Tuning Lab Experiment otonal/utonal [dom 7th, half dim 7]

Paul Erlich suggests I offer further commentary on my perceptions
concerning the sound files and tuning experiment up on our "Tuning
Lab..."

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/140/tuning_lab.html

These files are a comparison between otonal dominant seventh chords
(including the just and 22-tET versions), otonal half diminished
seventh chords, and UTONAL half diminished sevenths on the same pitch
levels.

A caveat is in order for Dan Sterns. Dan, you had better place
cotton in your ears, since we are now going to discuss a comparison
between ISOLATED chords. I wouldn't want to "pollute" your
syntactical sensitivities...

Well.. I should also mention that the "error" in these files... I
don't know who made it, but he seems to be typing even right
now...has been remedied, and these chords are now, fortunately, what
they are labeled...

OH... I have yet ANOTHER caveat! These perceptions are based upon my
results with "Lo Fi" Play... this evening with a 56K modem. I get
slightly different results at work with a T1 line and "Hi Fi," but
not much... so I will write about those specifics later.

PERCEPTIONS:

The just "dominant seventh" chord 4:5:6:7 seems very smooth with no
beating.

The 22-tET "version" of this chord has audible beating... I'm hearing
on this equipment about 3 beats per second.

AND, the dominant seventh chord of 12-tET beats even more... I'm
hearing about 7 beats per second.

All in all, the distinctions between these dominant seventh chords,
for me, seem a matter of degree of clearly audible, and even
"countable" beating...

NOW DOWN TO THE UTONAL:

The JI version of 1/7:1/6:1/5:1/4 makes a smooth half-diminished
seventh chord. However it really does NOT sound exactly like an
otonal 5:6:7:9 (sorry! we first had the wrong file!) There is a
little "wobbly" characteristic to it that the otonal chord does not
have! They are surely NOT identical...

The 22-tET version of 1/7:1/6:1/5:1/4 has MORE beating... I'm
counting about 5 beats per second...

NOW THE OTONAL-UTONAL COMPARISON:

As I mentioned, the 5:6:7:9 half-diminished seventh has a "smoother"
sound than the utonal 1/7:1/6:1/5:1/4. It has an "integrated" nature
that compares it more to the otonal 4:5:6:7 for me... even though
they are different chords...

The 22-tET version of "5:6:7:9" has, typically, more beating than the
just. I'm counting about 2 beats per second perception for this
chord...

FINALLY... the half-diminished seventh chord in 12-tET seems to be
beating about 1 beat per second. In this sense, it is neither like
the just otonal half-diminished seventh, which has little beating, OR
the utonal 1/7:1/6:1/5:1/4... which doesn't really BEAT in a timable
fashion, but which has a certain "wobble" to it that is different
from the otonal perception.

Other people getting similar reactions??

Thanks!

__________ ____ __ __ _
Joseph Pehrson