EDO vs ET: Difference between revisions

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Choosing to not use RTT to interpret an edo's intervals doesn't mean you have to ignore the effect of JI entirely. For example, 5edo's perfect fifth is about 18 cents sharp of 3/2, and its proximity to this JI interval is very important to its sound. 3\5 sounds the way it does both because it's close to 3/2 and because it's quite sharp of 3/2. An RTT approach can view 3\5 as an imperfect representation of 3/2, but a more sound-based approach can view it as an interval with a unique character, whose sound is informed by its proximity to JI. You can also look at JI proximity while rejecting the linearity of RTT. You may consider 3\5 to be a tweaked version of 3/2, but not consider 1\5 to be related to 9/8. RTT would say that the interval formed by stacking two 3/2 approximations must "represent" 9/8.

One common feature discussions of EDOs outside the ET paradigm is the concept of "mood", first used in the writings of Ivor Darreg. An EDO's mood is typically described as a subjective and unquantifiable property that can only be ascertained through listening to and composing in the EDO. The moods of EDOs are often described rather prosaically, using terms such as "bright", "narcotic", "spicy", "mysterious", "strident", or "strong"~~. In the absence of the objective quantitative dimension of the ET paradigm, such subjective qualitative approaches are really the only possible way to discuss EDOs~~. One of the benefits of this is that it avoids creating a hierarchy of EDOs, and thus avoids creating a cognitive bias against the use of certain EDOs.

One common feature discussions of EDOs outside the ET paradigm is the concept of "mood", first used in the writings of Ivor Darreg. An EDO's mood is typically described as a subjective and unquantifiable property that can only be ascertained through listening to and composing in the EDO. The moods of EDOs are often described rather prosaically, using terms such as "bright", "narcotic", "spicy", "mysterious", "strident", or "strong". One of the benefits of this is that it avoids creating a hierarchy of EDOs, and thus avoids creating a cognitive bias against the use of certain EDOs. It's worth noting, however, that any EDO can have a wide range of emotional effects, and that specific impressions may more commonly be associated with specific scales or chords, not the EDO as a whole.

Another benefit to the temperament-free approach to EDOs is that it can avoid confusion that sometimes comes when applying the ET paradigm to tunings that provide questionable approximations to JI. It is a common topic of debate within the microtonal community whether a given EDO supports a given temperament, or even what it means for an EDO to support a temperament. For example, the question of whether or not 11-EDO supports Hanson temperament has been debated without a consensus having been reached. Another source of confusion in many EDOs is that the chords which are closest to a Just sonority are not always the most pleasant. A triad of 0-5-9 degrees of 14-EDO can be said to approximate 7:9:11, and is the lowest-error triad in 14-EDO, yet its comparative pleasantness to, say, 0-5-8 or 0-6-9 is definitely debatable. When temperament is left out of the picture, there is nothing to debate--EDOs simply "are what they are", and can be taken or left according solely to the whims of the composer.

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 Choosing to not use RTT to interpret an edo's intervals doesn't mean you have to ignore the effect of JI entirely. For example, 5edo's perfect fifth is about 18 cents sharp of 3/2, and its proximity to this JI interval is very important to its sound. 3\5 sounds the way it does both because it's close to 3/2 and because it's quite sharp of 3/2. An RTT approach can view 3\5 as an imperfect representation of 3/2, but a more sound-based approach can view it as an interval with a unique character, whose sound is informed by its proximity to JI. You can also look at JI proximity while rejecting the linearity of RTT. You may consider 3\5 to be a tweaked version of 3/2, but not consider 1\5 to be related to 9/8. RTT would say that the interval formed by stacking two 3/2 approximations must "represent" 9/8.
-One common feature discussions of EDOs outside the ET paradigm is the concept of "mood", first used in the writings of Ivor Darreg. An EDO's mood is typically described as a subjective and unquantifiable property that can only be ascertained through listening to and composing in the EDO. The moods of EDOs are often described rather prosaically, using terms such as "bright", "narcotic", "spicy", "mysterious", "strident", or "strong". In the absence of the objective quantitative dimension of the ET paradigm, such subjective qualitative approaches are really the only possible way to discuss EDOs. One of the benefits of this is that it avoids creating a hierarchy of EDOs, and thus avoids creating a cognitive bias against the use of certain EDOs.
+One common feature discussions of EDOs outside the ET paradigm is the concept of "mood", first used in the writings of Ivor Darreg. An EDO's mood is typically described as a subjective and unquantifiable property that can only be ascertained through listening to and composing in the EDO. The moods of EDOs are often described rather prosaically, using terms such as "bright", "narcotic", "spicy", "mysterious", "strident", or "strong". One of the benefits of this is that it avoids creating a hierarchy of EDOs, and thus avoids creating a cognitive bias against the use of certain EDOs. It's worth noting, however, that any EDO can have a wide range of emotional effects, and that specific impressions may more commonly be associated with specific scales or chords, not the EDO as a whole.
 Another benefit to the temperament-free approach to EDOs is that it can avoid confusion that sometimes comes when applying the ET paradigm to tunings that provide questionable approximations to JI. It is a common topic of debate within the microtonal community whether a given EDO supports a given temperament, or even what it means for an EDO to support a temperament. For example, the question of whether or not 11-EDO supports Hanson temperament has been debated without a consensus having been reached. Another source of confusion in many EDOs is that the chords which are closest to a Just sonority are not always the most pleasant. A triad of 0-5-9 degrees of 14-EDO can be said to approximate 7:9:11, and is the lowest-error triad in 14-EDO, yet its comparative pleasantness to, say, 0-5-8 or 0-6-9 is definitely debatable. When temperament is left out of the picture, there is nothing to debate--EDOs simply "are what they are", and can be taken or left according solely to the whims of the composer.