Victorian Tuning, "usual" or "best"?

[Paul S. Larudee]

A key difference between ET and Victorian or other unequal tunings is
the degree of precision or replicability by aural means.  The smooth
progression of beat rates from lower to higher frequencies, as well as
the number and variety of test intervals in ET simply has no equivalent
in unequal tunings.  I suspect that this may have been a major factor in
the spread of ET, rather than its superior sound.

With today's electronic aids, the same degree of precision is available
for any type of temperament.  Perhaps this is why there is now a growing
willingness to use unequal temperaments, and why they probably sound
better than when they were first used.

Paul S. Larudee, RPT
Richmond, CA