Beats vs cycles vs cents

[Kent Swafford]

On Mar 15, 2004, at 7:57 PM, Don A. Gilmore wrote:

> You could just as well base a musical system on 15 notes per octave 
> using
>
> 2^(1/15)
>
> But it would probably sound like hell.

Exactly. I usually use the term "mathematical model" to describe the 
pure form of the musical system that only exists in theory and not in 
real musical instruments.

And I usually use

1.5^(1/7)

to describe an alternative musical system. The tuning based on the 
perfect 5th evenly-divided into 7 half-steps really exists and doesn't 
sound (too) bad.

Kent