Frequently asked questions: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 06:30, 15 January 2026

See also: Pedagogy questions

Whether they are frequent or one-of-a-kind, all questions are welcome here. When listing questions, list broad, general questions higher and niche, more specific questions lower. Answer each question on a separate page, linked to by the question.

About musical tuning

What is microtonal music?

Where can I find a glossary of musical tuning terms and jargon?

Why use microtonality?

What are some different kinds of tuning systems that exist?

How do I decode those strange looking comma names?

What does “golden” refer to in “golden meantone”, “golden flattone”, etc?

Rank-2 temperaments (of which meantone and flattone are two among many) generate MOS scales with two step sizes, large and small.
Depending on what generator you use for the temperament, you can make the ratio between large:small different. For example you can have 3:1 meantone, 2:1 meantone, 3:2 meantone, etc. and the same goes for any other rank-2 temperament.
If the ratio between the step sizes is the golden ratio, then the tuning is a golden tuning, such as “golden meantone”, “golden flattone” or similar.
Golden tunings are one type of metallic MOS, along with silver tunings, bronze tunings and others.

About the wiki

There's so much to read. Where do I start?

The page Xen concepts for beginners is the best place to start.
After that, check out General Theory for a list of foundational pages about musical tuning.

What are this wiki's strengths and weaknesses? (How does it compare to other resources?)

What is this wiki's copyright/intellectual property policy?

I am more interested in the way regular temperament theory looked before the 2010s, rather than the direction it has taken since then. Is there a wiki that preserves that?

Yes. You can find that at the Legacy Xenharmonic Wiki.

How do I change my visual theme for the wiki?

While logged in, go to https://en.xen.wiki/w/Special:Preferences
Then click the "Appearance" tab near the top
Then choose the skin you want
Then click "Save" near the bottom left

About editing the wiki

I'm a new editor, what is everything I can do to help?

Where can I find this wiki's style guide?

Where can I find this wiki's notability guidelines?

Recent changes is too crowded, how do I see what's actually important?

What are user space pages and main space pages?

User space pages are pages titled "User:YourUsername/Topic". For example "User:JohnDoe/Major scale".
Main space pages are pages without any prefix. For example "Major scale".

How do I create a user page?

Search "User:YourUsername/ThePageTitleYouWant" in the search bar (e.g. "User:JohnDoe/The arrowroot biscuit scale").
It will then say "There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, search the related logs, or create this page."
Click "create this page" and then you will be taken to an editing window to create the user page.

How can I sign my name on a talk page? How can I make my replies indented to the right?

How can I add an inline citation or note?

Put <ref>The contents of the note</ref> at the place you want the little superscript number to appear.
Place <references /> at the place you want the list of references to appear. (If you do not specify this, it will default to the very bottom of the page.)
If you want to cite the same reference multiple times, give it a name e.g. <ref name="Bob et al.">The contents of the note</ref> the first time you use it.
Then every subsequent time you can just use <ref name="Bob et al." /> without all the rest.

I discovered a new temperament, how should I name it?

I have a question about formatting or wikitext that isn't answered here. Is there an instruction manual somewhere where I can find it?

The answer is probably contained within the page Help:Editing.

Unanswered questions

Todo: answer questions

How do I actually use a rank-3 temperament? (Please make a step-by-step guide of how to go from the 3 generators at the start, to a Scala file that works with Scale Workshop at the end? Every step of the way, explain like I’m five?)

A good way of generating scales for rank-3 temperament's is hobbit scales, which are sort of like MOS scales except for higher-rank temperaments. I don't think this will answer the full question, though.
in the mean time until this question is answered, see: Rank-3 temperament

Who is who in microtonality?

in the mean time until this question is answered, see: Category:People

Why do microtonal musicians argue so much? (And do they argue more than people in other fields of research?)

What is all this new terminology good for anyway?

(You are encouraged to add more questions here)

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-: {{See also|Pedagogy questions}}
+{{See also|Pedagogy questions}}
 Whether they are frequent or one-of-a-kind, all questions are welcome here. When listing questions, list broad, general questions higher and niche, more specific questions lower. Answer each question on a separate page, linked to by the question.
-== Answered questions ==
+== About musical tuning ==
-* '''There's so much to read. Where do I start?'''
+<br />
-The page [[Xen concepts for beginners]] is the best place to start. After that, check out [[General Theory]] for a list of foundational pages about musical tuning.
+'''[[Microtonal music|What is microtonal music?]]'''
+'''[[Glossary|Where can I find a glossary of musical tuning terms and jargon?]]'''
+'''[[Why Microtonality?|Why use microtonality?]]'''
-* '''[[Glossary|Where can I find a glossary of musical tuning terms and jargon?]]'''
+'''[[Approaches to Musical Tuning|What are some different kinds of tuning systems that exist?]]'''
-* '''[[Microtonal music|What is microtonal music?]]'''
+'''[[Systematic comma names explained|How do I decode those strange looking comma names?]]'''
-* '''[[Why Microtonality?|Why microtonality?]]''' (And why does anyone care about microtonal music?)
+'''What does “golden” refer to in “golden meantone”, “golden flattone”, etc?'''
+* [[Rank-2 temperament]]s (of which meantone and flattone are two among many) generate [[MOS scale]]s with two step sizes, large and small.
+* Depending on what [[generator]] you use for the temperament, you can make the ratio between large:small different. For example you can have 3:1 meantone, 2:1 meantone, 3:2 meantone, etc. and the same goes for any other rank-2 temperament.
+* If the ratio between the step sizes is the [[golden ratio]], then the tuning is a golden tuning, such as “golden meantone”, “golden flattone” or similar.
+* Golden tunings are one type of [[metallic MOS]], along with silver tunings, bronze tunings and others.
+<br />
-* '''[[Approaches to Musical Tuning|What are some different kinds of tuning systems that exist?]]'''
+== About the wiki ==
+<br />
+'''There's so much to read. Where do I start?'''
+* The page [[Xen concepts for beginners]] is the best place to start.
+* After that, check out [[General Theory]] for a list of foundational pages about musical tuning.
-* '''[[What are this wiki's strengths and weaknesses?]]''' (How does it compare to other resources?)
+'''[[Xenharmonic Wiki:What are this wiki's strengths and weaknesses?|What are this wiki's strengths and weaknesses?]]''' (How does it compare to other resources?)
-* '''[[Xenharmonic Wiki:Copyrights|What is this wiki's copyright/intellectual property policy?]]'''
+'''[[Xenharmonic Wiki:License|What is this wiki's copyright/intellectual property policy?]]'''
-* '''[[Systematic comma names explained|How do I decode those strange looking comma names?]]'''
+'''I am more interested in the way [[regular temperament theory]] looked before the 2010s, rather than the direction it has taken since then. Is there a wiki that preserves that?'''
+* Yes. You can find that at the [https://legacy.xen.wiki/w/Main_Page Legacy Xenharmonic Wiki].
+<br />
-* '''[[Temperament naming|I discovered a new temperament, how should I name it?]]'''
+'''How do I change my visual theme for the wiki?'''
+# While logged in, go to https://en.xen.wiki/w/Special:Preferences
+# Then click the "Appearance" tab near the top
+# Then choose the skin you want
+# Then click "Save" near the bottom left
+<br />
+== About editing the wiki ==
+<br />
+'''[[Xenharmonic Wiki:I'm a new editor, what is everything I can do to help?|I'm a new editor, what is everything I can do to help?]]'''
+'''[[Xenharmonic Wiki:Article guidelines|Where can I find this wiki's style guide?]]'''
+'''[[Xenharmonic Wiki:Notability guidelines|Where can I find this wiki's notability guidelines?]]'''
+'''[[Xenharmonic Wiki:Recent changes is too crowded, how do I see what's actually important?|Recent changes is too crowded, how do I see what's actually important?]]'''
+'''What are user space pages and main space pages?'''
+* User space pages are pages titled "User:YourUsername/Topic". For example "User:JohnDoe/Major scale".
+* Main space pages are pages without any prefix. For example "Major scale".
+'''How do I create a user page?'''
+* Search "User:YourUsername/ThePageTitleYouWant" in the search bar (e.g. "User:JohnDoe/The arrowroot biscuit scale").
+* It will then say "There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, search the related logs, or create this page."
+* Click "create this page" and then you will be taken to an editing window to create the user page.
+'''[[Xenharmonic Wiki:How can I sign my name on a talk page? How can I make my replies indented to the right?|How can I sign my name on a talk page? How can I make my replies indented to the right?]]'''
+'''How can I add an inline citation or note?'''
+* Put <code><nowiki><ref>The contents of the note</ref></nowiki></code> at the place you want the little superscript number to appear.
+* Place <code><<nowiki />references /></code> at the place you want the list of references to appear. (If you do not specify this, it will default to the very bottom of the page.)
+* If you want to cite the same reference multiple times, give it a name e.g. <code><nowiki><ref name="Bob et al.">The contents of the note</ref></nowiki></code> the first time you use it.
+* Then every subsequent time you can just use <code><<nowiki />ref name="Bob et al." /></code> without all the rest.
+'''[[Temperament naming|I discovered a new temperament, how should I name it?]]'''
+'''I have a question about formatting or wikitext that isn't answered here. Is there an instruction manual somewhere where I can find it?'''
+* The answer is probably contained within the page [[Help:Editing]].
 <br />
@@ Line 36: / Line 100: @@
 {{todo|answer questions|inline=1}}
+'''[[How do I actually use a rank-3 temperament?]]''' (Please make a step-by-step guide of how to go from the 3 generators at the start, to a [[Scala]] file that works with [[software|Scale Workshop]] at the end? Every step of the way, explain like I’m five?)
-* '''[[Who is who in microtonality?]]'''
+* A good way of generating scales for rank-3 temperament's is [[hobbit]] scales, which are sort of like MOS scales except for higher-rank temperaments. I don't think this will answer the full question, though.
-''in the mean time until this question is answered, see: [[:Category:People]]''
+* ''in the mean time until this question is answered, see: [[Rank-3 temperament]]''
-* '''[[Why do microtonal musicians argue so much?]]''' (And do they argue more than people in other fields of research?)
+'''[[Who is who in microtonality?]]'''
+* ''in the mean time until this question is answered, see: [[:Category:People]]''
-* '''[[What is all this new terminology good for anyway?]]'''
+'''[[Why do microtonal musicians argue so much?]]''' (And do they argue more than people in other fields of research?)
-* '''[[Are all the temperaments with 'weather names' connected?]]''' Like, [[sesquiquartififths|breeze]], [[cloudy]], [[fog]], [[misty]], [[rainy]], etc. Are they related somehow?
+'''[[What is all this new terminology good for anyway?]]'''