Richard, <<I think really that it is not a question of unisons being still and lifeless... there is always some of this "bloom" effect... the question is more how much is best... and again when we are talking about such slight tolerances then this is more a matter of taste then a matter of right and wrong. The dead on ablolutely no beats, no bloom, no nothing unison doesnt really exist.>> I agree--still and lifeless were not the best word choices. I didn't know exactly what to call it, though. <<I think 0.5 bps is way out of the "bloom" range... at least as I experience it. We are talking somewhere in the area where all talk of bps is no longer meaningfull, we are talking about a seperate acoustical property me thinks.>> For me too. But there are some out there who prefer that sound. Not concert artists, granted, but it would be nice to have the results of an experiment to see how far "acceptable" would be. <<Now that you can... and it does become interesting what you can do when you start to get past thinking coincident partials and bps... I personally am more and more convinced this is at the heart of Virgils thinking.>> Yeah, from what I've observed with Virgil, I'd say you are right on. I experimented with open unison tuning on two spinets this past Thursday. I worked fast (for me), allowing only one hour each. It seems easier to hear the best octave sound when you are working with all three strings sounding on the reference note. Even though these spinets did not have great musical qualities, it alleviated some of the frustration that I occasionally have with strip mute tunings on poorer quality pianos, in which the beats seem harder to hear with only the middle strings sounding. Each piano sounded "brighter," and "less flat." Yes, both of these are quite subjective terms, but it just sounded more in tune. FWIW, John M. Formsma Blue Mountain, MS PTG Associate, Memphis Chapter mailto:jformsma@dixie-net.com
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