“quasi ¼ comma meantone bluesy”

[seraph]

The scale “quasi ¼ comma meantone bluesy” comes from a study of meantone scales. With LMSO I built a diatonic scale based on a chain of 7 perfect fifths starting on D each one smaller than 3/2 (701.955 cents) by a syntonic comma (81/80, 21.508 cents) split in 4. (21.508/4 = 5.377, 701.955 - 5.377 = 696.578 = ¼ comma meantone perfect fifth). If this does not make any sense don’t worry, anyway see the picture “1/4 comma diatonic”. The intervals are either 193.157 (yellow ones) or 117.108 cents (purple ones). It is a symmetric scale built on 2 different intervals.

Listen to quasi 1/4 comma "Insensatez"

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quarter comma diatonic.jpg
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[seraph]

I found this scale pleasant, so I decided to create a chromatic version of it splitting each 193.157 interval in 2 (193.157/2 = 96.5785 cents), see quasiquartercomma chromatic.jpg, again a symmetric scale built on 2 different intervals.

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quasiquartercomma chromatic.jpg
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[seraph]

for those into this kind of crazy stuff I will add the I called it “quasi ¼ comma chromatic bluesy” because a real ¼ comma meantone cycle of 12 perfect fifths (each 696.578 cents) would look like the one in the “1/4 comma chromatic” picture, the famous Renaissance and Baroque tuning, that I find much uglier than mine!

In my scale (I say “mine” but it could have been discovered hundreds of years ago) major thirds are either 5/4 (386.314 cents) or 406.844 cents (very close to pythagoric ones, 407.82 cents), minor thirds are either 310.265 (close to 6/5, 315.64129 cents) or 289.736 (almost 13/11, 289.20972), perfect fifths are always 696.578 cents (the so called “generating interval”, see above, while the octave is the so called “folding interval”).

I am posting my “piano interpretation” of “Insensatez” (How Insensitive) by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, played using this tuning to let you know what I am talking about!

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[EdisonRex]

Heh carlo. I would have not thought to listen had you not bumped this.

I once tuned a piano in perfect fifths, because I could. It sounded very much like what you have, except I added proper beating for each note. My music professor was tolerant of the exercise, he let me play the piano for a couple of days then he asked me to please tune it properly now that I had my fun.

There are certain keys in this tuning that work great, and there are certain keys/modes that really sound different. have you tried playing on some of the odd modes?

[seraph]

[EdisonRex]

Can you describe the unrefined-ness? I always thought of it as more refined, in certain keys, but really jarring in others. If you get afoul of the circle of fifths, as it relates to modes, I mean. Which is funny because in this scale you're theoretically even in the circle of fifths, sort of. Except it doesn't seem to work out when you hit the octave.

I envy you LMSO, and yeah I'll buy it soon when I have time to devote to it. You have to want to do something, and I can see you are having a blast with it.

No time yet, and less for a while.

[seraph]

[seraph]

[EdisonRex]

well. Education is always good, you know.

[seraph]