Jim Coleman posted his temperaments to RCT users list

Kent Swafford kswafford@earthlink.net
Thu, 31 Aug 2000 13:42:01 -0500


Subject:     historical tunings - Coleman variety
Date:        11/17/99 12:04 AM
Received:    11/17/99 6:22 AM
From:        Jim Coleman, Sr., JimSr@jimwcoleman.com
To:          ctuner@reyburn.com

Hi to all:

Paul Bailey asked if I were willing to list the variations I have developed
for alternate tunings. My answer is yes. Here they are for anyone to use.
The TuneLab people may use them, the RCT people may use them. My SAT III
already has four of them. These were worked out on a spreadsheet in Calc V.

              c    c#    d    d#    e    f    f#    g    g#    a   a#    b

Coleman IV    2    0     0    0    -2    2    0     0    0     0    0   -2
Coleman XI    3    0     0    0    -3    4   -2     2    0    -1    2   -4
Coleman XVI   6    0     2    2    -2    6   -2     4    1     0    4   -2
Balanced 16   5   -1     1    1    -3    5   -3     3    0    -1    3   -3

The Coleman 4 is the simplest and can be used "on-the-fly" by just making
alterations from machine tunings at 4 places in each octave.

The Cole 11 is my favorite and is now used in place of the Moore Well
temperament in the Jorgenson book which I used for a few years. It does not
have any objectionable 4ths or 5ths and the widths of the M3rds progress
evenly through the #'s and b's.

The Cole 16 is a little strong for me but is liked by those who want a
little more distinction between the key tonalities.

The Balanced 16 makes a feeble attempt to maintain the overall pitch average
a little closer to EQ in order to not upset the piano tension as much as the
Coleman 16.

The title numbers represent the numbered attempts which I have made on the
spreadsheets. I am less proud of the numbers skipped and hence they are not
listed here.

Beyond this, the Young or Valotti would be next in more robust character.

In the SAT III, RCT or Tunelab, these variations can be programmed in for
just one octave and their programs will apply to the rest of the octaves of
a selected tuning style or FAC type tuning. These three machines or programs
call up the historical tunings in different ways, but the result is
basically the same.

I hereby give permission to anyone who wishes to use these tunings. You
don't even have to give me credits or royalties

Jim Coleman, Sr.





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