Re: [tuning] IMO-2

I think Charles has good points except perhaps...

<********4. Can it emulate all
imaginable musical scales?<*********
Personal opinion, this "goal" can also be a disadvantage.

Any scale system that could "emulate all musical scales" would likely limit itself making new styles of scales by doing so.
Easy example: a system that emulates 12-TET, 24-TET, and 22-TET very well would most likely be limited to TET style scales...in the same way if you build a car for drag racing and tractor pulling (straight line abilities) its cornering ability would likely be limited.
Another problem; emulating all musical tunings and scale would include "odd" scales like pelog, Wilson's MOS scales, Hyper-Mos scale, Sethares' "derived from timbre" scales, Maqams, and more in addition to TET tunings...even with a so called "all flexible" tuning system (IE Lucy Tuning or MOS) I doubt all of the systems could be covered.
Lastly the ability to "emulate all scales" is, so far as I know, a "staple" ability/goal of Lucy Tuning (it can indeed emulate many different types of scales well)...but I don't see why scale systems should aim toward that goal (in reality, many other leading systems don't and, IMVHO, succeed in many ways because they don't).

A side note; I'm working on a 22TET piece...and am really starting to like working with 22-TET as it seems to sound different enough from Western scale systems (with strong and smooth/decently consonance 8-9 note scales possible and lots of extra tonal freedom) yet still harmonic enough to give the illusion you are hitting harmonics almost dead-on.

-Michael

________________________________
From: Mario Pizarro <piagui@...>
To: tuning yahoogroups <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, November 22, 2009 2:06:20 PM
Subject: [tuning] IMO-2

Dear friends,

Charles Lucy has added four
questions/doubts to what Michael stated regarding my post (IMO) sent last 11/20.

Charles'questions and my answers follow:

<********3. Can this tuning
system infinitely modulate and <transpose?** ****

Since 12
ET is able to modulate and transpose (I am not sure about the meaning of
"modulate" and "transpose") since this scale was derived from a simple
arithmetical operation, I suppose that JUSTHARM scale, the name of the three new
scales, can also do it. The term
"infinitely" could have been excluded in the question..

<********4. Can it emulate all
imaginable musical scales?<*********

Emulation
is not a respectable future for a scale that still is being evaluated and
almost nobody knows its features. "Emulation", "All imaginable musical scales"
!!, a dose of undefined terms begins to appear:
I suspect that I didn't pray to St. Charles.

<********5. Can it produce and
control both consonance and <dissonance?* *****

No one scale controls consonance
and dissonance. If we tune a piano to a
PERFECT SCALE, neither Mephistopheles would impede
that the player plays what we call dissonant chords 24 hours a
day, actually they do not deserve to be called that way. The dissonant
effect that you are probably referring to, precisely comes from the particular
amplitude distribution of harmonic components presented by the piano
itself. The JUSTHARM scale consonance production is granted
since its foundations rely on K and P semitone factors and M, J commas.

<********6. Are the harmonic "rules" it
uses "practical" and easily understood? <*******

IMO harmonic
rules should not exist. Physics showed that harmonic parameters obey to
physical characteristics of the instrument which have no relation with music but
they improve its expression. If you replace the piano strings or the hammers,
you will notice that harmonic components or overtones have changed; each
new partial percentage, or most of them, varied despite the scale is the
same.

I spent
some time trying to understand what makes the difference between a
practical and a non-practical harmonic rules. Fourier integral and Fourier
analysis explain all about it.

Thanks

Mario
Pizarro

Lima, November 22,
2009
piagui@ec-red. com

On 21 Nov 2009, at 01:35, Michael wrote: