EC tuning mystery solved....I think

[alex_holden]

I have just added a column to my table with the 1/4 comma meantone offsets. You can see from this that 1/4 comma deviates further from ET than 1/5 comma does. If you compare it to the values in the 1/4 comma table that comes included with Tonal Energy, you can figure out which accidentals they picked, which might not be the ideal ones for your chosen root note and the keys you want to play in.

 

 

Your mileage may vary; I am not a mathematician; intervals in the rear view mirror may appear narrower than they are. Incidentally the Wikipedia page describing quarter comma meantone is one of the most confusing things I have read for quite a while.

[4to5to6]

17 hours ago, alex_holden said:

I have just added a column to my table with the 1/4 comma meantone offsets. You can see from this that 1/4 comma deviates further from ET than 1/5 comma does. If you compare it to the values in the 1/4 comma table that comes included with Tonal Energy, you can figure out which accidentals they picked, which might not be the ideal ones for your chosen root note and the keys you want to play in.

 

 

Your mileage may vary; I am not a mathematician; intervals in the rear view mirror may appear narrower than they are. Incidentally the Wikipedia page describing quarter comma meantone is one of the most confusing things I have read for quite a while.

 

Thanks Alex.  Awesome info.  I was trying to figure this out a while back.  Very good.

[Duncan Luddite]

Thanks for all the information guys I have some sitting down and thinking to do

Any questions this produces I'll bring here.

Cheers

 

[Little John]

On 10/25/2024 at 7:54 AM, alex_holden said:

Note that if you don't pick A as the root note ...

 

I can't think of any reason why you would pick anything other than A as the root note, for two reasons:

 

1. It minimises the deviation from ET, specifically for an English concertina but also more generally for the keys people most commonly play in. With A as the root note Alex's table shows the maximum deviation is 16.4 cents; and that only for the rarely used Ab. Otherwise the maximum deviation is 14.1 cents. With C as the root note the maximum is 21.1 cents; and that for the commonly used D#.

 

2. The concertina is often used for fiddles, flutes etc. to tune to. The note almost universally used for this is A. With A as the root note there is perfect agreement between ET and mean tone tuning. With any other root note the A on the concertina will be different from all the ET instruments.