Collection of EDO impressions: Difference between revisions

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: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Like 24, only the new harmonic options are actually more in tune than the familiar ones rather than less. Better than 12 but still not quite as good as 19 overall.

: '''Carmen14edo/Bragtime''': Gleam was the first microtonal song for me. I have no words to describe it other than ear candy of the future, peering into an alternate world with music better than our own. That aside, having concordant major and minor triads and a usable 11/8 approximation is really nice, but lacking a really concordant and non-septimal diatonic scale is a deal-breaker for me regarding me composing in it & exploring it.

: '''Deja Igliashon:''' 22edo not being a meantone does NOT mean you're forced into unfamiliar territory, at least not any more than pure 5-limit JI forces you into unfamiliar territory. Yes indeed 22edo OFFERS lots of fun new exciting possibilities, particularly in approximating the 11-limit with some very simple chordal/scalar structures, but you can absolutely make the most banal, trite, pedestrian music you want to as well. Don't let anyone scare you away from this tuning! Sure, certain chord progressions from popular songs written in 12edo don't work the same way, but if you're into microtonality enough to be looking at this page, you're probably not super concerned with playing faithful renditions of traditional songs.

== [[23edo]] ==

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: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Not enough songs using this to get a proper opinion. Definitely one of the tougher ones to get to grips with.

: '''Carmen14edo/Bragtime''': Thanks, I hate it. Eikositriophobia exists for a reason.

: '''Deja Igliashon:''' 23edo is the first EDO I've liked enough to write two full albums in, exclusively. It is probably my favorite EDO ever, I've even thought about getting the 23edo circle of flat fifths tattooed on my lower back! At first I thought 23edo was like 21edo, i.e. "it sounds better than it looks like it should", but then I realized I just wasn't looking at it the right way. It has amazingly-accurate representations of 3:5:7:11:19:27:29 and 9:13:15:17:21:23:25:31:33 (I'm probably missing some additional harmonics TBH)...because OH YEAH it's simply half of 46edo, and 46edo is a phenomenal rank-1 temperament for super-extended JI! It's actually surprisingly easy to stumble into some really smooth near-JI harmonies in 23edo, provided you're not trying to play basic 5-limit triads. Although honestly even 23edo's version of Mavila temperament sounds unexpectedly smooth...I think there's something funky going on with those 678¢ fifths where a whole bunch of clashing partials all have nearly identical beat frequencies or something? IDK, but either way I have found 23edo to be the most inspiring, deep, and intriguing EDO I've laid hands on (and I've laid hands on a LOT).

== [[24edo]] ==

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: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Double the complexity, but considerably less than double the number of good-sounding combinations. A lot of extra work for little extra return.

: '''Carmen14edo/Bragtime''': Many people in the microtonal community write it off due to the notoriousness of "quarter tone music", but I'm particularly attracted to the new 12edo-polyphony key changes possible in this tuning.

: '''Deja Igliashon:''' it is an absolute crime that Western academic composers got into 24edo during the period when atonality was in vogue, and approached it with no care or consideration for the wealth of concordant harmonic possibilities it presents. It is really just awesome at no-7s 19-limit JI, like just try 0-200-400-550-700-850-1100-1300-1500¢, and tell me it's not doing just as good at approximating 8:9:10:11:12:13:15:17:19, as any other EDOs of similar size or smaller are doing at whatever harmonic series approximations they're known for. 24edo just gives you all kinds of fun ways to tack the 11th and 13th harmonics onto boring ol' 12edo harmonies, and it really deserves to be recognized for that, not for its tradition of dreadful atonal discordance.

== [[25edo]] ==

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: '''Mike''': dunno

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': The whole-tone version of 50EDO's golden meantone. Lots and lots of bad options but like 6 vs 12, missing most of the good combinations.

: '''Deja Igliashon:''' 25edo might be "the one that got away" for me. It bears a lot of similarities to 23edo by virtue of being half the notes of a large very-accurate ET (50edo), having half of the nice 2nds, 3rds, 6ths, and 7ths, but not the nice 4ths and 5ths. Lots of nice harmony to be had, but no 5-limit triads (or at least, none that are very nice). I've thought about having a guitar made in 25edo multiple times but always ended up going with something else for some reason. Anyway, it's really really good for 8:9:10:14:17:19:23:25 chords, as well as 11:12:13:15:21:27 chords, but you can't put the two together unless you are in 50edo.

== [[26edo]] ==

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: '''Mike''': has meantone but the intonation is bad. However, the minor sixths are really good 13/8's. Also, the half steps are 138 cents, which is pretty big - but they still function as leading tones and all that. This behavior is exacerbated in 33-EDO. Good for messing with your head and also revealing the diatonic scale in a different intonational context.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Definitely deserves more attention than it's got so far.

: '''Deja Igliashon:''' I just don't have much to say about this one. It's sort of the opposite of 21edo to me: looks like it should be really cool and good on paper, but I just don't really enjoy the sound. Most of what it's good at can be done in smaller EDOs too, and that's usually what I'd rather choose.

== [[27edo]] ==

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: '''Keenan''': First true [[tetracot]]/[[modus]] EDO. Otherwise, it has an interesting combination of things (superpyth, neutral thirds, augene, sensi), which, however, all exist in smaller EDOs.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Like all pure powers of 3, unusually good for it's size. All the melodic coolness of 9 plus decent minor and neutral intervals and an acceptable 5th. Definitely my favourite superpyth system of manageable size.

: '''Deja Igliashon:''' if this EDO got as much attention as 31edo, the world would be a better place. For many EDOs, getting into the particulars of how they temper extended JI is kind of unnecessary to really appreciate them, but 27edo is just so disgustingly ELEGANT in how it tempers that it makes it SO MUCH EASIER to navigate extended JI than darn near anything that can approach it in accuracy. First, consider the unison vector 64/63: just like 5, 10, 15, 20, 22, and 25edo (and I guess 12d?), tempering this out makes it so you can divide 7/4 into two equal parts that are each equal to 4/3, so even a short chain of fifths just automagically incorporates a bunch of ratios of 7. Then you've got 128/125, aka the Augmented comma, aka the diesis or something, which makes it so three approximate 5/4s span exactly one octave--if you simply follow a chain of 5/4s, you literally can't get lost in the tuning! So far so good but also 15edo can do both of these as well, so what else do we have? How about the holy trinity of 144/143, 169/168, and 196/195, the vanishing of which make it so 12/11=13/12=14/13=15/14? This is the trinity that really gives 9edo its mojo, and in 27edo we have three parallel closed circles of 9edo, offset from one another by 1 and 2 steps of 27edo (respectively). Why is this cool? Because if you have a root note on one chain of 9edo, you have a 5/4 above it on the same chain, and then you have 11/8, 3/2, 13/8, 7/4, and 15/8 on the next chain of 9edo that's 1\27 higher. So you can just arpeggiate a bunch of harmonics using motion by a single uniform step size, and if you keep moving by that same step size, instead of getting lost or circulating through ALL THE NOTES OF THE TUNING, you end up back at familiar territory after just a few off-kilter notes. Basically 27edo just makes it really easy not to get lost in 15-odd-limit JI, because you have can find your way between harmonics with simple motions on small closed circles. Just AMAZING!

== [[28edo]] ==

@@ Line 230: / Line 230: @@
 : '''Yourmusic Productions''': Like 24, only the new harmonic options are actually more in tune than the familiar ones rather than less. Better than 12 but still not quite as good as 19 overall.
 : '''Carmen14edo/Bragtime''': Gleam was the first microtonal song for me. I have no words to describe it other than ear candy of the future, peering into an alternate world with music better than our own. That aside, having concordant major and minor triads and a usable 11/8 approximation is really nice, but lacking a really concordant and non-septimal diatonic scale is a deal-breaker for me regarding me composing in it & exploring it.
+: '''Deja Igliashon:''' 22edo not being a meantone does NOT mean you're forced into unfamiliar territory, at least not any more than pure 5-limit JI forces you into unfamiliar territory. Yes indeed 22edo OFFERS lots of fun new exciting possibilities, particularly in approximating the 11-limit with some very simple chordal/scalar structures, but you can absolutely make the most banal, trite, pedestrian music you want to as well. Don't let anyone scare you away from this tuning! Sure, certain chord progressions from popular songs written in 12edo don't work the same way, but if you're into microtonality enough to be looking at this page, you're probably not super concerned with playing faithful renditions of traditional songs.
 == [[23edo]] ==
@@ Line 239: / Line 240: @@
 : '''Yourmusic Productions''': Not enough songs using this to get a proper opinion. Definitely one of the tougher ones to get to grips with.
 : '''Carmen14edo/Bragtime''': Thanks, I hate it. Eikositriophobia exists for a reason.
+: '''Deja Igliashon:''' 23edo is the first EDO I've liked enough to write two full albums in, exclusively. It is probably my favorite EDO ever, I've even thought about getting the 23edo circle of flat fifths tattooed on my lower back! At first I thought 23edo was like 21edo, i.e. "it sounds better than it looks like it should", but then I realized I just wasn't looking at it the right way. It has amazingly-accurate representations of 3:5:7:11:19:27:29 and 9:13:15:17:21:23:25:31:33 (I'm probably missing some additional harmonics TBH)...because OH YEAH it's simply half of 46edo, and 46edo is a phenomenal rank-1 temperament for super-extended JI! It's actually surprisingly easy to stumble into some really smooth near-JI harmonies in 23edo, provided you're not trying to play basic 5-limit triads. Although honestly even 23edo's version of Mavila temperament sounds unexpectedly smooth...I think there's something funky going on with those 678¢ fifths where a whole bunch of clashing partials all have nearly identical beat frequencies or something? IDK, but either way I have found 23edo to be the most inspiring, deep, and intriguing EDO I've laid hands on (and I've laid hands on a LOT).
 == [[24edo]] ==
@@ Line 249: / Line 251: @@
 : '''Yourmusic Productions''': Double the complexity, but considerably less than double the number of good-sounding combinations. A lot of extra work for little extra return.
 : '''Carmen14edo/Bragtime''': Many people in the microtonal community write it off due to the notoriousness of "quarter tone music", but I'm particularly attracted to the new 12edo-polyphony key changes possible in this tuning.
+: '''Deja Igliashon:''' it is an absolute crime that Western academic composers got into 24edo during the period when atonality was in vogue, and approached it with no care or consideration for the wealth of concordant harmonic possibilities it presents. It is really just awesome at no-7s 19-limit JI, like just try 0-200-400-550-700-850-1100-1300-1500¢, and tell me it's not doing just as good at approximating 8:9:10:11:12:13:15:17:19, as  any other EDOs of similar size or smaller are doing at whatever harmonic series approximations they're known for. 24edo just gives you all kinds of fun ways to tack the 11th and 13th harmonics onto boring ol' 12edo harmonies, and it really deserves to be recognized for that, not for its tradition of dreadful atonal discordance.
 == [[25edo]] ==
@@ Line 257: / Line 260: @@
 : '''Mike''': dunno
 : '''Yourmusic Productions''': The whole-tone version of 50EDO's golden meantone. Lots and lots of bad options but like 6 vs 12, missing most of the good combinations.
+: '''Deja Igliashon:''' 25edo might be "the one that got away" for me. It bears a lot of similarities to 23edo by virtue of being half the notes of a large very-accurate ET (50edo), having half of the nice 2nds, 3rds, 6ths, and 7ths, but not the nice 4ths and 5ths. Lots of nice harmony to be had, but no 5-limit triads (or at least, none that are very nice). I've thought about having a guitar made in 25edo multiple times but always ended up going with something else for some reason. Anyway, it's really really good for 8:9:10:14:17:19:23:25 chords, as well as 11:12:13:15:21:27 chords, but you can't put the two together unless you are in 50edo.
 == [[26edo]] ==
@@ Line 265: / Line 269: @@
 : '''Mike''': has meantone but the intonation is bad. However, the minor sixths are really good 13/8's. Also, the half steps are 138 cents, which is pretty big - but they still function as leading tones and all that. This behavior is exacerbated in 33-EDO. Good for messing with your head and also revealing the diatonic scale in a different intonational context.
 : '''Yourmusic Productions''': Definitely deserves more attention than it's got so far.
+: '''Deja Igliashon:''' I just don't have much to say about this one. It's sort of the opposite of 21edo to me: looks like it should be really cool and good on paper, but I just don't really enjoy the sound. Most of what it's good at can be done in smaller EDOs too, and that's usually what I'd rather choose.
 == [[27edo]] ==
@@ Line 273: / Line 278: @@
 : '''Keenan''': First true [[tetracot]]/[[modus]] EDO. Otherwise, it has an interesting combination of things (superpyth, neutral thirds, augene, sensi), which, however, all exist in smaller EDOs.
 : '''Yourmusic Productions''': Like all pure powers of 3, unusually good for it's size. All the melodic coolness of 9 plus decent minor and neutral intervals and an acceptable 5th. Definitely my favourite superpyth system of manageable size.
+: '''Deja Igliashon:''' if this EDO got as much attention as 31edo, the world would be a better place. For many EDOs, getting into the particulars of how they temper extended JI is kind of unnecessary to really appreciate them, but 27edo is just so disgustingly ELEGANT in how it tempers that it makes it SO MUCH EASIER to navigate extended JI than darn near anything that can approach it in accuracy. First, consider the unison vector 64/63: just like 5, 10, 15, 20, 22, and 25edo (and I guess 12d?), tempering this out makes it so you can divide 7/4 into two equal parts that are each equal to 4/3, so even a short chain of fifths just automagically incorporates a bunch of ratios of 7. Then you've got 128/125, aka the Augmented comma, aka the diesis or something, which makes it so three approximate 5/4s span exactly one octave--if you simply follow a chain of 5/4s, you literally can't get lost in the tuning! So far so good but also 15edo can do both of these as well, so what else do we have? How about the holy trinity of 144/143, 169/168, and 196/195, the vanishing of which make it so 12/11=13/12=14/13=15/14? This is the trinity that really gives 9edo its mojo, and in 27edo we have three parallel closed circles of 9edo, offset from one another by 1 and 2 steps of 27edo (respectively). Why is this cool? Because if you have a root note on one chain of 9edo, you have a 5/4 above it on the same chain, and then you have 11/8, 3/2, 13/8, 7/4, and 15/8 on the next chain of 9edo that's 1\27 higher. So you can just arpeggiate a bunch of harmonics using motion by a single uniform step size, and if you keep moving by that same step size, instead of getting lost or circulating through ALL THE NOTES OF THE TUNING, you end up back at familiar territory after just a few off-kilter notes. Basically 27edo just makes it really easy not to get lost in 15-odd-limit JI, because you have can find your way between harmonics with simple motions on small closed circles. Just AMAZING!
 == [[28edo]] ==