more sara

Sarn wrote:

>Would converting 12ET to 10ET, not be as simple as:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 (Octave)
12ET:
10ET:0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Octave)

--spliceing the 10 Equal Temperament to the nearest 12 Equal Temperament, in
effect multiplying each 12ET cents value (except for the octaves) by, and
taking out (quasi-randomly/randomly) say, 16.666666666% of the notes.

Surely one could do this, but is this what one really means by
10-tet? I doubt it. First, which 16% of the notes should be left out,
and how should the remaining ones be mapped?
(neither of these have a unique answer)
Second, what timbres will be used?
I guarantee that if you play the 10-tet "fifth" with
harmonic timbres it will beat amazingly - good for a special effect
perhaps, but not good for a restfull "fifth" at the end of a piece
(as in the "style of Beethoven").

I suspect that tunings like 10-tet have their
own unique syntax. For instance, my pieces in 10-tet
("Ten Fingers" and "Circle of Thirds")
stack two "neutral thirds" on top of each other.
The nearest interval to a fifth is then bypassed
for these other more "consonant" intervals of
a neutral third and the interval that is a stack
of two neutral thirds.

In other words, simple mappings between tunings are unlikely
to give the kinds of results you're looking for.
With this said, though, its certainly worth a try!

Bill Sethares