[CAUT] mean tone tuning- help!

[Fred Sturm]

	David Miller's numbers are a more precise 1/7 comma than mine. The  
difference is a matter of tenths of a cent. The 0.61 cents offset is a  
calculation designed to keep the temperament "essentially the same" as  
ET in terms of tension, so that a change from one to the other has  
(theoretically, at least) less impact on overall tuning stability. I  
think it is arrived at simply by adding all the offsets and dividing  
by 12, and then subtracting that result (change of sign from negative  
to positive if you subtract a negative number)
	Once again, Don's and Tim's are quite clearly 1/8 comma. Not that  
different in sound, as the essential profile is the same: 8 M3s are  
all the same, 11 5ths are all the same, 4 M3s are markedly different  
from the other 8 but all the same, and there is a lone "wolf" 5th. It  
is simply a matter of degree.
	BTW, Bill Bremmer is a big advocate of "mild mean tone" and tells me  
he did a piano to 1/7 comma at the 1995 PTG convention (though he  
personally favors 1/9, along with his EBVT - equal beating victorian  
temperament). And he tells me that Tim Farley does 1/7 as a matter of  
course in the showroom of his retail store (Madison). I am slightly  
puzzled about the divergence of labeling between 1/8 and 1/7, but,  
such things happen very easily one way or another.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu



On Feb 25, 2009, at 12:57 PM, Aaron Bousel wrote:

> First, thank you to everyone who responded to this.
> I thought I would send along, for comparison, the chart below  
> comparing three different sets of figures that have come through on  
> this thread. I chose these three because all three sources have had  
> direct contact with Peter Serkin. David says he used the numbers  
> listed just last month. Don says he used his numbers a couple of  
> times within the past year and Tim's are apparently the numbers used  
> that originally convinced Peter Serkin that he wanted this  
> temperament. Both David and Don say that Serkin was very happy with  
> their tuning. Don and Tim only vary at F# and G. David's are clearly  
> quite different. The source for David's numbers is:
> http://www.rollingball.com/TemperamentsFrames.htm
> You have to click on "Meantone" at the top and then choose Romieu.  
> David says specifically that Serkin uses the Romieu temperament.
>
> I don't know how the chart will show up so I'm also attaching the  
> Excel file
>
> Aaron
>
>
> <2886e0c.jpg>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------
> Aaron Bousel
> Registered Piano Technician, Piano Technicians Guild
> abousel at comcast.net
> (413) 253-3846 (voice & fax)
>
> <1-7-comma-meantone.xls>

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