crunchy chords

>A good example is the 3-7 square chord, 1/1:21/16:3/2:7/4. Every interval
>is 7-odd-limit consonant except the 21/16, which is so close to 4/3 as to
>be quite dissonant, giving this chord the melancholy sound common to all
>crunchy chords.

I like this chord quite a bit. I used to play it on instruments tuned to
the 12-of-harmonics-16-through-32 scale (after Denny Genovese and Wendy
Carlos), treating it as a suspended chord.

>1/1:9/8:7/6:3/2:7/4 is also very crunchy because every interval is
>9-odd-limit consonant except the 28/27, a very narrow interval of 63 cents
>or a thirdtone. This chord is recognizable in 12-eq as min7(9), but just
>doesn't have the same bite.

Well said. This sonority can be heard in various places on Michael
Harrison's excellent _From Ancient Worlds_.

Another example is 1/1 6/5 3/2 7/4 (whose only dissonance is the 35:24).
It can make a nice microtonal passing chord between 1/1 6/5 3/2 9/5 and
1/1 7/6 3/2 7/4.

Just some of the interesting stuff going on in strict JI -- no temperament
necessary. In fact, as Keenan pointed out, some of this stuff is lost on
the smaller temperaments (the first example is a no-go even in 22-equal).

-Carl