John writes >Ric, >Do you tune your P12ths system aurally or electronically? >John Formsma/ /Hi John. I do both actually. Depends on my day really. But more and more I find myself Leaving the machine behind. Aurally I start by setting D3 and A4 at pitch plus 0.4 bps. A3 Gets tuned to a 6:3 octave which brings it to pitch +/- a very little, and D4 gets tuned to a 6:3 to D4. I'll check D4 against both A's and run through a temperament more or less as usual. From D4 I move to G4 and G3, then C3, then F4 and F3, and so on. When I am done I simply tune P-12ths upwards. Downwards I tune using the 6:3 as an anchor. I cross check with a variety of other intervals and make sure I get a nice slowing progression of 10ths going down. I also listen to the conglomerate single and double octave... I like to try and keep the overall effect as consistent as possible. The problem with 11ths and especially 19ths is that they rely on an 8:3 and 16:3 lowest degree coincident pair respectively. Which effectively makes them impossible to use when the upper note gets exceeds F6 in the case of the 11th and F5 in the case of the 19th. The other thing is that in the treble region the 8th and (certainly those higher) partials are so stretched because of inharmonicity that matching them quickly causes a much higher degree of stretch then I find pleasing. But thats just my preference. P 12ths can be used very easily right up to C8. Aurally its very easy to hear up to F7/G7 for just about anyone. Here you are using a much lower partial (and audible) pair .. the 3:1 Cheers RicB //
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