[pianotech] re: the true properties of EBVT

SidewaysWell1713@aol.com SidewaysWell1713@aol.com
Mon, 9 Sep 2002 16:36:14 EDT


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In a message dated 9/9/02 1:55:27 PM Central Daylight Time, 
drwoodwind@hotmail.com writes:


> So, I think the terminology of equal beating has caused some confusion.  
> Those of us "number crunchers" took the term very literally.  Equal means 
> equal.  This has been the difficulty making the numbers work for the EBVT.  
> If we are now to accept that for the purposes of creating the temperament, 
> 16 equals (or is close enough to) 17.5, there is a much wider range into 
> which this temperament may fit.
> 

Thanks for your reasonable reply, Ron.  I am actively working on the solution 
for correction figures and will have it soon.  What Ed did was take to 
figures from different posts, throw them out there and say, so to speak, 
"there, I told you so, it's FULL of imbalances which no other temperament in 
history ever had, a "Sideways Well", blah blah blah". It's just another 
example of where he has never at anytime supported what I do while I have 
supported him many times.  I can remember the very first time I met the guy, 
who I didn't even know or know of and there he was giving me the evil eye.

The truth is that some very minor errors can accumulate to create an 
imbalance in any temperament with close tolerances.  This happens in ET, of 
course.  One little error of even 1 cent and it's off.  Make that error and 
keep on tuning off of it and make it again a few times and you've got 
something far akin from what you intended.

In ET, you are trying to temper 5ths ever so slightly.  It is so easy to make 
one pure and have it sound good by itself but have the wrong effect on the 
temperament as a whole.  Tuning pure 5ths can involve the same errors whether 
by perception or instability.  Tuning intervals to beat equally has the same 
hazards.  I never claimed to be perfect but a high degree of precision has 
always been my goal.  It has to be.

Many of the truly Historical Temperaments are so far askew from ET that small 
errors like these have little effect on the outcome.  Your excellent graphs 
(of which no one else ever had quite the same idea) showed this.  But when 
you get down to these very mild temperaments, small errors and even scaling 
irregularities can be confounding.

The interval size I measured that day I wrote that post of E3-G#3 at 17.5 and 
F#3-A#3 at 16 sure did sound to me like they were beating the same.  And even 
if they weren't really exactly the same as could be measured scientifically, 
did this really matter that much?  Was it enough to discredit someone's work 
of an entire decade?  Did it *ruin* the music?  I hardly think so.

I did, in fact, discuss this problem with Owen Jorgensen back in 1992.  From 
my very preliminary and raw data at the time, he noted a slight imbalance but 
*dismissed* it as insignificant.  However, I am not satisfied with that.  I 
think the basic scheme can exist and have no imbalances at all.

Those 2 intervals, E-G# and F#-A# are not specified in my temperament scheme 
as being Equal Beating.  The only ones which are specified are F3-A3, G3-B3, 
G3-E4 and C4-E4.  I have, however, on many occasions, noted many more 
intervals which often fell into and Equal Beating pattern.  If B2-D#3, 
Db3-F3, E3-G#3 & F#3-A#3 all end up beating the same or at least, very 
similarly, it would not break Werkmeister's rules.

But I must emphasize again, the EBVT was never conceived as a Well-Tempered 
Tuning but instead, a Modified Meantone, where those rules don't exactly 
apply.  It was another of my Chapter members (who resigned from PTG some 
years ago to escape the ire of the ET only crowd) who first did what Owen 
Jorgensen called, "using a Modified Meantone Temperament as a *substitute* 
for  Well Tempered Tuning".  He was *thrilled* with the whole concept.

So what Ed has done, always done and continues to do, is to try to discredit 
work which goes far beyond his and his understanding.  I've had enough of it 
and won't tolerate it.  I'll leave this screen name and moniker on until and 
unless he recants his post of false and defamatory information.

I really don't care who reads my posts or who does not. I don't expect 
everyone to be interested, never did.  But I see very little if any real 
contributions from those who write some of the negative things.  Hardly ever 
more than a couple of sentences and usually with spelling and grammar errors. 
 They discredit themselves with every single post they write.  It seems to me 
that they feel they already know everything there is to know and don't want 
to read or hear of anything they haven't already learned.  I couldn't care 
less what they say.

My website has seen ever increasing traffic and I have received ever 
increasing inquiries from both technicians and piano customers because of my 
work.  I get plenty of local calls from people who have heard about what I 
do.  My calendar is completely full without any room for another appointment 
for 6 weeks.  And Ed says I'm "insecure"?  B.S.  I'm confident in what I do 
and will not be intimidated by his or anyone else's taunting.  I can and 
would be happy to demonstrate what I do to any group who wants me to but I'll 
only do it on my own terms.  I'll not fall into the Uncle Tom trap that he 
has.

 I'm never going to go around tuning the EBVT by using correction figures but 
I do understand nevertheless, the importance of coming up with them.  This 
will come about as soon as I am sure of them and I hope you'll try them out.  
>From what I can see so far, however, both the FAC program and any correction 
figures applied to them will yield slightly different results from piano to 
piano.  In the past, Ed has dismissed this by saying, "Oh sure, if you tune 
JUNK".  My interpretation of what he says is that he thinks most piano 
technicians tune JUNK, only he does not.

Dr. Sanderson never claimed the FAC program to be infallible.  I can assure 
anyone who takes Ed Foote's recommendation of using those whole number 
correction figures for the so-called, "Best Broadwood" temperament that the 
results will vary from piano to piano and can in no way be considered to have 
any of the effects or properties of the EBVT.  It will just be a wishy-washy 
temperament with unequal 3rds and uneven 5ths, the kind that some have called 
a "sloppy equal".

Thanks for your time.


"Sideways Well":  the pit Ed Foote dug for himself to wallow in the day he 
knowingly published false data for the EBVT on Pianotech. 

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin
<A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A> 




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