Nicetone

Nicetone (also known as the Zarlino pattern or Ptolemaic-Auric diatonic) is a 7-note Maximum variety 3 scale with the step pattern 3L2M2S. Nicetone is a chiral scale with left-handed (LmLsmLs) and right-handed (LmLsLms) variants that are rotationally non-equivalent. 15edo is the first equal division that supports nicetone.

Nicetone has the same pattern of the 5-limit Zarlino scale, though it encompasses the whole range of 3L2M2S. It's also a subset of the 5L2M3S blackdye scale.

Nicetone is intermediate between the 5L 2s diatonic scale and the 3L 4s neutral scale.

Nicetone can be tuned as a 5-limit JI scale or a tempered version thereof, where L represents 9/8, M represents 10/9, and S represents 16/15.

Comparison with mosh and diatonic in 41edo

Name	Structure	Step Sizes	Graphical Representation
Mosh	3L4s	7\41, 5\41	├──────┼────┼────┼──────┼────┼──────┼────┤
Nicetone	3L2m2s	7\41, 6\41, 4\41	├──────┼─────┼───┼──────┼─────┼──────┼───┤
Diatonic	5L2s	7\41, 3\41	├──────┼──────┼──┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──┤

Comparison with mosh and antipentic in 33edo

Name	Structure	Step Sizes	Graphical Representation
Mosh	3L4s	7\33, 3\33	├──┼──────┼──┼──────┼──┼──┼──────┤
Nicetone	3L2m2s	7\33, 4\33, 2\33	├───┼──────┼─┼──────┼───┼─┼──────┤
antipentic	3L2s	7\33, 6\33	├─────┼──────╫──────┼─────╫──────┤

Modes

Nicetone has 14 modes total, with 7 LH and 7 RH modes. The names are based on their diatonic (5L 2s) counterparts.

The modes are arranged by brightest to darkest.

Nicetone modes

Left handed	Right handed
LMLSMLS LH NiceLydian	LMLSLMS RH NiceLydian
MLSLMLS LH NiceIonian	LMSLMLS RH NiceIonian
MLSMLSL LH NiceMixo	MLSLMSL RH NiceMixo
LSLMLSM LH NiceDorian	MSLMLSL RH NiceDorian
LSMLSLM LH NiceAolian	LSLMSLM RH NiceAolian
SLMLSML LH NicePhrygian	SLMLSLM RH NicePhrygian
SMLSLML LH NiceLocrian	SLMSLML RH NiceLocrian

Tunings

Common Nicetone tunings

Tuning	L:m:s	Good Just Approximations	Other comments	Degrees
				D(9/8)	vE(5/4)	F(4/3)	G(3/2)	vA(5/3)	vB(15/8)
JI	(~1.825):(~1.6325):1	Just 9/8, 5/4 and 4/3		203.91	386.314	498.045	701.955	884.359	1088.269
15edo	3:2:1			240	400	480	720	880	1120
18edo	4:2:1		Wolf fourth and fifth	266.667		466.667	733.333	866.667	1133.333
20edo	4:3:1			240	420	480	720	900	1140
21edo	5:2:1		Wolf fourth and fifth	285.714	400	457.143	742.857	857.143	1142.857
22edo	4:3:2		Also has diatonic MOS	218.182	381.182	490.909	709.091	872.727	1090.909
23edo	5:3:1	14/11	Wolf fourth and fifth	260.87	417.391	469.565	730.435	886.9565	1147.826
24edo	6:2:1		Also has neutral diatonic MOS	300	400	450	750	850	1050
25edo	5:3:2 5:4:1			240	384 432	480	720	864 912	1104
26edo	6:3:1		Also has diatonic MOS	276.923	415.385	461.5385	738.4615	876.923	1153.846
27edo	5:4:2 7:2:1		Also has diatonic MOS	222.222 311.111	400	488.889 444.444	711.111 755.556	888.889 844.444	1111.111 1155.556
28edo	6:3:2 6:4:1			257.143	385.714 428.571	471.429	728.571	857.143 900	1114.286 1157.143
29edo	5:4:3 7:3:1		Gentle fifth Also has diatonic MOS	206.897 289.655	372.414 413.793	496.551 455.172	703.449 745.828	868.9655	1075.862 1158.721
30edo	6:5:1 8:2:1			240 320	440 400	480 440	720 760	920 840	1160
31edo	7:3:2 7:4:1		Also has diatonic MOS	270.968	386.314 425.8065	464.516	735.484	851.613 890.323	1122.581 1161.29
32edo	6:4:3 6:5:2 8:3:1		Also has diatonic MOS	225 300	375 412.5	487.5 450	712.5 750	862.5 900	1087.5 1125 1162.5
33edo	7:4:2 7:5:1	13/11	Also has diatonic MOS	254.5455	400 436.364	472.727	727.272	872.727 909.091	1127.273 1163.636
34edo	6:5:3 8:3:2 8:4:1	25/24 50/49	Gentle fifth Also has neutral diatonic MOS	211.765 282.353	388.235 423.529	494.118 458.8235	705.882 741.1765	882.353 847.059	1094.118 1129.412 1164.706
35edo	7:4:3 7:5:2 7:6:1	33/26		240	377.143 411.429 445.714	480	720	857.143 891.429 925.714	1097.143 1131.429 1165.714
36edo	6:5:4	27/25	Also has Porcupine MOS	200	366.667	500	700	866.667	1066.667
37edo	7:5:3 7:6:2		Has 37edo just major triad	227.027	389.189	486.4865	713.5135	875.676	1102.703
38edo	8:4:3 8:5:2 8:6:1	6/5, 33/26 and 14/13 or 28/27	Has wolf major and minor triads Also has neutral diatonic MOS	252.632	378.947 410.526 442.105	473.684	726.318	852.632 884.2105 915.7895	1105.263 1136.842 1168.421
39edo	7:5:4 7:6:3		Also has diatonic MOS	215.385	369.231 400	492.308	707.692	861.5385 892.308	1076.923 1107.
40edo	8:5:3 8:7:1		Golden Nicetone Also has diatonic MOS	240	390 450	480	720	870 930	1110 1170
41edo	7:6:4		Also has diatonic MOS	204.878	380.488	497.561	702.439	878.049	1082.927
42edo	8:5:4 8:6:3 8:7:2	6/5	Also has diatonic MOS	228.571	371.429 400 428.571	485.714	714.286	857.143 885.714 914.286	1085.714 1114.286 1142.857
43edo	7:6:5		Also has diatonic MOS	195.349	362.791	502.326	697.674	865.116	1060.465
44edo	8:7:3		Also has neutral diatonic MOS	218.182	409.091	490.909	709.091	900	1118.182
46edo	8:6:5 8:7:4	10/9	Gentle fifth Also has diatonic MOS	208.696	365.217 391.304	495.652	704.348	860.87 886.9565	1069.565 1095.652
48edo	8:7:5			200	375	500	700	875	1075
50edo	8:7:6		Also has diatonic MOS	192	360	504	696	864	1056

See also

• Blackdye, a 10-note scale that is an extension to nicetone.
• Zarlino, a 5-limit JI scale with the same pattern.
• 5L 2s - LM-equalized version of nicetone
  • 5L 2s Muddles - other diatonic muddles
• 3L 4s - MS-equalized version of nicetone
• 3L 2s - collapsed version of nicetone