Collection of EDO impressions: Difference between revisions

: '''Bozu''': 3rd order augmented scale.  I want to like this tuning, but I can't see any value in it beyond noodling.

: '''Nicolai''': Cool approximation of 7/6. I also consider it something of the parent scale of gamelan music.

: '''Keenan''': On the one hand you can treat the 667 cent intervals as 3/2, yielding an extreme version of [[mavila]] (or 7-limit [[armodue]]) which is a very acceptable tuning for pelog selisir. On the other hand you can treat it has having no 3rd harmonics, as something like a 2.5.7/3 temperament. (Treating it as a super-accurate 2.27/25.7/3 temperament makes no sense to me.) First EDO with '''recognizable''' "major" and "minor" chords.

: '''Mike''':  

: '''Bozu''': To me, this one is the most difficult edo to bend to my will.  Like 11edo, it doesn't fit any category, but the tones all just sound off to me.

: '''Nicolai''': Extremely dissonant, but at least the major chord sounds somewhat decent. Not much decent, but its better than nothing.

: '''Keenan''': Every other note of [[26edo|26]]. This makes it a good temperament for a subgroup containing the primes 5, 11, and 13 (but not 3). Alternatively, the ~738 cent interval could be treated as 3/2, giving a few high-error 5-limit temperaments, including [[uncle]] and [[dicot]].

: '''Mike''':  

: '''Bozu''': diminished mayhem with extra mayhem.  Check out Last Sacrament to see what this bad boy can do.  It's not super user-friendly, in my experience, but it has a distinct sound that seems to pervade everything you can put together within its constraints.

: '''Nicolai''': Chromatic version of 9EDO's mavila. Also cool approximation of 7/4.

: '''Keenan''': [[Mavila]]/armodue. Really versatile and interesting - if you don't mind the lack of reasonable 3/2s. On the other hand you can treat it as an all-encompassing gamelan EDO where the beating fifths are an advantage. (The one advantage it has over 9edo in this respect is its slendro approximation, [[gorgo]].)

: '''Mike''': is notable for being the first EDO (to me) where the 3 step interval can sound like "a step" instead of "a leap." Example is machine: 3 3 1 3 3 3. Much like 3 3 1 3 3 3 1 in 17-EDO, machine[6] in 16-EDO has L/s = 3/1 but the 3-step interval still sounds like "a second." It sounds like 16-EDO is an "enharmonic" scale for machine[11], which I (sort of) perceive as the true "background" for 331333, much like I perceive 19-EDO as an enharmonic underpinning for meantone[12] or whatever.

: '''Bozu''': Totally awesome composite hyperpent.  Great fifths, it can sound maqam-ish or western-ish, depending on how you use it.  So many possibilities.

: '''Nicolai''': The smallest EDO with more consonant harmony than the previous ones.

: '''Keenan''': Really good no-5's system; [[supra]], [[bleu]], etc. The lack of 5-limit harmony forces you to think xenharmonically, but the nice accurate 3/2s form a solid familiar backbone you can depend on when things get too crazy. Also, neutral third scales are awesome. Compatible (not perfectly, of course) with a large number of maqamat.

: '''Mike''': superpyth machine blah blah

: '''Bozu''': Excellent composite hyperpent tuning.  Tons and tons of possibilities with western-esque and raga-esque tones.  Notation starts getting more difficult than 17edo or 19edo.

: '''Nicolai''': Smallest cool superpyth EDO. I think there's orwell in there, too, but don't quote me on that.

: '''Keenan''': Amazing and mind-blowing; many great [[22edo#Theory-Properties of 22 equal temperament-Linear Temperaments|temperaments]]. Not much reason to use more notes per octave than this, if you ask me.

: '''Mike''': in keeping with the above note about enharmonic EDOs, can be thought of as an enharmonic scale for something like porcupine, so that you can perceive a 15-note background but have better intonation - the same way you can perceive a 12-note background in 19 (meantone[12]) but have better intonation than 12. You can do the same with orwell and perceive an orwell[13]-note background, but have much better intonation for orwell than 13-EDO itself. There's other stuff too. Also has superpyth[7] which is good for revealing the diatonic scale in a different intonational context.

: '''Bozu''': This one defies my categorization as well as 11edo and 13edo, but with so many options for notes, maybe there is something there.  I haven't really deemed this one worth much time investigating.  To my ears, after playing with it for a couple of minutes, everything just sounds off, but not weird enough to pique my interest.

: '''Nicolai''': Hyperchromatic version of 9EDO's mavila.

: '''Keenan''': Mavila system similar to 16, but has [[superpelog]] in addition. Nothing to write home about.

: '''Mike''': same as the above but with mavila and 16-EDO and some other stuff too.

: '''Bozu''': This is where almost everyone outside of the xenharmonic community sends their minds when you mention "microtonal music."  It's used in traditional maqam music.  I've personally used it myself a bit, but, in my opinion, what gets added to 12edo is fairly limited.  It opens up a couple of new worlds of a few consonant intervals that play really well with familiar ones, and also some really skunky dissonant ones that drive the neighbours crazy.  But it's definitely not what I recommend for beginning a journey into alternative tuning.

: '''Nicolai''': 12EDO, but fancy.

: '''Keenan''': Very worthwhile, and underrated because of its long history of "microtonal" (rather than "xenharmonic") use. Really nails the 2.3.11 subgroup, and has all the familiar meantone harmony (and diatonic scale) of 12edo. The basis of much low-level maqam music theory (maqamat are often presented as quarter tones).

: '''Mike''': allows you to take a sound you all intuitively know (the blues) and make it "real" and "tangible" and manipulate it to see what comes of it

: '''Bozu''': Hyperpent.  Not really sure what to do with it, honestly.  I'd rather use 22edo.

: '''Nicolai''': Great approximation of 5/4, but its another hyperchromatic version of 9EDO's mavila.

: '''Keenan''': Can be treated in two different ways (blackwood or mavila/armodue) depending on which interval you consider "the fifth" or "3/2". Too many notes for either one of them - why not use 15 or 16 instead?

: '''Mike''': dunno

: '''Bozu''': Hypopent and diminished, I'm not really sure what else this has to offer other than some funky neutralish intervals and diminished mayhem.

: '''Nicolai''': Meh.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': 14, only with a really in tune major 3rd and lots of other really interesting extra intervals. Really want an instrument that can do this one justice, probably an 8-string guitar tuned in it's slightly stretched 5ths so the top string is 3 octaves up from the bottom, and a 28-30" fanned fret multiscale fretboard that makes all the chords isomorphic.

: '''Bozu''': Hyperpent.  Augmented.  Meh, too many seemingly useless intervals.

: '''Nicolai''': Meh.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Whole tone + Blackwood. Like 24, mainly just adds more ways to sound bad compared to 15 and not worth the hassle.

: '''Bozu''': This is sort of the gold standard of meantone tuning.  Composite hypopent.  Great thirds and fifths and everything else used to make western-esque music, and also some really nifty other spicier options.  Very user-friendly.  If you start with 12edo and go to 19edo and like it, this would be the obvious next recommendation.  My only complaint here is that we are starting to get into the territory of having too many notes to easily perform on a guitar or standard black-and-white-key two row keyboard.  Going with subsets at this point is beneficial, but those provide new challenges.

: '''Nicolai''': Meantone quarter tones.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': It definitely sounds nice, but I don't hear much actual songwriting going on in it, just people building enormous washes of harmony and luxuriating in them. Maybe it has too LITTLE tension in it, or maybe it's just past the point of complexity that the human mind can fully comprehend. In any case, it definitely hasn't been used to it's full potential yet.

: '''Bozu''': Composite hyperpent.  Diminished.  Kind of user-antagonistic on first impression.  Not picking up anything of striking value.

: '''Nicolai''': Same as 27 & 29EDO, but the fifth now is sharper than 27EDO.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Like all pure powers of 2, unusually bad for it's size.

: '''Bozu''': Composite hypopent.  Augmented.  Same impression as 32edo, except maybe even less valuable.

: '''Nicolai''': 11EDO, but with a better fifth.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Interesting, but another one that's too big to explore properly without better equipment, and nothing I've heard yet has really managed to do it justice.

: '''Bozu''': Composite hyperpent.  Offers the same as 17edo, except more stable modal tones.  This one is a gem.  I have no idea how to handle notation, though, but it's one of the most useful.

: '''Nicolai''': 17EDO, but now there's a good third.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': Even better for 5-limit music than 31, with it's gorgeous thirds, actually defined different sizes of whole tone and still sour harmonic 7, yet even more underused. Definitely deserves more attention. Maybe a half-kite guitar, with full frets up to the perfect 4th or 5th, then 17edo above that point, with adjacent strings tuned so the full range of higher notes can still be played would make it feasible.

: '''Bozu''': Smallest amphipent edo (both hyperpent and hypopent).

: '''Nicolai''': You either get 5EDO or 7EDO, there is no middle.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': The highest EDO that absolutely refuses to fit into a diatonic framework and forces you to work with it on it's own terms. If you do, it's ability to combine whitewood and blackwood make it incredibly flexible, with very interesting extended harmonies. Something like a 14 string chapman stick with one side tuned in 3 octaves of stretched 4ths and the other in 2 octaves of compressed ones would properly highlight and take advantage of it's unique strengths.

: '''Bozu''': 12edo slashed into thirds.

: '''Nicolai''': 12EDO, but better.

: '''Yourmusic Productions''': 12, only with lots of extra harmonic options that actually sound good and are much easier to slip into an otherwise normal track than 24's.

: '''Bozu''': Lots of notes, but all of the bases seem to be covered.  Probably the only edo between 35 and 49 worth all of the trouble of dealing with so many notes.

: '''Nicolai''': Smaller version of 53EDO.

; [[42edo]]

: '''Aura''': Um...

: '''Bozu''': Hyperpent composite.  Same thing where it looks great on paper, but I feel underwhelmed noodling around with it.

: '''Nicolai''': You either get 5EDO or 7EDO, but there is a middle.