Porcupine notation system

I could have sworn that I wrote this somewhere here before, but I
can't find it. I'm posting it here to document the thing I just wrote
on XA.

Paul's (and Herman's?) porcupine naming system names the notes like this:

A B C D E F G H A
LLLLLLLs - porcupine[8]

You can see that A-H consist of a chain of notes which are all 10/9
apart; B is a 10/9 generator above A, C is a 10/9 generator above B
and so on. You don't have to use all those notes, though. If you only
use notes A-G, you get this scale:

A B C D E F G A
ssssssL - porcupine[7]

Or, in terms of modes that you're familiar with

G H A B C D E F G
LsLLLLLL - porcupine[8]

G A B C D E F G
Lssssss

Therefore, you can see that picking this 8-note naming system for
porcupine[8] gives you a 7-note naming for porcupine[7] automatically,
by default.

Let's say we want to play around in porcupine[7]. What we need now is
an accidental to represent the porcupine[7] chroma. Since the chroma
for porcupine[7] is about a quarter tone, I'll use ^/v for that. (My
reasons for not using #/b will become clear below). Therefore, observe

G A B C D E F G - porcupine[7] Lssssss
G A B Cv D E F^ G - JI major scale as a MODMOS of porcupine[7]
G A B C D E Fv G - awesome otonal major scale everyone should use
G Av B C D E F G - porcupine[7] sLsssss
G B D - major
G Bv D - minor

OK, great. But now let's say we want to actually use those 8 notes,
and throw H back in as the note that's one 10/9 generator above "G."
Now what? Well, we need a chroma for that too then, one which
represents L-s in porcupine[8]. Since this chroma is more like the
size of a "half step," I'll use #/b for it.

So then we get

G H A B C D E F G - porcupine[8] LsLLLLLL
G Hb A B C D E F G - porcupine[8] sLLLLLLL
G H A# B C D E F G - porcupine[8] LLsLLLLL

etc. OK, you get it.

The interesting thing is that H is the same note as Av, and Hb is the
same note as G^, and A# is the same note as Bv, and so on. In other
words, you end up with different options as to how you want to
enharmonically spell notes. So you can use porcupine[7] if you want,
and use the A-G nominals, and pick an accidental for your chroma, and
everything will work fine. And then if you want to use porcupine[8]
you can just add "H" in there as one generator above "G", and pick a
porcupine[8] chroma, and everything will still work fine.

You can even switch between the two like Igs was suggesting, and
you'll find that every pitch which could ever possibly appear in the
porcupine tuning system can be indexed by either one of the two
notational systems. You can even use the porcupine[7] chroma over
porcupine[8] names if you want and so on (but be careful notationally,
it's easy to run into trouble - in the scale G H Av B C D E F G, H and
Av are the same thing!).

I think this is a pretty natural way to do things if you want to use
both porcupine[7] and porcupine[8].
-Mike

BTW, one question is - how many lines do I pick if I'm going to notate
this on a staff?

While you can feel free to play around with Frankenstein-ish hybrid
staves that can accommodate either 7 or 8 notes, I think a simpler and
possibly more elegant solution is to simply make both porcupine[7] and
porcupine[8] use the same amount of lines (like 5 lines, which lets
both of them cover an octave), and a clef change when you want to
switch notation.

Or, if you want porcupine[7] to have 5 lines and porcupine[8] to have
6 lines or something, just have a staff change! Just like a normal
clef change or key change or time signature change in music today, I
see no reason why there couldn't be a staff change in which you just
add one additional line when you want to switch notation systems.

-Mike

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 1:37 PM, Mike Battaglia <battaglia01@...> wrote:
> I could have sworn that I wrote this somewhere here before, but I
> can't find it. I'm posting it here to document the thing I just wrote
> on XA.
>
> Paul's (and Herman's?) porcupine naming system names the notes like this:
>
> A B C D E F G H A
> LLLLLLLs - porcupine[8]
>
> You can see that A-H consist of a chain of notes which are all 10/9
> apart; B is a 10/9 generator above A, C is a 10/9 generator above B
> and so on. You don't have to use all those notes, though. If you only
> use notes A-G, you get this scale:
>
> A B C D E F G A
> ssssssL - porcupine[7]
>
> Or, in terms of modes that you're familiar with
>
> G H A B C D E F G
> LsLLLLLL - porcupine[8]
>
> G A B C D E F G
> Lssssss
>
> Therefore, you can see that picking this 8-note naming system for
> porcupine[8] gives you a 7-note naming for porcupine[7] automatically,
> by default.
>
> Let's say we want to play around in porcupine[7]. What we need now is
> an accidental to represent the porcupine[7] chroma. Since the chroma
> for porcupine[7] is about a quarter tone, I'll use ^/v for that. (My
> reasons for not using #/b will become clear below). Therefore, observe
>
> G A B C D E F G - porcupine[7] Lssssss
> G A B Cv D E F^ G - JI major scale as a MODMOS of porcupine[7]
> G A B C D E Fv G - awesome otonal major scale everyone should use
> G Av B C D E F G - porcupine[7] sLsssss
> G B D - major
> G Bv D - minor
>
> OK, great. But now let's say we want to actually use those 8 notes,
> and throw H back in as the note that's one 10/9 generator above "G."
> Now what? Well, we need a chroma for that too then, one which
> represents L-s in porcupine[8]. Since this chroma is more like the
> size of a "half step," I'll use #/b for it.
>
> So then we get
>
> G H A B C D E F G - porcupine[8] LsLLLLLL
> G Hb A B C D E F G - porcupine[8] sLLLLLLL
> G H A# B C D E F G - porcupine[8] LLsLLLLL
>
> etc. OK, you get it.
>
> The interesting thing is that H is the same note as Av, and Hb is the
> same note as G^, and A# is the same note as Bv, and so on. In other
> words, you end up with different options as to how you want to
> enharmonically spell notes. So you can use porcupine[7] if you want,
> and use the A-G nominals, and pick an accidental for your chroma, and
> everything will work fine. And then if you want to use porcupine[8]
> you can just add "H" in there as one generator above "G", and pick a
> porcupine[8] chroma, and everything will still work fine.
>
> You can even switch between the two like Igs was suggesting, and
> you'll find that every pitch which could ever possibly appear in the
> porcupine tuning system can be indexed by either one of the two
> notational systems. You can even use the porcupine[7] chroma over
> porcupine[8] names if you want and so on (but be careful notationally,
> it's easy to run into trouble - in the scale G H Av B C D E F G, H and
> Av are the same thing!).
>
> I think this is a pretty natural way to do things if you want to use
> both porcupine[7] and porcupine[8].
> -Mike

Il 17/05/2012 19.37, Mike Battaglia ha scritto:
>
> I could have sworn that I wrote this somewhere here before, but I
> can't find it. I'm posting it here to document the thing I just wrote
> on XA.
>
> Paul's (and Herman's?) porcupine naming system names the notes like this:
>
> A B C D E F G H A
> LLLLLLLs - porcupine[8]
>
> You can see that A-H consist of a chain of notes which are all 10/9
> apart; B is a 10/9 generator above A, C is a 10/9 generator above B
> and so on. You don't have to use all those notes, though. If you only
> use notes A-G, you get this scale:
>
> A B C D E F G A
> ssssssL - porcupine[7]
>
> Or, in terms of modes that you're familiar with
>
> G H A B C D E F G
> LsLLLLLL - porcupine[8]
>
> G A B C D E F G
> Lssssss
>
> Therefore, you can see that picking this 8-note naming system for
> porcupine[8] gives you a 7-note naming for porcupine[7] automatically,
> by default.
>
> Let's say we want to play around in porcupine[7]. What we need now is
> an accidental to represent the porcupine[7] chroma. Since the chroma
> for porcupine[7] is about a quarter tone, I'll use ^/v for that. (My
> reasons for not using #/b will become clear below). Therefore, observe
>
> G A B C D E F G - porcupine[7] Lssssss
> G A B Cv D E F^ G - JI major scale as a MODMOS of porcupine[7]
> G A B C D E Fv G - awesome otonal major scale everyone should use
> G Av B C D E F G - porcupine[7] sLsssss
> G B D - major
> G Bv D - minor
>
> OK, great. But now let's say we want to actually use those 8 notes,
> and throw H back in as the note that's one 10/9 generator above "G."
> Now what? Well, we need a chroma for that too then, one which
> represents L-s in porcupine[8]. Since this chroma is more like the
> size of a "half step," I'll use #/b for it.
>
> So then we get
>
> G H A B C D E F G - porcupine[8] LsLLLLLL
> G Hb A B C D E F G - porcupine[8] sLLLLLLL
> G H A# B C D E F G - porcupine[8] LLsLLLLL
>
> etc. OK, you get it.
>
> The interesting thing is that H is the same note as Av, and Hb is the
> same note as G^, and A# is the same note as Bv, and so on. In other
> words, you end up with different options as to how you want to
> enharmonically spell notes. So you can use porcupine[7] if you want,
> and use the A-G nominals, and pick an accidental for your chroma, and
> everything will work fine. And then if you want to use porcupine[8]
> you can just add "H" in there as one generator above "G", and pick a
> porcupine[8] chroma, and everything will still work fine.
>
> You can even switch between the two like Igs was suggesting, and
> you'll find that every pitch which could ever possibly appear in the
> porcupine tuning system can be indexed by either one of the two
> notational systems. You can even use the porcupine[7] chroma over
> porcupine[8] names if you want and so on (but be careful notationally,
> it's easy to run into trouble - in the scale G H Av B C D E F G, H and
> Av are the same thing!).
>
> I think this is a pretty natural way to do things if you want to use
> both porcupine[7] and porcupine[8].
> -Mike
>
> Hello Mike.
I read with pleasure the use of notation
A B C D E F G H A
It 'the same notation that I use by a long time and that, from September 2010, is visible in the link
http://xenharmonic.wikispaces.com/24edo
from which you can enter my website
www.ottavanota.info

I see, however, a difference.
The interval is 10/9 (1.111), while in my scale is 12/11 (1.091), because the interval equidistant that I propose that is constantly three-quarter tone.
The conclusion, therefore, is that they are two different scales, in the sense that their modulation is different. The my notation as you can read on the wiki link is as follows:
1 4 4 2 4 4 4 1
Hello.
Giancarlo

On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 1:54 PM, Giancarlo DALMONTE
<giancarlodalmonte@...> wrote:
>
> Hello Mike.
> I read with pleasure the use of notation
>
> A B C D E F G H A
> It 'the same notation that I use by a long time and that, from September 2010, is visible in the link
> http://xenharmonic.wikispaces.com/24edo
> from which you can enter my website
> www.ottavanota.info
>
> I see, however, a difference.
> The interval is 10/9 (1.111), while in my scale is 12/11 (1.091), because the interval equidistant that I propose that is constantly three-quarter tone.
> The conclusion, therefore, is that they are two different scales, in the sense that their modulation is different. The my notation as you can read on the wiki link is as follows:
> 1 4 4 2 4 4 4 1
> Hello.
> Giancarlo

Interesting! The thing we're talking about is in 22-EDO. It's 3 1 3 3
3 3 3 3. You may like it - check it out!

I also think 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 in 24-EDO, which is just 8-EDO, is also a
very nice sound.

-Mike