For your Listening Pleasure - tuning thoughts

[Bernhard Stopper]

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Ric,
thank you very much for your statements about the pure 12th tuning...

15 years after its publication in euro piano 3/88 ("Stopper tuning - =
Equally temepered scale based on pure dudecimos (12th, pure octave + =
pure 5th) it seems to become accepted.=20
At the time i did the publication, most technicians called me crazy and =
there were only a few who understood what my intention was.


Isaac,

maybe your opinion about the pure 12th may change if you hear this =
tuning done by someone who is familiar with tuning it. I can not agree =
that the 5ths are more strange than in normal tuning, since they are =
less sharp than your preferred normal VT tuning.

best regards,

Bernhard Stopper

for more information about the pure 12th tuning (in german):

 http://www.piano-stopper.de/html/stotun.htm

  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Richard Brekne=20
  To: oleg-i@noos.fr ; Pianotech=20
  Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 11:05 PM
  Subject: Re: For your Listening Pleasure - tuning thoughts


  Issac..

  I couldnt disagree more with you about the P 12ths tuning.  The 12th =
tunings curve results in a very condensed stretch which has the peculiar =
effect of sounding as tho it has a greater stretch then its actual =
stretch numbers would suggest.  Typically the highest C is no more then =
28 cents stretched... which is about as slight a stretch as they come. I =
can hardly see that a more conservative stretch is really possible =
without creating narrow 2:1 octaves at some point.=20

  In the temperament range, this tuning has fourths and fifths that are =
nearly identical to the standard temperament. The distance between D3's =
third and A4's fundamental is typically narrowed by 0.3 to 0.5 bps for =
this range. Spread over the 17 notes of the 12th this is hardly =
something the human ear can directly discern. A3's 2nd is placed such =
that A3 has a comfortable 6:3 relationship with A4, whilst at the same =
time maintaining an acceptable narrowness with D3's 3rd... typically =
about 0.35 bps... also very very standard stuff.  In fact... the only =
real area of significant divergence from a standard tuning scheme is =
found in the area around A5- E6 in which octave based tuning curves =
usually display a temporal shift in direction for the resulting 12ths.  =
The P 12ths tuning results in the most singing and warm treble I have =
ever heard from a tuning... as long as one is careful not to allow any =
error on the wide side of just 12ths. This is because of the natural =
warmness of pure intervals, and because of the resulting calm of the =
double and triple octaves this yields.  But beyond the warmth this =
creates the constancy in major 10ths and 17ths that also results, and =
the increased sustain times resulting from frequent incidence of pure =
coinciding partials in the octaves AND 12ths contributes to a clarity in =
addition to the warmth this tuning imparts.

  If you have had strange resulting 5ths from attempting an aural =
implementation of this tuning... then you have not succeeded in tuning =
it precisely enough  I would guess, as one of the most pleasing results =
of this tuning is the resulting 5ths. Jim Coleman  mentioned this in a =
private note to me, along with his opinion that resulting octaves in the =
fore mentioned range (A5 - E6) were particular illy pleasing.

  Reading through the rest of your comments... it seems to me that you =
havent really understood what the P 12ths tuning is all about... as in =
several spots you allude to a high stretch factor that simply does not =
exist in such a tuning.  Anyone tuning double  octaves that are wide =
enough to begin to silence triple octaves is contriving a tense and =
piercing tuning  indeed, which goes tonally in the opposite direction of =
the warmth you indicate below. Not that there are not uses for this =
approach mind you.

  I havent had opportunity to tune with the VT yet, so I will certainly =
reserve comment as to the nature of its standard tuning. Tho I imagine =
it to be a fine ETD. =20

  And by the way.... I personally thought the violinist was from time to =
time a bit less then on top of his game intonation wise. What you deemed =
as fourths slightly smaller then the pianos... I deemed as just plain =
flat, at least at several instances sitting in the concert hall.  And I =
wasnt the only one judging from the discussion afterwards. Perhaps =
understandable since he was suffering from a very bad cold.

  Cheers
  RicB

  Isaac OLEG wrote:




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