[pianotech] Interval Size vs. BPS (was true properties)

SidewaysWell1713@aol.com SidewaysWell1713@aol.com
Tue, 10 Sep 2002 00:36:27 EDT


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In a message dated 9/9/02 1:55:27 PM Central Daylight Time, 
drwoodwind@hotmail.com writes:


> E3           17.5
> 
> F#3         16.0
> 
>  <snip>
> 
> Back to me...
> Now, without any inflammatory language, what I see here is a 
> misunderstanding of terms.
> 
> Ed described, using the the width of Major thirds in cents, a non-standard 
> progression, when comparing the latest published figures for the EBVT.  
> Bill 
> responded, correctly, that BEATS, not cents, govern what we hear.  However, 
> the above numbers, showing beats/second still show that by using the 
> published numbers, the Emaj third will beat one and a half beats/second 
> faster than the F#maj third.  These numbers still support Ed's position.

I thought about this more during my last tuning of the day and tried it.  It 
is still unclear to me which set of "published figures" you refer to.

"Bill Bremmer wrote:

Ed Foote lied and tried to escalate a fight on this list as he has done many 
times in the past by saying:

>This doesn't change the fact that the ebvt creates a more tempered E-G# of 
>17+cents than the F#-A# of 13.7. (snip)"

Ed Foote pulled figures from two different analyses, specifically to support 
the lie he knew he was telling. He knows that and I'm not going to let him 
get away with it.

If you have two contiguous 3rds of the exact same size the way they are 
supposed to be in ET, it is well known today that the upper 3rd will beat 
slightly faster than the lower on (the recently and hotly disputed 4:5 ratio 
of contiguous 3rds).  In my EBVT specifications, I say that you should make 
A3-C#4 beat exactly the same as Bb3-D4.  In ET, the higher interval would 
beat just very slightly faster than the lower one.  

In order for them to beat the same, you would have to have the lower one be 
of a slightly larger interval size (which would be neither a numerical nor 
audible imbalance in this case because the key of A Major has 3 sharps and Bb 
Major has 2 flats).

Therefore, in the example Ed Foote lied about, the E3-G#3 at 17.5 and the 
F#3-A#3 at 16 (I have *never* measured F#3-A#3 at 13.7 but have measured it 
as high as 19.5 and felt that was too strong and therefore corrected it), it 
would seem to me that those two intervals would beat exactly the same, as 
they usually do. 

 If I make an error and flatten the E3 to make a sweeter C3-E3 3rd, I may 
well widen the E3-G#4 too much and create a slight imbalance.  This is the 
kind of error *any* aural tuner can and does make (favoring one interval over 
the other and not recognizing and/or not compensating the consequences) in ET 
or any other temperament.

 Therefore, it is conceivable, possible and probable that you could have what 
appears on a number list to be a slight interval size imbalance and still 
have Equal Beating, which is certainly permitted under Werkmeister's Rules.  
Moreover, Jorgensen wrote a whole handbook of Temperaments which use Equal 
Beating as the way to construct the temperament. 

 Even expert, aural ET tuners use a very few of the Equal Beating techniques. 
 To insure that the A4 matches pitch with the Fork, the F2-A4 test is used.  
If both F2-A4 and F2-Fork beat exactly the same, the note is dead on.  Of 
course, this is still a matter of perception but for a skilled user of this 
technique, the amount of error can be kept below 1 cent.  4ths and 5ths can 
be proven to be tempered and *not * pure by the Equal Beating test showing 
not exactly the same rate of beating.  Tests for the 4:2 and 6:3 octaves also 
each has there own Equal Beating test.

I studied the Equal Beating Temperaments because those were the ones I could 
be sure I was getting correct with a high degree of confidence.  I designed 
the EBVT along the same lines.  For the most part, the EBVT comes out about 
the same each time I tune it.  I have noticed some of the figures to vary 
somewhat when measured electronically but they are still quite predictable 
within a certain small range and always have been. 

 One of the variations can be if the initial 6 beats per second is slowed 
down a bit.  The rest of the steps can be still followed as written and still 
have no imbalances but the temperament will have a stronger, more unequal 
sound.  Yes, I do this deliberately at times.  If I take the idea all the way 
to the point of being a Quasi Equal
Temperament with the initial 3rds at 7 beats per second, that is the point at 
which some slight imbalances can occur, just as they do in the "Best 
Broadwood" Quasi Equal Temperament. 

 So, there is historical precedent for temperaments which contain imbalances. 
 Either Ed Foote was lying about that too or he just never read about those 
temperaments yet.  Let's not forget the most obvious one of them all, the De 
Morgan Temperament which Ed deliberately chose for Chopin.  I'm sure Ed had 
his own theory and reasons for doing so.  Even though it was a choice many, 
including me, thought was very poor, it still does somehow work and most 
people would never even be aware of what is wrong with it.  That is how 
tuners get away with tuning Reverse Well every day.

While Jason Kanter's Graph has some problems with it, I still like it very 
much and the basic idea is right.  He was able to show some of the very 
regular and divisible patterns of 3-6-9 in the Equal Beating Intervals found 
in it.  There are some corrections which need to be made but in my view, they 
are not that big of a deal, certainly not enough for me to withdraw it from 
my website.  When it is corrected, the figures will show even more regularity 
but not the smooth Bell curve of most other mild Well Tempered Tunings.

 I'll wait until I am truly satisfied with the correct electronic analyses of 
the EBVT before I'll ever ask Jason Kanter to rework the graph.  Until then, 
it stays and I make no apology or other excuse for it.

It is Ed Foote who made a big deal out of what he knew were not even the 
figures from that chart.  Those figures are, in fact, even more imbalanced 
than the lie he told in his post.  To put it another way, he couldn't even 
tell the lie as well as it could have been told.  And so, until he admits the 
truth, the following moniker and signature will stay:

"Sideways Well":  the pit Ed Foote dug for himself to wallow in the day he 
knowingly published false data for the EBVT on Pianotech. 

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin
<A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A> 




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