P12 in Tunelab Pro

[John Formsma]

Ric,

Thanks for 'splainin'.

Tuned a ratty little Kimball Whitney grand (sic) today, and guess what?
My regular aural tuning is a P12 (at least in the treble-the bass was a
joke and was tuned 4:2 down to 6:3).

I don't normally use the P12 test, but wanted to check, and they were
P12s for sure.

Hmmm, can I get credit for inventing the P12, too? <G>

John Formsma


> 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