ET Recordings

[Michael Jorgensen]

Diane Hofstetter wrote:

> Mike,
>
>   Have you actually checked out the temperaments on some Clavinovas and some
> other digital pianos?

Yes, I always check them for fun and nearly always find something
questionable.  I believe they are very good tunings, but not perfect.  I have
to really search for imperfection, surely harder than I would in one of my own
tunings.  Whoever tuned for these, hats off to you!! a very good!.  I checked
some Clavinovas today and here is what I found.

Clavinova CPV 79A  (Piano 1)
General Perceptions:
     This is a REALLY good tuning and it took some real study to locate
possible irregularities.  The thirds seems fast to me with the exception of
those built on F3 and F#3. The tenths and seventeenths showed some increase in
beat speed over the thirds, (slightly more than I would do) , but the 12ths and
19ths were all very clean. The double octaves were also excellently clean.  I
would have liked to try to fix some suspect unisons in the killer octave area
and possibly on D# 4 and E 4.  Really nice unisons throughout the tenor.  The
top octave also had suspect unisons but all of these unisons could be, and
probably are due to false strings.  This tuning should get a 100%.

Temperament Observations:
G and G# could possibly be raised slightly to improve this tuning.
Reasons:
1.  The thirds on F and F# were nice speeds with a considerable jump to G, and
a smooth increase thereafter.
2.  The G3 B3 third was debatably faster than the sixth F3 D4  (the only
possible error I found)
3.  The major sixths below G and G# were also slightly slow compared to
neighbors.
4.  Fourths built above G and G# were also more lively than neighbors.

However the major sixths produced a nice progression.  I think one would have
to try it to know if this would improve the temperament.

Progression of thirds, sixths, tenths, seventeenths, was very nice with some
minor (probably unavoidable) irregularities around the bass break.  (Awfully
picky).  I could not find errors in progression elsewhere and liked the clean
12ths and seventeenths.

I used the RCT to create a tuning and checked the temperament.    All notes in
the temperament octave were very close to perfect accept F 3 and F# 3 (the only
two thirds I liked) were registering at least one cent sharp.  This was a great
tuning.

I though the piano was unevenly voiced, especially near the top.ET

I also played an old and much cheaper CLP 311.

This instrument had very clean octaves, but some temperament irregularities, a
tendency toward reverse well.

The  third F3 A3 I estimated at over 8 BPS, F# and G thirds were also too fast
and didn't increase much, if at all.  G# third slowed down some, and A to C#
third was definitely slower again.  (slower than the lower ones and much slower
than the sixth).  A rapid increase in beat speeds formed above this point
bringing B and C thirds up to about 12 BPS.  The four major sixths in the
temperament octave were all about the same speed.  The top sixth was only
debatably faster than the bottom one. The fourths were all beating uniformly
fast (about 1.2 to 1.5 bps).  Faster fifths occurred on G and G#.  My first
instinct was that F and some other notes low in the temperament needed to be
raised but the RCT wanted to bring down the A and some higher notes.  Octaves
and unisons flawless reproductions of the temperament.

I also quickly looked at a CLP 360, which had a very similar style of minor
irregularities but not as much..

     All tunings contain flaw, including all that I have ever done.  I hope
that no one who may have actually done these is offended, because in reality
they are all very good, especially the CPV 79.   I'm sure any RPT could pick
apart my work and find many flaws.   These are good examples of very good real
world tunings and should be listened to.
      I have in the past checked many other brands and found similar such
problems or questionable beat speed increases, (I believe much more so), but
did not have another brand available this morning to study. I have never heard
a bad tuning, just ones with real world flaws.
-Mike Jorgensen