POTE tuning: Difference between revisions

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== Motivation ==

POTE is the same as TE in the limit of very small intervals. This means it is most similar to TE for intervals smaller than an octave, and most divergent for intervals of several octaves. As a tuning for the full audible range, the logic is that smaller intervals are more common in chords and so more important to optimize for. There are other ways to do this. POTE is the simplest.

POTE is the same as TE in the limit of very small intervals. This means it is most similar to TE for intervals smaller than an octave, and most divergent for intervals of several octaves. As a tuning for the full audible range, the logic is that smaller intervals are more common in chords and so more important to optimize for. There are other ways to do this. POTE is the simplest way of prioritizing smaller intervals.

POTE can stand in for TE where a pure-octave tuning is convenient for implementation constraints, like when a synthesizer has pure octave tuning tables. POTE is close to TE for melodic steps, so melodies can be translated between POTE and TE with minimal damage.

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POTE has practical advantages for tuning instruments constrained to pure octaves as part of a band targeting TE. You can set the absolute pitch reference for each instrument so that it agrees with the TE background for a target register. Guitars (or other fretted string instruments) can implement this within themselves by having the frets assuming pure octaves and the open strings following the TE stretch.

Psychoacoustics shows that many bands are tuned according to stretched octaves even when the instruments are producing harmonic timbres ([https://terhardt.userweb.mwn.de/ter/top/scalestretch.html Terhardt: Stretch of the musical tone scale]). This might be with each instrument having a stretched scale, or high-pitched instruments having a slightly sharp pitch reference. The magnitude of this stretch often swamps the optimal stretch for TE (which can be in either direction). So, if you are not going to observe the TE stretch, you might as well simplify it out. There are other reasons for putting instruments deliberately out of tune, for example solo instruments can be tuned slightly sharp to make them stand out. This leads to an upward drift of pitch reference in European orchestras: pianos are tuned slightly sharp to make them sound bright, and then the orchestra sharpens up to follow them.

Psychoacoustics shows that many bands are tuned according to stretched octaves even when the instruments are producing harmonic timbres ([https://terhardt.userweb.mwn.de/ter/top/scalestretch.html Terhardt: Stretch of the musical tone scale]). This might be with each instrument having a stretched scale, or high-pitched instruments having a slightly sharp pitch reference. The magnitude of this stretch often swamps the optimal stretch for TE (which can be in either direction). So, if you are not going to observe the TE stretch, you might as well simplify it out. There are other reasons for putting instruments deliberately out of tune, for example solo instruments can be tuned slightly sharp to make them stand out. This leads to an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert%20pitch upward drift of pitch reference] in European orchestras: [https://pianotuninginyork.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-history-of-pitch-standards-in-piano.html pianos are tuned slightly sharp to make them sound bright], and then the orchestra sharpens up to follow them.

== Weaknesses ==

* POTE tuning inherits problems of TE in being chosen for mathematical simplicity rather than a sound psychoacoustic basis.

* Like [[Kees height]], POTE agrees with TE for arbitrarily small intervals, which means it puts less emphasis on actually audible intervals, particularly those larger than an octave. This tendency is mediated by [[Constrained_tuning#CTWE_tuning|Constrained Tenney–Weil–Euclidean tuning]]

* Something must be lost by not tempering the octaves

== Approximate Kees optimality ==

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 == Motivation ==
-POTE is the same as TE in the limit of very small intervals. This means it is most similar to TE for intervals smaller than an octave, and most divergent for intervals of several octaves. As a tuning for the full audible range, the logic is that smaller intervals are more common in chords and so more important to optimize for. There are other ways to do this. POTE is the simplest.
+POTE is the same as TE in the limit of very small intervals. This means it is most similar to TE for intervals smaller than an octave, and most divergent for intervals of several octaves. As a tuning for the full audible range, the logic is that smaller intervals are more common in chords and so more important to optimize for. There are other ways to do this. POTE is the simplest way of prioritizing smaller intervals.
 POTE can stand in for TE where a pure-octave tuning is convenient for implementation constraints, like when a synthesizer has pure octave tuning tables. POTE is close to TE for melodic steps, so melodies can be translated between POTE and TE with minimal damage.
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 POTE has practical advantages for tuning instruments constrained to pure octaves as part of a band targeting TE. You can set the absolute pitch reference for each instrument so that it agrees with the TE background for a target register. Guitars (or other fretted string instruments) can implement this within themselves by having the frets assuming pure octaves and the open strings following the TE stretch.
-Psychoacoustics shows that many bands are tuned according to stretched octaves even when the instruments are producing harmonic timbres ([https://terhardt.userweb.mwn.de/ter/top/scalestretch.html Terhardt: Stretch of the musical tone scale]). This might be with each instrument having a stretched scale, or high-pitched instruments having a slightly sharp pitch reference. The magnitude of this stretch often swamps the optimal stretch for TE (which can be in either direction). So, if you are not going to observe the TE stretch, you might as well simplify it out. There are other reasons for putting instruments deliberately out of tune, for example solo instruments can be tuned slightly sharp to make them stand out. This leads to an upward drift of pitch reference in European orchestras: pianos are tuned slightly sharp to make them sound bright, and then the orchestra sharpens up to follow them.
+Psychoacoustics shows that many bands are tuned according to stretched octaves even when the instruments are producing harmonic timbres ([https://terhardt.userweb.mwn.de/ter/top/scalestretch.html Terhardt: Stretch of the musical tone scale]). This might be with each instrument having a stretched scale, or high-pitched instruments having a slightly sharp pitch reference. The magnitude of this stretch often swamps the optimal stretch for TE (which can be in either direction). So, if you are not going to observe the TE stretch, you might as well simplify it out. There are other reasons for putting instruments deliberately out of tune, for example solo instruments can be tuned slightly sharp to make them stand out. This leads to an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert%20pitch upward drift of pitch reference] in European orchestras: [https://pianotuninginyork.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-history-of-pitch-standards-in-piano.html pianos are tuned slightly sharp to make them sound bright], and then the orchestra sharpens up to follow them.
+== Weaknesses ==
+* POTE tuning inherits problems of TE in being chosen for mathematical simplicity rather than a sound psychoacoustic basis.
+* Like [[Kees height]], POTE agrees with TE for arbitrarily small intervals, which means it puts less emphasis on actually audible intervals, particularly those larger than an octave.  This tendency is mediated by [[Constrained_tuning#CTWE_tuning|Constrained Tenney–Weil–Euclidean tuning]]
+* Something must be lost by not tempering the octaves
 == Approximate Kees optimality ==