Was OnlyPure not P12ths Tunings

Ron Koval drwoodwind@hotmail.com
Fri, 15 Apr 2005 15:04:19 +0000


I think I've got a handle on this now...

There's nothing pure in OnlyPure, just a declaration:

"For inharmonicity related
instruments, pure means the state, where the sum of the beats is minimal."

Ok, I'm following... kindof the Virgil Smith "whole tone" approach to tuning 
octaves.  (By the way, the Verituner is able to replicate this using the 
balancing multi partial approach in the custom style function)  Which EDT 
will you be "facing" in your European demonstration?

But the key idea seems to be using inside and outside fifths along with the 
octave for placement.  If you search on this list, there used to be a 
technician named Bill Bremmer (the ONE who must not be named!) that tunes 
only optimizing temperaments, namely the equal beating victorian 
temperament.  In any non-equal temperament, there will be a varience of beat 
speeds of the fifths.  He used this to temper the octaves as well to come up 
with the same effect you speak of. In tuning the octaves he would balance 
the beatspeed of the tempered fifth- any one - with the beatspeed of the 
octave.   He also stated that this was a viable method for tuning ET, but 
since the fifths were all tempered evenly, the octaves wouldn't end up 
tempered - yet using the guidance of all of the fifths and octaves together, 
he described the "sheen" he got with this tuning method.

But music is more than just octaves and fifths.... you could complete the 
journey and move on to the thirds and sixths.  In equal temperament, the 
ratio between the beats of a minor third and a major third in a closed triad 
is 1.7.  That is for every beat of a major third, the minor third will be 
beating 1.7 times.  Now by using alternate temperaments, this can be 
adjusted to get a consonant 1.5, or 3/2 ratio.  That's a sound not to be 
missed....

Ron Koval
Chicagoland



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