source file: mills3.txt Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 17:43:49 +0200 Subject: RE: pop in microtones From: "Paul H. Erlich" Distortion creates a massive spectrum of combination tones, which will converge to minimum density when they form a harmonic series, which happens if the notes being played have a small integer frequency ratio. Open fifths and fourths and even major ninths are common in distorted guitar music since their 12-tet approximations are close to just. 12-tet thirds sound quite ugly through distortion and so require careful bending (in the absence of crazy Jon Catler JI fingerboards), a fact clearly understood (though perhaps not consciously) by good blues and rock musicians, including David Gilmour. A typical move is to bend the lower note of a perfect fourth or major third up until the interval reaches a just minor third (usually functioning as the third and fifth of a major chord or the fifth and seventh of a minor seventh). When playing blues, I also like to bend a minor third below the root up to an 8/7 below the root while holding the root (or major second!) on the next higher string. When the interval in exactly in JI, the root (several octaves lower) materializes out of the noise of the distortion. All distorted chords sound better on my 22-tet guitar than my 12-tet guitar, except for open fifths, especially when stacked to form major ninths. Distorted dominant seventh and ninth chords on the 22-tet guitar remind me of Jon Catler and not of anything else I've ever heard (Neil Haverstick tends to use the diatonic rather than harmonic seventh on his 19-tet guitar), aural proof that 22-tet is a very significantly better approximation of 7-or 9-limit JI than 12-tet. However, if we're talking melody rather than harmony, blues scales seem to sound best to me in 7-tet (playing blues on an Ensoniq harmonica patch in 7-tet, no one thought it sounded out-of-tune, just bluesy). Can anyone give me any advice towards formulating 22-tet fingerings for flute? I don't play flute myself, and none of my flute-playing friends have any microtonal experience. SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: gregs@mail.usyd.edu.au Subject: Writing Csound from Scala1.3 PostedDate: 24-09-97 17:45:58 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 24-09-97 17:45:38-24-09-97 17:45:39,24-09-97 17:44:44-24-09-97 17:44:44 DeliveredDate: 24-09-97 17:44:44 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA v1.1 (385.6 5-6-1997)) with SMTP id C125651C.0056920F; Wed, 24 Sep 1997 17:45:34 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA28878; Wed, 24 Sep 1997 17:45:58 +0200 Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 17:45:58 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA28871 Received: (qmail 7857 invoked from network); 24 Sep 1997 15:45:15 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 24 Sep 1997 15:45:15 -0000 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu