Wild rides

Funny how things go in waves. I've been working to smooth my adaptive
(and now, fixed-tuning) techniques for the benefit of ears easily
irritated by motion (and, as I hope I've made clear, I'm VERY grateful
for the feedback that is so vital in helping me refine my methods!).

This week the other side speaks. John Starrett, Joseph Pehrson, Jay
Williams, Kami Rousseau, Carl Lumma, and others are saying you prefer
the "jumpier" tunings from the work I did in the last century :-).

For the most part, I'm right there with the jumpy set. I do find that
my ear needs relief, though, as may be had by a restful run-through of a
suitable piece in fixed tuning, such as the Bach/Busoni we've discussed
lately.

The new "spring" model is built overtop the old methods, and the program
still has an option to bypass springs altogether. I think, however,
that some touch of spring work is helpful, for example in dealing with
drift in a more consistent manner, looking forward and backward in time.

What I need to do is take Paul E's suggestion and hurry up making
changes that will allow essentially infinitely stiff vertical springs,
preserving exact vertical JI, while using the springs for optimum drift
response. That'll help flesh out a more complete range of tuning
possibilities. I don't think jumpiness will "suffer" much because of
that bit of horizontal spring relaxation: it's guaranteed in the tuning
shifts made necessary by the sequence. Of course, 7-limit will always
be jumpier than 5-limit, other things being equal.

As always, thanks SO much to every one, smooth and jumpy, for your
feedback. Because of it, I've made more progress in the last year than
I did in seven years' solo work before finding kindred souls on the
tuning list.

JdL

John deLaubenfles wrote,

>This week the other side speaks. John Starrett, Joseph Pehrson, Jay
>Williams, Kami Rousseau, Carl Lumma, and others are saying you prefer
>the "jumpier" tunings from the work I did in the last century :-).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Joe Pehrson was only saying he
preferred the files that deviated a lot from 12-tET from those that didn't.
Also, I think Jay Williams was talking about a possible Pythagorean tuning,
in which the "comma pump" progression would require no shifts.

>For the most part, I'm right there with the jumpy set. I do find that
>my ear needs relief, though, as may be had by a restful run-through of a
>suitable piece in fixed tuning, such as the Bach/Busoni we've discussed
>lately.

I find that a noticeable shift in the pitch of a note is as disturbing as if
someone went in and put a whole new note, or a rim shot, or a bird chirp at
that point in the score -- particularly if that shift occurs in the
"melody".