Why is this scale not well-known?

The 5-limit JI pentatonic scale

1-9/8-5/4-3/2-15/8-2

seems to have some advantages: three triads, with step sizes all superparticular ratios for fans of superparticular ratios. But it's pretty much ignored; if we could pin down better why some scales are ignored like this it might be illuminating. One thing to note right off the bat is that it isn't proper. Another is that the gap between the widest step size of 5/4 and the smallest of 16/15 is pretty wide. Still another is that all the step sizes are different--five notes, five different sizes of steps between those notes; moreover mean variety is high. Does anyone think the scale, even so, could be used to make decent music in? Has anyone ever tried, I wonder?

Gene wrote:

> 1-9/8-5/4-3/2-15/8-2

What about this?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n_ZayUW5cc

Petr

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Petr Parízek <petrparizek2000@...> wrote:
>
> Gene wrote:
>
> > 1-9/8-5/4-3/2-15/8-2
>
> What about this?
> www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n_ZayUW5cc

Hmmm...Hamsadhvani is the word, I guess.

Gene>"1-9/8-5/4-3/2-15/8-2"

My biggest gripe about that scale is not actually the lack of being "strictly proper", though, of course, that matters so far as easy composition...but the lack of tonal color.

That scale is really just  8/8 9/8 10/8 12/8 15/8 16/8...8:9:10:12:15:16.  There is a huge lack of expressiveness, IMVHO, when you can't switch to the feeling of different root tones.  Everything is just x/8, x/4, and x/2...where x/4 and x/2 are just subsets of x/8.

Something like the following scale, giving the following harmonic series segments, would give a good deal more tonal color...

1, 9/8, 6/5, 3/2, 5/3 (x/15, x/10, x/8, x/24, x/3, x/6)
1, 9/8, 4/3, 3/2, 5/3 (x/8, x/24, x/3, x/6)
1, 9/8, 4/3, 3/2, 9/5 (x/15, x/10, x/24, x/3, x/6)
1, 6/5, 4/3, 3/2, 9/5 (x/15, x/10, x/6, x/3)

This also explains why I, in general, gravitate heavily against composing with straight harmonic series scales with very low numbered fractions...they look great on paper, but feel very emotionally flat to me when actually composed with. I actually made an x/16 scale (16th harmonic) as one of my first scales, which Carl complained was "just the 16th harmonic" and Kraig replied "it's still original...because it's only a subset". I loved the way the numbers worked...but it feel apart when I tried composing with it. Anything that fits higher up in the series... particularly x/18 and x/24 (18th and 24 harmonic) seem to do much better as they have many more factors (including 2,3,6,and 9 for 18 and 2,3,4,6,8,and 12 for 24).

Also, to note, JI Diatonic is essentially a 24th harmonic based scale...which, IMVHO, is no coincidence.

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Michael <djtrancendance@...> wrote:
>
> Gene>"1-9/8-5/4-3/2-15/8-2"
>
>
> My biggest gripe about that scale is not actually the lack of being "strictly proper", though, of course, that matters so far as easy composition...but the lack of tonal color.

Here's a similar scale. Would you say basically the same sort of things about it? How does it compare?

1-6/5-5/4-3/2-9/5-2

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "genewardsmith" <genewardsmith@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Michael <djtrancendance@> wrote:
> >
> > Gene>"1-9/8-5/4-3/2-15/8-2"
> >
> >
> > My biggest gripe about that scale is not actually the lack of being "strictly proper", though, of course, that matters so far as easy composition...but the lack of tonal color.
>
> Here's a similar scale. Would you say basically the same sort of things about it? How does it compare?
>
> 1-6/5-5/4-3/2-9/5-2

Just to make things complete, I should add

1-6/5-5/4-3/2-8/5-2

> Gene>"1-9/8-5/4-3/2-15/8-2"

>

>
Me> My biggest gripe about that scale is not actually the lack of
being "strictly proper", though, of course, that matters so far as easy
composition...but the lack of tonal color.

Gene>"Here's a similar scale. Would you say basically the same sort of things about it? How does it compare?

1-6/5-5/4-3/2-9/5-2
"

   Looks a fair deal better far as tonal color.  There's a very-near 13/9 ratio between 9/5 and 5/4 and a near 18/13 between 5/4 on the next octave and 9/5.  Some people may object to dyads so high-limit (though personally I think the 13/9 is not bad).  But the rest looks good numerically.

    Far as "tonal color" in this new scale...the 9/5 and 5/4 form an x/20 harmonic series segment, the 9/5 and 3/2 and 6/5 form an x/10 harmonic series segment.  And you still get the x/8 segment from 3/2 and 5/4.  What would really boost "tonal color", I figure, is having at least one x/3 form ratio.  I figure, it all really comes down to how many primes IE 2,3,5,7...you have otonally IE in the denominator.
   And having at least one ratio with 2 and one with 3 in the denominator alone really helps...as does (as you did) adding at least one ratio with 5 and either 2 or 3.  You can also use x/7, but then things start getting higher odd-limit...