Victorian, barf, etc.// part was - (off-list)

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

Good news!!    Just in Time!!!
A new accessory product line! 

Flame proof hurling bibs - match or accent your flamesuits, today!
anyway,

This & That--------------

Re: Ethereal sound (Stephen & Bill) - couldn't  the sound be approximated by
strip muting the entire piano [to make a true una corda, but w/o sympathetic
unstruck string], then half pedaling the una corda to use softer felt
between the grooves?

RE: Disassociated numbers floating before your eyes {BobB} - 'Tis obvious
that I'm mostly iggerant of them too.  ...or...  if you can't tell the
difference, what difference does it make?  I do have a Korg MT1200 which
gives me a good 440 regardless of temperature.  (good thing when you have to
tune wearing your coat & hat)  All them other knummers kinda fly by.

For my own situation, I haven't reached the point where a cost/benefit
analysis would support the investment in a SAT of any itteration.

I try to think of myself as being ecumenical, however. I've contacted Bill
and Paul Bailey off-list with questions generated from their replies to my
last general post. Both have been helpful in their responses.

Bill has granted permission to bounce his reply to the list.  I haven't
asked Paul, so I'll briefly paraphrase his. (I don't yet know how to quote
more than one in one post, anyway) If he allows (Paul?) I'll bounce his, too.

I can see that I'll have to get into a SAT class sometime, if only for
self-defense.

Paul's basic reason, if I'm understanding it right, for setting A at
-1.2cents is to minimise the overall tension change from ET, while still
maintaining an A which is compatible with other semi-fixed pitch instruments.

Bill's seems to be coming from the direction of compensating for the pitch
shift due to coupling of multiple strings.

Conrad's oulde time religion says that to arrive at A440, you start there.
(is why I start my temperament from A fork/device vs: C.)

I think that I understand Bill's  explanation, but won't be really
comfortable with it until I get some hand's on experience with a SAT/RCT.

>From: Billbrpt <Billbrpt@aol.com>
>Subject: Re: "Victorian" W.T. or Modified Meantone (off-list)
>
>In a message dated 98-03-16 10:47:01 EST, you write:
>
><< Does this presuppose a standard inharmonicity of A3? >>
>yes
>
><< Do the recipes for the other HT's all have -1.2 cents deviation?  >>
>No
> 
><<If it _is_ a "fudge" factor for pianos, then I suppose tuning harpsichords
>would require tweaking of the ETD?>> 
> Conrad >>
>Yes
>
>If you read A3 at 0.0 on octave 5, then read A3 on it's fundamental, you will
>always get a negative value for A3 on any piano or harpsichord.  I believe the
>harpsichord would have the least varience but I am not sure.  On the piano, it
>will vary from instrument to instrument but not very much.
>
>I have discovered that if you let the A4 of the piano's pitch ride just
>slightly low, the "average pitch" for each note will be the closest to
>theoretical Standard Pitch.  Therefore, if you tune a mild WT or VT and set A3
>to 0.0,  A4 will naturally fall just slightly flat of 440 on it's fundamental
>but probably well within the 1 Hz that I thought in previous posts had been
>recognized as an acceptable tolerance.  In any case, I do believe it to be
>one.  The coupled motion of strings effect that had been discussed on the List
>at legnth and well-known to be a very real phenomenon, lowers the pitch of A4
>effectively another 1/2 ¢, roughly.  I do not know about this effect in
>harpsichord tuning but I would not spend any time looking into it.
>
>You will accomplish 2 things with this approach:  you will get an idealized
>"average pitch" and still come within a reasonable tolerance of Standard
>Pitch.  I do believe you can solve the "celeste" effect that you have been
>talking about this way.  
>
>Let's say you are tuning a piano or harpsichord in a WT or VT and you have
>another keyboard, whatever it may be, or other fixed pitch instrument known to
>be correctly set at A-440 in ET.  Setting your A3 at 0.0, read on octave 5
>will give you the very best match possible, all things considered.
>
>Feel free to post my answer on the List.


Conrad Hoffsommer		Office - (319) 387-1204
Luther College
700 College Drive, Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045
hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu -or- pno2ner@salamander.com

If I had multiple personality disorder, my resume would make more sense.