and would not lead to a
> >>>correct conclusion in cases of torsion.
> >>
> >>So they're tempered out. It's more than hand-waving because it uses the
> >>determinant to get the number of notes to the >octave.
> >
> >
> > What I'm saying is that it's hand waving to say that this determinant, which gives you the number of JI notes in the block when the UVs are not tempered out, must therefore give you the number of notes in the ET when they are.
>
> No, it's a reliable way of getting the number of notes provided the
> periodicity block doesn't have torsion. He does say "Seuls les notes
> intérieures à ce parallélépipède seront indépendantes." He doesn't say
> "Touts les notes intérieures à ce parallélépipède seront indépendantes."
> but you can bet he knows that they are. Provided the notes are
> independant (no two of them are tempered the same) you don't have
> torsion. So although he doesn't mention torsional blocks he does show
> he's aware of the reason why the calculation wouldn't work for them.

Pardon my French, but on what basis are you drawing this conclusion? I don't see it.

> He does specify that the notes have to be independent in the two
> previous examples: "Il ne reste donc que douze sons distincts." and "On
> peut compter le nombre des sons indépendants dans le tableau."
>
> >>He doesn't look >at torsion at all,
> >
> > You mean he had the luck not to run into it . . .
>
> I don't know why he didn't talk about it, and I don't really care. The
> point is that I don't expect to understand what he meant by considering
> the things he didn't talk about. He plainly *does* talk about unison
> vectors and periodicity blocks (but in another language) in the context
> of equal temperaments.

Given that he spend so much time in his paper talking about the different step sizes in each scale, alternate pitches, etc., the idea that the context is ET doesn't fly -- or even sit upright.
>
> >>so there are no special problems with
> >>equal temperaments.
> >
> >
> > Huh? The hand-waving above is not valid in some cases, as we know, and falls apart specifically when the UVs form a torsional kernel basis for thr ET.
>
> It's not hand-waving when he specifically says he's counting independent
> notes. A torsional block wouldn't fulfil that criterion.

Where does he define "independent notes"? Where does he even hint that the determinant formula may not be the right one in some cases?

The
> determinant's only a means of counting the number of notes in a block,
> and a perfectly valid one.
>
>
> >>>>>>>If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the
> >>>>>>>octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping
> >>>>>>>without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison
> >>>>>>>vectors or ET.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>You may not have a wedgie.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Why not?
> >>>>
> >>>>You might be using matrices.
> >>>
> >>>Probably equivalent, but if not, then the above seems like an
> >>>argument for the wedgie approach.
> >>
> >>Yes, the result's equivalent. That's why it's best to describe it in a
> >>way that doesn't depend on the implementation. It's also possible to
> >>check that the results are correct without using wedge products or the
> >>more difficult matrix operations. All you have to do is check that each
> >> unison vector is mapped to a unison by the mapping (or val) produced.
> >>
> >>What above?
> >
> > Huh?
>
> Where above do you see an argument for wedgie products?

That's a strange question, because you've been fighting against them for a whole now, so why would I expect to see an argument for them in your writing?

> >>>>>>Unless I substitute
> >>>>>>something that's like a unison vector but you don't want to call
> >>>
> >>>a
> >>>
> >>>>>>unison vector.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Why do *you* want to call it a unison vector?
> >>>>
> >>>>I don't want to call it a unison vector. I'd rather not talk about
> >>>
> >>>it
> >>>
> >>>>at all. I only want to acknowledge that it functions like a unison
> >>>>vector if somebody brings it up.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>"Functions like a unison vector" means that it amounts to at most an
> >>>accidental, not a change in the nominal, when applied to a note in a
> >>>scale.
> >>
> >>Where did that >come from?
> >
> >
> > That's what chromatic unisons do -- they involve an accidental (that's the "chromatic" part) and no change in the nominal (that's the "unison" part).
>
> What have chromatic unisons got to do with it? The most common
> definition of "unison" is that the two notes should be the same. That's
> clearly what Fokker's talking about with "unison vectors".

The way I read it, he's primarily talking about JI scales, and he specifically says that a unison vector is an interval that can be neglected *in notation*. Chromatic unison vectors are similar to his commatic ones except that, while the nominal is the same on both ends of the vector, the accidental won't be.

> >>"Functions like a unison vector" means it
> >>sits in a formula where unison vectors are >expected.
> >
> > I think you're interpreting the formula in question too narrowly. Determinants are the calculations involved in taking wedge products, and we've seen many different applications of those. Besides, a lot of formulas look the same; that doesn't mean the things going into them are the same kinds of things.
>
> Yes, and the English word "like" doesn't mean "the same as". Did
> "functions like" somehow get displayed as "is" in your e-mail reader?

No, it didn't. But the sens in which you mean "functions like" is not English or Music, it's a highly abstract mathematocal thing, so almost no one is going to have any idea what you're talking about. What happened to making things accessible?

> >>Whenever I talk about unison vectors, they're in a context where such
> >>intervals are considered to be the same as a unison.
> >
> > Wow. You could have fooled me. In fact, you did.
> >
> > I'll have to go over your webpages again and point out the mind-boggling occurences of "chromatic unison vector" if they're still there.
>
> I can't find a single example of the phrase "chromatic unison vector" on
> my website, and neither can Google. I don't recall removing any in the
> past few years.

Hmm . . . well I don't know what I was thinking about then.
>
> >>>>overlapping. 25:24 is clearly the unison vector of the diatonic
> >>>scale.
> >>>
> >>>It's a chromatic unison vector in the diatonic case. I don't know why
> >>>you say "the" or omit "chromatic," though the latter concept
> >>>includes/implies the ordinary notation system for the diatonic scale.
> >>
> >>I was thinking of the diatonic scale in a meantone space, so there's
> >>only one interval to temper out, which I called ]25:24.
> >
> > You mean if you want to convert the diatonic scale into 7-equal?
>
> If you want 7-equal you have to temper out that unison vector, yes.

But what if you *don't* want 7-equal?

> >>I'm happy with "augmented unison" which is a real term in real books
> >>that I own.
> >
> > Unfortunaly, we're using "augmented" to refer to a temperament.
>
> Why is that a problem?

Because "augmented unison" might then refer to a unison (possibly commatic) in augmented temperament specifically.

> >>But what we're talking about here is a putative "chromatic
> >>unison".
> >
> > "Chromatic" is a term that can be used to apply to augmented and diminished (and doubly-augmented, etc.) intervals to distinguish them from perfect, major, and minor ones. Plus, "chroma" is already used to refer to the augmented unison.
>
> That's another definition I can't find anybody else using. "Chromatic"
> usually refers to notes outside a diatonic scale. Chromatic intervals
> would logically be intervals outside a diatonic scale -- so augmented
> fourths and diminished fifths would not be chromatic.

This is something that's actually been written about.

> >>>>>>No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F#
> >>>
> >>>are
> >>>
> >>>>>the
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>same
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Nope, they just use the same letter name.
> >>>>
> >>>>If two intervals differ by a unison vector, they're the same in the
> >>>>system in which the unison vector applies. I thought we agreed on
> >>>
> >>>that.
> >>>
> >>>I don't know what you mean by "applies", so I don't know if there's a
> >>>disagreement here, or what . . .
> >>
> >>"Applies" is a useless word I used to connect the unison vector to a
> >>system of music. A unison vector's only a unison vector in some
> >>specific system.
> >
> > OK. Then what you're saying above applies to commatic unison vectors, but not to chromatic ones.
>
> It applies to all unison vectors as I understand them, and I don't see
> why chromatic unison vectors should break the >rule.

By their very definition.

> >>>>If something can work in place of a commatic unison vector, but
> >>>>approximate a finite number of periods instead of a unison.
> >>>
> >>>Seems even more impossible, or at least no more possible, than the
> >>>idea of a chromatic unison vector approximating a finite number of
> >>>periods.
> >>
> >>Yes, that's why we'd need a new term if we cared about them.
> >
> > But how could such acontradictory situation arise?
>
> I expect a Pythagorean comma used to define mystery temperament (29&58)
> would do it but I >haven't checked.

Seems totally impossible to me, so please do!

> >>>>>>How about "period vector"?
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Is it _always_ going to be a period? I thought not.
> >>>>
> >>>>I think it's always going to be a number of periods (including zero
> >>>
> >>>and
> >>>
> >>>>negative numbers) like a unison vector is always a whole number of
> >>>
> >>>unisons.
> >>>
> >>>You lost me. What's always going to be a number of periods? The
> >>>interval of equivalence will, but I didn't see that referenced thin
> >>>this discussion . . .
> >>
> >>Anything that functions like a unison vector, after it's tempered out.
> >
> > That must always be zero periodsn by the definition of "tempered out".
>
> It depends on the definition, doesn't it? If the definition is
> "tempered to be the same as a finite number of periods" then they
> needn't be zero periods.

"Tempered out" means "tempered out of existence"; i.e., to zero cents.

> >>>>>>Or "kernel vector"?
> >>>>>
> >>>>>That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.
> >>>>
> >>>>I thought a kernel only implied a homomorphism, not a particular
> >>>tuning
> >>>>of the thing being mapped to.
> >>>
> >>>Exactly.
> >>
> >>So if you have a homomorphism from primes to a diatonic scale, the
> >>chromatic unison vector's still going to be in the kernel.
> >
> > Remind me of the definition of "homomorphism".
>
> A homomorphism is a mapping from one set onto another such that
> generalized addition and subtraction work the same way before the
> mapping as after it. Every element in the big set has to map to the
> little set, and every element in the little set has to be mapped to from
> at least one element in the big set.

Seems like you'd need an awful lot of primes then :)

Anyway, if you don't want your diatonic scale to degenerate into 7-equal, clearly there's a difference in how you need to treat the two unison vectors. If you treat them the wrong way, you can even end up with a 7-note dicot scale!

I don't think it's possible for a homomorphism to take something with complete transpositional invariance, like the infinite JI lattice, and map it to something lacking complete transpositional invariance, like a diatonic scale. Instead, you map to something else with complete transpositional invariance, such as infinitely extended meantone, or 7-equal.

In fact, the way to think about it is in terms of two homomorphisms -- a tuning one, where only the commatic unison vectors are taken into account; and a nominal one, where the mapping is to letter names and both unison vectors are taken into account.

> For scales, this means that every interval in the scale has to be an
> approximation of some JI interval, and every interval in the relevant JI
> (usually prime) limit has to have an approximation in the scale. If you
> add two intervals and them approximate them it's the same as
> approximating them both first and then adding them.

Unfortunately, the diatonic scale doesn't have any approximation to intervals such as 24:25 -- that takes you entirely *out* of the diatonic scale you started in.

> >>>>Maybe I can check my group theory book to
> >>>>see if there's a better word.
> >>>
> >>>What's wrong with this? Commatic unison vectors or kernels in no way
> >>>imply particular tunings, just particular temperament classes.
> >>
> >>Isn't a temperament class the same as a set of tunings?
> >
> > Not really. A tuning can obey different mappings, or none at all. A temperament class obeys one mapping; even the best tuning for it may look even better under some other mappings. So no, a temperament class isn't quite a set of tunings, because a given tuning can't be sharply associated with one, or even a finite set, of temperament classes.
>
> I can't remember what the point of this bit is.
>
>
> Graham
>

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/23/2006 11:13:38 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> > --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@> wrote:
> >
> >>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Here's what I get for a prime limit of 7 and letting the continuous
> >>>variable go from 1 to 34.5 in steps of 0.01. The first four numbers
> >>>in each row are the "val", and the last is the maximum Tenney-
> >>>weighted damage of the TOP tuning:
> >>
> >><snip>
> >>
> >>Ah, so the variable's fixed for any given ET.
> >
> > No, it isn't.
>
> Ah, even if you define a temperament as having a specific tuning?

Yes, even so. Because a whole range of values of the variable maps to a given val (the temperament), which
then maps to the TOP tuning for that val/temperament.

> >> I thought about
> >>calculating the optimal stretch for the primes you have, and using that
> >>to guess the next prime. I expect it'll give better answers than the
> >>naive method but still not perfect.
> >
> > Why not just include all the primes you want in the first place?
>
> Firstly, you may not know what primes you need up front.

Then this whole approach wouldn't make sense.

> Secondly, it's
> a chicken and egg problem. How do you no the optimal stretch until you
> map the primes, and how do you know how to map the primes until you have
> the optimal stretch?

You start by comparing all the mappings generated by my program, and you take the one with the lowest TOP damage as the optimal mapping. The TOP tuning for that is the optimal stretch.
>
> Graham
>

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

2/24/2006 12:10:48 AM

>> >Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the only one that
>> >makes the effective weighting on any ratio greater than the effective
>> >weighting on any more complex ratio.

Can you demonstrate this?

-Carl

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/24/2006 5:00:34 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

>>>Why not just include all the primes you want in the first place?
>>
>>Firstly, you may not know what primes you need up front.
> > Then this whole approach wouldn't make sense.

*Your* approach might not but *mine* does.

>> Secondly, it's >>a chicken and egg problem. How do you no the optimal stretch until you >>map the primes, and how do you know how to map the primes until you have >>the optimal stretch?
> > You start by comparing all the mappings generated by my program, and you take the one with the lowest TOP damage as the optimal mapping. The TOP tuning for that is the optimal stretch.

If that works it'll give the same result as what I'm already doing, so it isn't interesting. It might not work in that you might not have chosen the right variables.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/24/2006 6:39:38 AM

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
> >>wallyesterpaulrus wrote:

>>>>>This seems like the only section where they are conceived of as >>>>>tempered out, and clearly this is not a rigorous handling of the >>>>>situation, as it amounts to pure hand-waving and would not lead to a >>>>>correct conclusion in cases of torsion.
>>>>
>>>>So they're tempered out. It's more than hand-waving because it uses the >>>>determinant to get the number of notes to the >octave.
>>>
>>>What I'm saying is that it's hand waving to say that this determinant, which gives you the number of JI notes in the block when the UVs are not tempered out, must therefore give you the number of notes in the ET when they are.
>>
>>No, it's a reliable way of getting the number of notes provided the >>periodicity block doesn't have torsion. He does say "Seuls les notes >>int�rieures � ce parall�l�pip�de seront ind�pendantes." He doesn't say >>"Touts les notes int�rieures � ce parall�l�pip�de seront ind�pendantes." >>but you can bet he knows that they are. Provided the notes are >>independant (no two of them are tempered the same) you don't have >>torsion. So although he doesn't mention torsional blocks he does show >>he's aware of the reason why the calculation wouldn't work for them.
> > Pardon my French, but on what basis are you drawing this conclusion? I don't see it.

Below in my previous message, above in the Fokker paper:

"Il ne reste donc que douze sons distincts."

I take that as "there are no more than 12 distinct sounds". It could hardly apply to a 24 note torsional block (or a 12 note torsional block for 6-equal). The 3-D example builds on the earlier ones.

> Given that he spend so much time in his paper talking about the different step sizes in each scale, alternate pitches, etc., the idea that the context is ET doesn't fly -- or even sit upright.

He wrote one paper that's mostly JI and one that's explicitly about equal temperaments. Those are the only ones I've read. You can't use the JI one to discredit the ET one.

> >>>>so there are no special problems with >>>>equal temperaments.
>>>
>>>
>>>Huh? The hand-waving above is not valid in some cases, as we know, and falls apart specifically when the UVs form a torsional kernel basis for thr ET.
>>
>>It's not hand-waving when he specifically says he's counting independent >>notes. A torsional block wouldn't fulfil that criterion.
> > > Where does he define "independent notes"? Where does he even hint that the determinant formula may not be the right one in some cases?

No, he doesn't define "independent" but it's a common word (in English and French) so he probably felt he didn't need to. He doesn't define "distinct" either. He doesn't say anything about torsion, as I said before. For some reason, you seem to think this means he didn't really mean equal temperament when he wrote "temp�rament �gal".

> > The > >>determinant's only a means of counting the number of notes in a block, >>and a perfectly valid one.
>>
>>
>>
>>>>>>>>>If you start from commas, you have the full wedgie (not just the >>>>>>>>>octave-equivalent part), and thus you can get the full mapping >>>>>>>>>without assuming or depending on any additional commas or unison >>>>>>>>>vectors or ET.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>You may not have a wedgie.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Why not?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>You might be using matrices.
>>>>>
>>>>>Probably equivalent, but if not, then the above seems like an >>>>>argument for the wedgie approach.
>>>>
>>>>Yes, the result's equivalent. That's why it's best to describe it in a >>>>way that doesn't depend on the implementation. It's also possible to >>>>check that the results are correct without using wedge products or the >>>>more difficult matrix operations. All you have to do is check that each >>>> unison vector is mapped to a unison by the mapping (or val) produced.
>>>>
>>>>What above?
>>>
>>>Huh?
>>
>>Where above do you see an argument for wedgie products?
> > That's a strange question, because you've been fighting against them for a whole now, so why would I expect to see an argument for them in your writing?

Because you said so! It's there in the quotes, "the above seems like an argument for the wedgie approach".

>>>>>"Functions like a unison vector" means that it amounts to at most an >>>>>accidental, not a change in the nominal, when applied to a note in a >>>>>scale.
>>>>
>>>>Where did that >come from?
>>>
>>>
>>>That's what chromatic unisons do -- they involve an accidental (that's the "chromatic" part) and no change in the nominal (that's the "unison" part).
>>
>>What have chromatic unisons got to do with it? The most common >>definition of "unison" is that the two notes should be the same. That's >>clearly what Fokker's talking about with "unison vectors".
> > The way I read it, he's primarily talking about JI scales, and he specifically says that a unison vector is an interval that can be neglected *in notation*. Chromatic unison vectors are similar to his commatic ones except that, while the nominal is the same on both ends of the vector, the accidental won't be.

Where does he say "neglected in notation"? In the online English paper, he only talks about notation in the section "The use of unison vectors to simplify notation in practice". At the bottom of that section, he says "a fair approximation is shown to take five di�ses in a tone, two di�ses in a flat or in a sharp, and two commas in a di�sis." No, he doesn't define "approximation" so perhaps you could supply your own definition that means he wasn't describing 31-equal with a fudge for the commas (remarkably like Vicentino's as it happens).

In the section "Unison vectors" he says "On the ordinary key-instruments this note is taken to be identical with the octave". So it looks like he's thinking of instruments, rather than notation.

>>>>"Functions like a unison vector" means it >>>>sits in a formula where unison vectors are >expected.
>>>
>>>I think you're interpreting the formula in question too narrowly. Determinants are the calculations involved in taking wedge products, and we've seen many different applications of those. Besides, a lot of formulas look the same; that doesn't mean the things going into them are the same kinds of things.
>>
>>Yes, and the English word "like" doesn't mean "the same as". Did >>"functions like" somehow get displayed as "is" in your e-mail reader?
> > > No, it didn't. But the sens in which you mean "functions like" is not English or Music, it's a highly abstract mathematocal thing, so almost no one is going to have any idea what you're talking about. What happened to making things accessible?

Making things accessible means NOT TALKING ABOUT ANY OF THIS like it always did. So why do you insist on talking about it?

>>>>>>overlapping. 25:24 is clearly the unison vector of the diatonic >>>>>
>>>>>scale.
>>>>>
>>>>>It's a chromatic unison vector in the diatonic case. I don't know why >>>>>you say "the" or omit "chromatic," though the latter concept >>>>>includes/implies the ordinary notation system for the diatonic scale.
>>>>
>>>>I was thinking of the diatonic scale in a meantone space, so there's >>>>only one interval to temper out, which I called ]25:24.
>>>
>>>You mean if you want to convert the diatonic scale into 7-equal?
>>
>>If you want 7-equal you have to temper out that unison vector, yes.
> > > But what if you *don't* want 7-equal?

Don't temper it out.

>>>>I'm happy with "augmented unison" which is a real term in real books >>>>that I own.
>>>
>>>Unfortunaly, we're using "augmented" to refer to a temperament.
>>
>>Why is that a problem?
> > Because "augmented unison" might then refer to a unison (possibly commatic) in augmented temperament specifically.

If that's going to cause confusion, you'll have to rename the temperament. "Augmented unison" is an established term.

>>>>But what we're talking about here is a putative "chromatic >>>>unison".
>>>
>>>"Chromatic" is a term that can be used to apply to augmented and diminished (and doubly-augmented, etc.) intervals to distinguish them from perfect, major, and minor ones. Plus, "chroma" is already used to refer to the augmented unison.
>>
>>That's another definition I can't find anybody else using. "Chromatic" >>usually refers to notes outside a diatonic scale. Chromatic intervals >>would logically be intervals outside a diatonic scale -- so augmented >>fourths and diminished fifths would not be chromatic.
> > This is something that's actually been written about.

It certainly isn't the most common meaning of "chromatic".

>>>>>>>>No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and F# >>>>>are >>>>>>>the >>>>>>>>same
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Nope, they just use the same letter name.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>If two intervals differ by a unison vector, they're the same in the >>>>>>system in which the unison vector applies. I thought we agreed on >>>>>that.
<snip>
>>>OK. Then what you're saying above applies to commatic unison vectors, but not to chromatic ones.
>>
>>It applies to all unison vectors as I understand them, and I don't see >>why chromatic unison vectors should break the >rule.
> > By their very definition.

Then let's define chromatic unison vectors so that they're unison vectors. Fokker's JI blocks use unison vectors that aren't tempered out after all. And he specifically says they're "considered unisons".

>>>>>>If something can work in place of a commatic unison vector, but >>>>>>approximate a finite number of periods instead of a unison.
>>>>>
>>>>>Seems even more impossible, or at least no more possible, than the >>>>>idea of a chromatic unison vector approximating a finite number of >>>>>periods.
>>>>
>>>>Yes, that's why we'd need a new term if we cared about them.
>>>
>>>But how could such acontradictory situation arise? >>
>>I expect a Pythagorean comma used to define mystery temperament (29&58) >>would do it but I >haven't checked.
> > Seems totally impossible to me, so please do!

I don't have a set of unison vectors for mystery to hand. I did try Pajara, and 7:5 and 64:63 gave me the right mapping but the wrong period (it's an octave scale). Maybe that's the case and so there's no problem, unison vectors are still tempered to unisons. You might run into problems with octave-equivalent calculations but we already agreed to abandon them because of paradoxes like this.

>>>>>>>>Or "kernel vector"?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I thought a kernel only implied a homomorphism, not a particular >>>>>tuning >>>>>>of the thing being mapped to.
>>>>>
>>>>>Exactly.
>>>>
>>>>So if you have a homomorphism from primes to a diatonic scale, the >>>>chromatic unison vector's still going to be in the kernel.
>>>
>>>Remind me of the definition of "homomorphism".
>>
>>A homomorphism is a mapping from one set onto another such that >>generalized addition and subtraction work the same way before the >>mapping as after it. Every element in the big set has to map to the >>little set, and every element in the little set has to be mapped to from >>at least one element in the big set.
> > Seems like you'd need an awful lot of primes then :)

Why?

> Anyway, if you don't want your diatonic scale to degenerate into 7-equal, clearly there's a difference in how you need to treat the two unison vectors. If you treat them the wrong way, you can even end up with a 7-note dicot scale!

Captain Obvious saves the day again! Thank you, Captain Obvious!

> I don't think it's possible for a homomorphism to take something with complete transpositional invariance, like the infinite JI lattice, and map it to something lacking complete transpositional invariance, like a diatonic scale. Instead, you map to something else with complete transpositional invariance, such as infinitely extended meantone, or 7-equal.

Let's be clear about the terminology: you map intervals, not notes. Intervals can be added, notes can't. Only intervals can constitute a group, and so take part in a homomorphism. There are 7 intervals in an octave-equivalent diatonic scale, which we can enumerate:

0 Unison
1 Second
2 Third
3 Fourth
4 Fifth
5 Sixth
6 Seventh

The numbers count the scale steps the interval spans. Addition and subtraction follows modulo 7 rules with these numbers. They form a perfectly good group. It isn't what counts for octave equivalence in standard music theory, but it's consistent.

> In fact, the way to think about it is in terms of two homomorphisms -- a tuning one, where only the commatic unison vectors are taken into account; and a nominal one, where the mapping is to letter names and both unison vectors are taken into account.

If you like.

>>For scales, this means that every interval in the scale has to be an >>approximation of some JI interval, and every interval in the relevant JI >>(usually prime) limit has to have an approximation in the scale. If you >>add two intervals and them approximate them it's the same as >>approximating them both first and then adding them.
> > Unfortunately, the diatonic scale doesn't have any approximation to intervals such as 24:25 -- that takes you entirely *out* of the diatonic scale you started in.

Yes, like all the unison vectors in all JI periodicity blocks. If there's a word you prefer to "approximate" that includes being "taken for unisons" then you can use it.

Graham

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/24/2006 1:50:21 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>
> >> >Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the only one
that
> >> >makes the effective weighting on any ratio greater than the
effective
> >> >weighting on any more complex ratio.
>
> Can you demonstrate this?
>
> -Carl

In one sense, this is demonstrated in note xxvi of the "Middle Path"
paper.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/24/2006 1:51:55 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <gbreed@...> wrote:
>
> wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
>
> >>>Why not just include all the primes you want in the first place?
> >>
> >>Firstly, you may not know what primes you need up front.
> >
> > Then this whole approach wouldn't make sense.
>
> *Your* approach might not but *mine* does.

I was talking about mine here.

> >> Secondly, it's
> >>a chicken and egg problem. How do you no the optimal stretch
until you
> >>map the primes, and how do you know how to map the primes until
you have
> >>the optimal stretch?
> >
> > You start by comparing all the mappings generated by my program,
and you take the one with the lowest TOP damage as the optimal
mapping. The TOP tuning for that is the optimal stretch.
>
> If that works it'll give the same result as what I'm already doing,
> so
> it isn't interesting.

:(

> It might not work in that you might not have
> chosen the right variables.

What do you mean, "might not have chosen the right variables"?
>
>
> Graham
>

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

2/24/2006 2:33:35 PM

At 01:50 PM 2/24/2006, you wrote:
>--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>>
>> >> >Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the only one
>that
>> >> >makes the effective weighting on any ratio greater than the
>effective
>> >> >weighting on any more complex ratio.
>>
>> Can you demonstrate this?
>>
>> -Carl
>
>In one sense, this is demonstrated in note xxvi of the "Middle Path"
>paper.

Sorry, that note makes no sense to me.

-Carl

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/24/2006 2:46:11 PM

A partial reply for now:

> > Given that he spend so much time in his paper talking about the
different step sizes in each scale, alternate pitches, etc., the idea
that the context is ET doesn't fly -- or even sit upright.
>
> He wrote one paper that's mostly JI and one that's explicitly about
> equal temperaments. Those are the only ones I've read. You can't
use
> the JI one to discredit the ET one.

I'm talking about the 7-limit periodicity block paper, which I
thought was the same one you were talking about . . .

> For some reason, you seem to think this means he didn't really
> mean equal temperament when he wrote "tempérament égal".

Riiiiiiight. You can stop assuming I'm an idiot now.
>
> >>>>>"Functions like a unison vector" means that it amounts to at
most an
> >>>>>accidental, not a change in the nominal, when applied to a
note in a
> >>>>>scale.
> >>>>
> >>>>Where did that >come from?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>That's what chromatic unisons do -- they involve an accidental
(that's the "chromatic" part) and no change in the nominal (that's
the "unison" part).
> >>
> >>What have chromatic unisons got to do with it? The most common
> >>definition of "unison" is that the two notes should be the same.
That's
> >>clearly what Fokker's talking about with "unison vectors".
> >
> > The way I read it, he's primarily talking about JI scales, and he
specifically says that a unison vector is an interval that can be
neglected *in notation*. Chromatic unison vectors are similar to his
commatic ones except that, while the nominal is the same on both ends
of the vector, the accidental won't be.
>
> Where does he say "neglected in notation"? In the online English
paper,
> he only talks about notation in the section "The use of unison
vectors
> to simplify notation in practice". At the bottom of that section,
he
> says "a fair approximation is shown to take five diëses in a tone,
two
> diëses in a flat or in a sharp, and two commas in a diësis." No,
he
> doesn't define "approximation" so perhaps you could supply your own
> definition that means he wasn't describing 31-equal with a fudge
for the
> commas (remarkably like Vicentino's as it happens).

One can approximately compare the sizes of JI intervals without at
all implying any temperament.

> In the section "Unison vectors" he says "On the ordinary key-
instruments
> this note is taken to be identical with the octave". So it looks
like
> he's thinking of instruments, rather than notation.

Either way, he is anything but explicit that any of this implies
temperament, and in fact the way I read the paper (as objectively as
I can), it's quite a stretch to read that implication into it.

> >>>>"Functions like a unison vector" means it
> >>>>sits in a formula where unison vectors are >expected.
> >>>
> >>>I think you're interpreting the formula in question too
narrowly. Determinants are the calculations involved in taking wedge
products, and we've seen many different applications of those.
Besides, a lot of formulas look the same; that doesn't mean the
things going into them are the same kinds of things.
> >>
> >>Yes, and the English word "like" doesn't mean "the same as". Did
> >>"functions like" somehow get displayed as "is" in your e-mail
reader?
> >
> >
> > No, it didn't. But the sens in which you mean "functions like" is
not English or Music, it's a highly abstract mathematocal thing, so
almost no one is going to have any idea what you're talking about.
What happened to making things accessible?
>
> Making things accessible means NOT TALKING ABOUT ANY OF THIS like
>it
> always did. So why do you insist on talking about it?

Huh?

> >>>>>>overlapping. 25:24 is clearly the unison vector of the
diatonic
> >>>>>
> >>>>>scale.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>It's a chromatic unison vector in the diatonic case. I don't
know why
> >>>>>you say "the" or omit "chromatic," though the latter concept
> >>>>>includes/implies the ordinary notation system for the diatonic
scale.
> >>>>
> >>>>I was thinking of the diatonic scale in a meantone space, so
there's
> >>>>only one interval to temper out, which I called ]25:24.
> >>>
> >>>You mean if you want to convert the diatonic scale into 7-equal?
> >>
> >>If you want 7-equal you have to temper out that unison vector,
yes.
> >
> >
> > But what if you *don't* want 7-equal?
>
> Don't temper it out.

I'm wondering why you wrote, "so there's only one interval to temper
out, which I called 25:24."

> >>>>I'm happy with "augmented unison" which is a real term in real
books
> >>>>that I own.
> >>>
> >>>Unfortunaly, we're using "augmented" to refer to a temperament.
> >>
> >>Why is that a problem?
> >
> > Because "augmented unison" might then refer to a unison (possibly
commatic) in augmented temperament specifically.
>
> If that's going to cause confusion, you'll have to rename the
> temperament. "Augmented unison" is an established term.

OK, we should probably rename the diminished temperaments while we're
at it. Suggestions?

> >>>>But what we're talking about here is a putative "chromatic
> >>>>unison".
> >>>
> >>>"Chromatic" is a term that can be used to apply to augmented and
diminished (and doubly-augmented, etc.) intervals to distinguish them
from perfect, major, and minor ones. Plus, "chroma" is already used
to refer to the augmented unison.
> >>
> >>That's another definition I can't find anybody else
using. "Chromatic"
> >>usually refers to notes outside a diatonic scale. Chromatic
intervals
> >>would logically be intervals outside a diatonic scale -- so
augmented
> >>fourths and diminished fifths would not be chromatic.
> >
> > This is something that's actually been written about.
>
> It certainly isn't the most common meaning of "chromatic".

In context, it is -- "chromatic intervals".

> >>>>>>>>No, if the chromatic semitone is a unison vector then F and
F#
> >>>>>are
> >>>>>>>the
> >>>>>>>>same
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>Nope, they just use the same letter name.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>If two intervals differ by a unison vector, they're the same
in the
> >>>>>>system in which the unison vector applies. I thought we
agreed on
> >>>>>that.
> <snip>
> >>>OK. Then what you're saying above applies to commatic unison
vectors, but not to chromatic ones.
> >>
> >>It applies to all unison vectors as I understand them, and I
don't see
> >>why chromatic unison vectors should break the >rule.
> >
> > By their very definition.
>
> Then let's define chromatic unison vectors so that they're unison
> vectors. Fokker's JI blocks use unison vectors that aren't
tempered out
> after all.

Ahhhh . . .

> And he specifically says they're "considered unisons".

Yes, this "considered" bit sets up a form of mathematical
relationship, like an "equivalence" relationship, which tells you the
number of JI notes you need to represent the entire lattice (except
in cases of torsion).

> >>>>>>If something can work in place of a commatic unison vector,
but
> >>>>>>approximate a finite number of periods instead of a unison.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Seems even more impossible, or at least no more possible, than
the
> >>>>>idea of a chromatic unison vector approximating a finite
number of
> >>>>>periods.
> >>>>
> >>>>Yes, that's why we'd need a new term if we cared about them.
> >>>
> >>>But how could such acontradictory situation arise?
> >>
> >>I expect a Pythagorean comma used to define mystery temperament
(29&58)
> >>would do it but I >haven't checked.
> >
> > Seems totally impossible to me, so please do!
>
> I don't have a set of unison vectors for mystery to hand. I did
try
> Pajara, and 7:5 and 64:63 gave me the right mapping but the wrong
period
> (it's an octave scale). Maybe that's the case and so there's no
> problem, unison vectors are still tempered to unisons. You might
run
> into problems with octave-equivalent calculations but we already
agreed
> to abandon them because of paradoxes like this.

:)

> >>>>>>>>Or "kernel vector"?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>That would seem to imply a *commatic* unison vector.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>I thought a kernel only implied a homomorphism, not a
particular
> >>>>>tuning
> >>>>>>of the thing being mapped to.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Exactly.
> >>>>
> >>>>So if you have a homomorphism from primes to a diatonic scale,
the
> >>>>chromatic unison vector's still going to be in the kernel.
> >>>
> >>>Remind me of the definition of "homomorphism".
> >>
> >>A homomorphism is a mapping from one set onto another such that
> >>generalized addition and subtraction work the same way before the
> >>mapping as after it. Every element in the big set has to map to
the
> >>little set, and every element in the little set has to be mapped
to from
> >>at least one element in the big set.
> >
>
> > Anyway, if you don't want your diatonic scale to degenerate into
7-equal, clearly there's a difference in how you need to treat the
two unison vectors. If you treat them the wrong way, you can even end
up with a 7-note dicot scale!
>
> Captain Obvious saves the day again! Thank you, Captain Obvious!

All I'm trying to do is clarify what "chromatic unison vector" means,
which is I thought what you wanted. I wish this was face-to-face;
we'd communicate much better, hold each other's points in our minds
better, and could probably avoid the name-calling.

> > I don't think it's possible for a homomorphism to take something
with complete transpositional invariance, like the infinite JI
lattice, and map it to something lacking complete transpositional
invariance, like a diatonic scale. Instead, you map to something else
with complete transpositional invariance, such as infinitely extended
meantone, or 7-equal.
>
> Let's be clear about the terminology: you map intervals, not notes.

Exactly.

> Intervals can be added, notes can't. Only intervals can constitute
a
> group, and so take part in a homomorphism. There are 7 intervals
in an
> octave-equivalent diatonic scale, which we can enumerate:
>
> 0 Unison
> 1 Second
> 2 Third
> 3 Fourth
> 4 Fifth
> 5 Sixth
> 6 Seventh

There are more kinds intervals that that in a diatonic scale, Graham!
The diatonic scale makes a distinction between major and minor
seconds, between major and minor thirds, etc. . . .

> The numbers count the scale steps the interval spans. Addition and
> subtraction follows modulo 7 rules with these numbers. They form a
> perfectly good group. It isn't what counts for octave equivalence
in
> standard music theory, but it's consistent.

You seem to be discussing 7-equal, or the "nominal" part of things
(without the necessary "accidental" part), here.

> > In fact, the way to think about it is in terms of two
>homomorphisms -- a tuning one, where only the commatic unison
>vectors are taken into account; and a nominal one, where the mapping
>is to letter names and both unison vectors are taken into account.
>
> If you like.

I'm trying to put all this in some way that'll make sense to you,
always at the risk of being obvious.

> >>For scales, this means that every interval in the scale has to be
an
> >>approximation of some JI interval, and every interval in the
relevant JI
> >>(usually prime) limit has to have an approximation in the scale.
If you
> >>add two intervals and them approximate them it's the same as
> >>approximating them both first and then adding them.
> >
> > Unfortunately, the diatonic scale doesn't have any approximation
to intervals such as 24:25 -- that takes you entirely *out* of the
diatonic scale you started in.
>
> Yes, like all the unison vectors in all JI periodicity blocks.

But it doesn't even take you to a note that's "considered a unison"
in Fokker's sense, while 81:80 does. Either way, this is clearly not
a homomorphism from all of 5-limit JI to the diatonic scale that we
have here. We can consider the diatonic scale to be tempered, as in
meantone, if we want to interpret "considered a unison" as
meaning "tempered out", but 24:25, 32:25, etc. will still take you
out of the diatonic scale, seemingly spoiling the claimed
homomorphism.

> If
> there's a word you prefer to "approximate" that includes
being "taken
> for unisons" then you can use it.

Can you clarify?

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/24/2006 2:49:29 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>
> At 01:50 PM 2/24/2006, you wrote:
> >--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@> wrote:
> >>
> >> >> >Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the only
one
> >that
> >> >> >makes the effective weighting on any ratio greater than the
> >effective
> >> >> >weighting on any more complex ratio.
> >>
> >> Can you demonstrate this?
> >>
> >> -Carl
> >
> >In one sense, this is demonstrated in note xxvi of the "Middle
Path"
> >paper.
>
> Sorry, that note makes no sense to me.
>
> -Carl

Wow, I wish you had told me this in the year-and-a-half that I've
been gathering comments on the paper! Where do you lose the logic?

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

2/24/2006 3:04:19 PM

>> >> >> >Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the only
>> >> >> >one that makes the effective weighting on any ratio greater
>> >> >> >than the effective weighting on any more complex ratio.
>> >>
>> >> Can you demonstrate this?
>> >>
>> >> -Carl
>> >
>> >In one sense, this is demonstrated in note xxvi of the "Middle
>> >Path" paper.
>>
>> Sorry, that note makes no sense to me.
>>
>> -Carl
>
>Wow, I wish you had told me this in the year-and-a-half that I've
>been gathering comments on the paper! Where do you lose the logic?

I only ever skimmed your paper, because quite frankly I've stopped
bothering with printed media. It's intractable for a family of
3 in a 1-bedroom apartment. I was going to scan your paper into a
pdf, but the resulting file would be huge, unsearchable, and without
capabilities like, for instance, finding which text note xxvi
refers to.

That missing text is part of the problem for me here, as is a
missing definition of "damage". As far as I'm concerned, if you
make assertions here you ought to be able to discuss them here, not
point people to a seemingly unrelated footnote in a print source
which half of the readers of this list potentially don't even have
access to.

-Carl

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/24/2006 3:27:08 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>
> >> >> >> >Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be the
only
> >> >> >> >one that makes the effective weighting on any ratio
greater
> >> >> >> >than the effective weighting on any more complex ratio.
> >> >>
> >> >> Can you demonstrate this?
> >> >>
> >> >> -Carl
> >> >
> >> >In one sense, this is demonstrated in note xxvi of the "Middle
> >> >Path" paper.
> >>
> >> Sorry, that note makes no sense to me.
> >>
> >> -Carl
> >
> >Wow, I wish you had told me this in the year-and-a-half that I've
> >been gathering comments on the paper! Where do you lose the logic?
>
> I only ever skimmed your paper, because quite frankly I've stopped
> bothering with printed media. It's intractable for a family of
> 3 in a 1-bedroom apartment. I was going to scan your paper into a
> pdf, but the resulting file would be huge, unsearchable, and without
> capabilities like, for instance, finding which text note xxvi
> refers to.
>
> That missing text is part of the problem for me here, as is a
> missing definition of "damage".

I don't know why you're missing anything. But why didn't you just
ask? "Damage" is defined on the 12th page as the mistuning in cents
divided by the Tenney Harmonic Distance of the ratio being (mis)
tuned. Footnote xxvi (they're in order, so easy to find) comes from
the 13th page: "The largest amount of damage done to any interval
here is 1.7 by this measure, the same as the damage to the prime-
number intervals. This would remain true no matter how complex the
interval ratios we considered susceptible to `damage'."

> As far as I'm concerned, if you
> make assertions here you ought to be able to discuss them here, not
> point people to a seemingly unrelated footnote in a print source
> which half of the readers of this list potentially don't even have
> access to.
>
> -Carl

Grand. Here is the footnote, which was copied, BTW, from a post on
these lists:

"
The proof follows from the prime factorization theorem. For all
primes p, the maximum damage being T implies that

mistuning(p)/log(p) <= T

so

mistuning(p) <= T•log(p)

for all the primes p. If the factors in a given ratio are 2^a 3^b
5^c . . . (each exponent may either be positive or negative), then
the mistuning of the chosen ratio cannot be greater than

T•(|a|•log(2) + |b|•log(3) + |c|•log(5) . . .)

since the errors in the primes that make up the chosen ratio, at
worst, add up without cancellation to the error in the chosen ratio.
The HD of the ratio, meanwhile, is exactly

(|a|•log(2) + |b|•log(3) + |c|•log(5) . . .)

So the damage done to the ratio cannot be greater than the second-to-
last expression divided by the last expression, i.e., T.
"

🔗Gene Ward Smith <genewardsmith@coolgoose.com>

2/24/2006 4:08:38 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@...>
wrote:

> You seem to be discussing 7-equal, or the "nominal" part of things
> (without the necessary "accidental" part), here.

Why is that a problem? There is a C7 group structure, for which these
are representatives of the equivalence classes.

🔗wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu>

2/24/2006 4:39:05 PM

--- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Ward Smith" <genewardsmith@...> wrote:
>
> --- In tuning-math@yahoogroups.com, "wallyesterpaulrus" <perlich@>
> wrote:
>
> > You seem to be discussing 7-equal, or the "nominal" part of things
> > (without the necessary "accidental" part), here.
>
> Why is that a problem? There is a C7 group structure, for which these
> are representatives of the equivalence classes.

Right, but without any other homomorphisms or group structures, you haven't set up a diatonic scale here -- just 7-equal. That's why I suggested *two* homomorphisms -- one gives you just the nominal part, and the other gives you the actual tuning (in precise enough terms, at least, to make the *chromatic* distinctions between major and minor intervals in the same C_7 interval class -- thus, giving the "accidental part" I was referring to above).

🔗Carl Lumma <ekin@lumma.org>

2/24/2006 7:39:18 PM

>> >> >> Carl: 1/log(p) weighting on the primes seems to be
>> >> >> the only one that makes the effective weighting on
>> >> >> any ratio greater than the effective weighting on
>> >> >> any more complex ratio.
>> >>
>> >> Can you demonstrate this?
//
>I don't know why you're missing anything. But why didn't you just
>ask? "Damage" is defined on the 12th page as the mistuning in cents
>divided by the Tenney Harmonic Distance of the ratio being (mis)
>tuned. Footnote xxvi (they're in order, so easy to find) comes from
>the 13th page: "The largest amount of damage done to any interval
>here is 1.7 by this measure, the same as the damage to the prime-
>number intervals. This would remain true no matter how complex the
>interval ratios we considered susceptible to 'damage'."
//
>The proof follows from the prime factorization theorem. For all
>primes p, the maximum damage being T implies that
>
>mistuning(p)/log(p) <= T
>
>so
>
>mistuning(p) <= T•log(p)
>
>for all the primes p.

You already said p was all primes, so this sounds a little
repetitive. And wouldn't it be more accurate to say that p is
all primes in the tuning whose max damage is T?

You might also try 'suppose there is a tuning with maximum
damage T' instead of "the maximum damage being T" (unless this
refers to something in the main text...).

>If the factors in a given ratio are 2^a 3^b 5^c . . . (each
>exponent may either be positive or negative), then the mistuning
>of the chosen ratio cannot be greater than

You maybe should use "that" instead of "the chosen".

>So the damage done to the ratio cannot be greater than the second-to-
>last expression divided by the last expression, i.e., T.

Uh, isn't it an assumption that it can't be greater than T?

-Carl

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/25/2006 4:49:45 AM

On 2/25/06, wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu> wrote:

> What do you mean, "might not have chosen the right variables"?

You're choosing a stretched octave size, and rounding the primes to
the nearest integer, right? I think there'll always be an octave size
to give the optimal mapping for any number of notes to the tempered
octave. But the range of stretches that give this mapping may be
small. It's possible you may not have chosen the stretches with high
enough precision to catch that optimal mapping.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@gmail.com>

2/25/2006 5:20:26 AM

On 2/25/06, wallyesterpaulrus <perlich@aya.yale.edu> wrote:

> I'm talking about the 7-limit periodicity block paper, which I
> thought was the same one you were talking about . . .

I'm talking about all the papers I've read by Fokker on periodicity
blocks. Which is two.

> > For some reason, you seem to think this means he didn't really
> > mean equal temperament when he wrote "tempérament égal".
>
> Riiiiiiight. You can stop assuming I'm an idiot now.

Sorry if I'm being dismissive, but I really don't want to prolong this
discussion. I've given a quote to show that Fokker was thinking of
unison vectors and periodicity blocks with an application to equal
temperements. It should end there. I don't want to critique his
ignorance of torsion. The only open issue is whether he meant a
periodicity block to be an equal temperament, or only to lead to one.

> > he only talks about notation in the section "The use of unison
> vectors
> > to simplify notation in practice". At the bottom of that section,
> he
> > says "a fair approximation is shown to take five diëses in a tone,
> two
> > diëses in a flat or in a sharp, and two commas in a diësis." No,
> he
> > doesn't define "approximation" so perhaps you could supply your own
> > definition that means he wasn't describing 31-equal with a fudge
> for the
> > commas (remarkably like Vicentino's as it happens).
>
> One can approximately compare the sizes of JI intervals without at
> all implying any temperament.

He isn't comparing the sizes of JI intervals. He's assessing the
approximation of a simplified notation to JI.

> > In the section "Unison vectors" he says "On the ordinary key-
> instruments
> > this note is taken to be identical with the octave". So it looks
> like
> > he's thinking of instruments, rather than notation.
>
> Either way, he is anything but explicit that any of this implies
> temperament, and in fact the way I read the paper (as objectively as
> I can), it's quite a stretch to read that implication into it.

Quite right, the only suggestion of temperament is that bit at the end
of the notation section. But he did write another paper about equal
temperaments which mentions unison vectors.

> > Making things accessible means NOT TALKING ABOUT ANY OF THIS like
> >it
> > always did. So why do you insist on talking about it?
>
> Huh?

It doesn't matter that there are things like unison vector that may
not count as unisonous. We can explain everything we need to without
them. And the most accessible way is surely to do that.

> > > But what if you *don't* want 7-equal?
> >
> > Don't temper it out.
>
> I'm wondering why you wrote, "so there's only one interval to temper
> out, which I called 25:24."

Because I defined unison vectors in terms of an equal temperament.

> > > Because "augmented unison" might then refer to a unison (possibly
> commatic) in augmented temperament specifically.
> >
> > If that's going to cause confusion, you'll have to rename the
> > temperament. "Augmented unison" is an established term.
>
> OK, we should probably rename the diminished temperaments while we're
> at it. Suggestions?

I don't think there would be confusion,in practice. It's hardly a new
thing for musical terms to be overloaded.

> > Then let's define chromatic unison vectors so that they're unison
> > vectors. Fokker's JI blocks use unison vectors that aren't
> tempered out
> > after all.
>
> Ahhhh . . .
>
> > And he specifically says they're "considered unisons".
>
> Yes, this "considered" bit sets up a form of mathematical
> relationship, like an "equivalence" relationship, which tells you the
> number of JI notes you need to represent the entire lattice (except
> in cases of torsion).

I don't think there's any conceptual difference between the unison
vectors for JI periodicity blocks and the chromatic unison vector for
a diatonic scale.

> All I'm trying to do is clarify what "chromatic unison vector" means,
> which is I thought what you wanted. I wish this was face-to-face;
> we'd communicate much better, hold each other's points in our minds
> better, and could probably avoid the name-calling.

My experience of talking to microtonalists face-to-face is that we
don't talk about theory. Having time to think about the issues means
we can make progress. Sorry for being insulting -- I didn't mean it
personally.

> > Let's be clear about the terminology: you map intervals, not notes.
>
> Exactly.
>
> > Intervals can be added, notes can't. Only intervals can constitute
> a
> > group, and so take part in a homomorphism. There are 7 intervals
> in an
> > octave-equivalent diatonic scale, which we can enumerate:
> >
> > 0 Unison
> > 1 Second
> > 2 Third
> > 3 Fourth
> > 4 Fifth
> > 5 Sixth
> > 6 Seventh
>
> There are more kinds intervals that that in a diatonic scale, Graham!
> The diatonic scale makes a distinction between major and minor
> seconds, between major and minor thirds, etc. . . .

These are the intervals you get by counting steps in a diatonic scale.
It's the only way of looking at diatonic intervals such that they
form a group, in the sense of group theory.

> > The numbers count the scale steps the interval spans. Addition and
> > subtraction follows modulo 7 rules with these numbers. They form a
> > perfectly good group. It isn't what counts for octave equivalence
> in
> > standard music theory, but it's consistent.
>
> You seem to be discussing 7-equal, or the "nominal" part of things
> (without the necessary "accidental" part), here.

I'm talking about the nominal part of things.

> > > In fact, the way to think about it is in terms of two
> >homomorphisms -- a tuning one, where only the commatic unison
> >vectors are taken into account; and a nominal one, where the mapping
> >is to letter names and both unison vectors are taken into account.
> >
> > If you like.
>
> I'm trying to put all this in some way that'll make sense to you,
> always at the risk of being obvious.

Sure, you're right. That's how to do it. I think we're in agreement.
Both are kernel elements but they belong to different kernels. So if
unison vectors are really unpalatable I see no problem in renaming
them kernel elements.

Although there's also the case where the diatonic scale is a JI
periodicity block. I suppose that's the case where there's no
homomorphism.

> > > Unfortunately, the diatonic scale doesn't have any approximation
> to intervals such as 24:25 -- that takes you entirely *out* of the
> diatonic scale you started in.
> >
> > Yes, like all the unison vectors in all JI periodicity blocks.
>
> But it doesn't even take you to a note that's "considered a unison"
> in Fokker's sense, while 81:80 does. Either way, this is clearly not
> a homomorphism from all of 5-limit JI to the diatonic scale that we
> have here. We can consider the diatonic scale to be tempered, as in
> meantone, if we want to interpret "considered a unison" as
> meaning "tempered out", but 24:25, 32:25, etc. will still take you
> out of the diatonic scale, seemingly spoiling the claimed
> homomorphism.

The chromatic semitone performs the same role on a diatonic instrument
that 81:80 does on a chromatic instrument. I think it's considered a
unison in the same way. There is a homomorphism from 5-limit JI to
the diatonic scale but it doesn't always preserve correct tuning. I
think this is how Fokker thinks of the JI periodicity blocks. Read
that English paper again and see if you agree.

No, considered as a unison doesn't mean tempered out, because Fokker
doesn't temper out unison vectors in his JI periodicity blocks. Oh,
and he does list 25:24 as a unison vector.

However I look at it, everything that applies to periodicity blocks
also applies to the diatonic scale, with 25:24 as a unison vector.

> > If
> > there's a word you prefer to "approximate" that includes
> being "taken
> > for unisons" then you can use it.
>
> Can you clarify?

"Approximate" was the wrong word. I'm used to thinking of
homomorphisms in terms of temperaments. The diatonic scale isn't a
7-note well temperament so it isn't really approximating all of
5-limit JI. I don't know what a musically relevant alternative would
be. The mathematical term is "map".

Graham