Something different -- Bach in meantone

Hi there,

I took a MIDI file of "Jesus bleibet meine Freude", retuned it to 50-equal, and this is what came out: https://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01IUWVxeFhKV1B2Wmc9PQ

Petr

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Petr Paøízek <p.parizek@...> wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> I took a MIDI file of "Jesus bleibet meine Freude", retuned it to 50-
equal,
> and this is what came out:
> https://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01IUWVxeFhKV1B2Wmc9PQ
>
> Petr
>
From Robert. It sounds recognisable.

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "robert thomas martin"
<robertthomasmartin@...> wrote:
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Petr Paøízek <p.parizek@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi there,
> >
> > I took a MIDI file of "Jesus bleibet meine Freude", retuned it to 50-
> equal,
> > and this is what came out:
> > https://www.yousendit.com/download/Q01IUWVxeFhKV1B2Wmc9PQ
> >
> > Petr
> >
> From Robert. It sounds recognisable.
>

More than recognizable - it even sounds more than halfway realistic as
to intonation! Only the seventh-chords are possibly a bit odd, and the
leading-notes are of course pretty low compared with usual experience.
It's not a surprise that standard major-mode harmony comes out fine in
strong meantone, but Bach is usually not quite standard. (As we recall
from the throughly alien-sounding 31-equal G minor organ fantasia.)

Would be even better if the timbres didn't involve so much vibrato
setting in on the long notes... at least the brass, they are straight
out of the USSR Large Symphony Orchestra. The strings are OK as long
as there are no long notes!

Why does MIDI involve such terrible timbres or soundfonts or whatever
they are called? Not Petr's fault of course, but they are really no
good at all for orchestral renderings.

From historical-theoretical point of view one might also prefer
31-equal (which would be my second request after less wobbly
soundfonts), but I'm surprised at how 'normal' 50-equal turns out all
in all.

It would be interesting to compare with 55-equal (Duffin's pet system)
too. That would be stretching it into a more major project...
~~~T~~~

Tom Dent wrote:
> It would be interesting to compare with 55-equal (Duffin's pet system)
> too. That would be stretching it into a more major project...

Hope you've explored this major project, with Pachelbel:
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/warped-canon.html
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/warped-canon-12note.html

Brad Lehman

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Brad Lehman <bpl@...> wrote:
>
> Tom Dent wrote:
> > It would be interesting to compare with 55-equal (Duffin's pet
system)
> > too. That would be stretching it into a more major project...
>
> Hope you've explored this major project, with Pachelbel:
> http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/warped-canon.html
> http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/warped-canon-12note.html
>
> Brad Lehman
>

I would, except the computer system I usually work on doesn't play
midi files. (Not a great loss in most circumstances, so don't come
running with tech advice.)

Does the Canon use more than 7 or 8 pitch classes? It surely doesn't
modulate...
~~~T~~~