User:BudjarnLambeth/Breuddwyd scale

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It may contain ideas which are less likely to find practical applications in music, or numbers or structures that are arbitrary or exceedingly small, large, or complex.

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A breuddwyd scale[idiosyncratic term] (pronounced "braid wood") is any polymicrotonal scale which combines four scales, the first scale with 5 tones per equave, the second with 11, the third with 13 and the fourth with 31.

A sonhar tuning[idiosyncratic term] (pronounced "sonyar") is any scale or temperament which uses or approximates the JI subgroup 5.11.13.31.

A wijzerplaat scale[idiosyncratic term] (pronounced "why, ser as in deserve, plat as in platypus") is any scale which is built by combining a MOS scale generated by 5\31, a MOS scale generated by 11\31, and a MOS scale generated by 13\31. (Where n\31 is n steps of 31edo or another 31-tone equal tuning.)

History and etymology

These three categories of scales were devised by Budjarn Lambeth in January 2025, after he had a dream featuring a disc inscribed with numbers - 31 in the middle, and 5, 11 and 13 around the outside.

Intending to make music based on these numbers, Lambeth started brainstorming scales and recorded what he found as the breuddwyd, sonhar and wijzerplaat scales.

"Breuddwyd" is Welsh for "dream". "Sonhar" is Brazilian Portugese for "dream". "Wijzerplaat" is Dutch for "clock face".

Breuddwyd scales

This list is not exhaustive. There are many other possible breuddwyd scales.

The breuddwyd scales
Systematic name
(& idiosyncratic common name)
Just or tempered? Equave Tones per equave Tones per octave Definition Additional valid definitions Is a subset of 7 integer limit intervals approximated within 15¢
5&11&13&31afdo
(Breuddwyd arithmetic)
Just 2/1 57 tones 57/octave Polymicrotonal scale of 5afdo, 11afdo, 13afdo and 31afdo The scale of all rational intervals with 5, 11, 13 or 31 in the denominator 22165afdo 7/6, 6/5, 5/4, 4/3 (weak), 7/5, 3/2 (weak), 5/3, 7/4, 2/1, 7/3, 5/2, 3/1 (weak), 7/2, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1 (weak), 7/1
5&11&13&31ifdo
(Breuddwyd inverse)
Just 2/1 57 tones 57/octave Polymicrotonal scale of 5ifdo, 11ifdo, 13ifdo and 31ifdo The scale of all rational intervals with 5, 11, 13 or 31, or any of their octave multiples (e.g. 10, 22, 26, 62 or 20, 44, 52, 124 or so on) in the numerator 22165ifdo 7/6, 6/5, 5/4, 4/3 (weak), 7/5, 3/2 (weak), 5/3, 7/4, 2/1, 7/3, 5/2, 3/1 (weak), 7/2, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1 (weak), 7/1
5&11&13&31edo
(Breuddwyd-2)
Tempered 2/1 57 tones 57/octave Polymicrotonal scale of 5edo, 11edo, 13edo and 31edo 22165edo 7/6, 6/5, 5/4, 4/3, 7/5, 3/2, 5/3, 7/4, 2/1, 7/3, 5/2, 3/1, 7/2, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1, 7/1
5&11&13&31edt
(Breuddwyd-3)
Tempered 3/1 57 tones ~36/octave Polymicrotonal scale of 5edt, 11edt, 13edt and 31edt 22165edt 7/6, 6/5, 5/4, 4/3, 7/5, 3/2, 5/3, 7/4, 2/1, 7/3, 5/2, 3/1, 7/2, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1, 7/1
5&11&13&31ed4
(Breuddwyd-4)
Tempered 4/1 57 tones ~29/octave Polymicrotonal scale of 5ed4, 11ed4, 13ed4 and 31ed4 22165ed4 6/5, 5/4, 4/3 (weak), 3/2, 5/3, 7/4, 7/3, 3/1 (weak), 7/2, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1, 7/1
5&11&13&31ed5
(Breuddwyd-5)
Tempered 5/1 57 tones ~25/octave Polymicrotonal scale of 5ed5, 11ed5, 13ed5 and 31ed5 22165ed5 7/6, 4/3, 3/2 (weak), 5/3, 7/4, 7/2, 5/1, 7/1 (weak)
5&11&13&31ed6
(Breuddwyd-6)
Tempered 6/1 57 tones ~19/octave Polymicrotonal scale of 5ed6, 11ed6, 13ed6 and 31ed6 22165ed6 7/6, 6/5, 5/4, 4/3, 7/5, 3/2, 5/3, 7/4, 2/1, 5/2, 3/1, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1, 7/1
5&11&13&31ed14/3
(Breuddwyd-14/3)
Tempered 14/3 57 tones ~26/octave Polymicrotonal scale of 5ed14/3, 11ed14/3, 13ed14/3 and 31ed14/3 22165ed14/3 7/6, 4/3 (weak), 7/5, 3/2 (weak), 5/3 (weak), 7/4, 2/1, 7/3, 5/2, 3/1 (weak), 7/2, 4/1, 6/1, 7/1

Sonhar tunings

This list is not exhaustive. There are many other possible sonhar scales.

Just

Just sonhar tunings
Systematic name
(& idiosyncratic common name)
Just or tempered? Equave Tones per equave Tones per octave Definition Additional valid definitions Is a subset of 7 integer limit intervals approximated within 15¢
CPS(2of5,11,13,31)
(Breuddwyd hexany)
Just 2/1 6 tones 6/octave The hexany generated by 5/1, 11/1, 13/1 and 31/1 The octave-repeating harmonic series subset 220:260:286:310:341:403:440 220afdo (allowing rotations) 7/6, 6/5, 7/5, 5/3, 2/1, 7/3, 4/1

Tempered

You can find all necessary information to add a temperament to this table by using x31eq.com.

Tempered sonhar tunings
Systematic name
(& idiosyncratic common name)
Equave Equal temp mapping Reduced mapping TE generator tunings (¢) TE step tunings (¢) TE tuning map (¢) TE mistunings (¢) Complexity,
adjusted error
TE error
Unison vectors Recommended ETs (x31 notation)
c2 & c37
(Sonhar A)
5/1 5,11,13,31
[<2,3,3,4]
<37,55,59,79]>
5,11,13,31
[<1,2,-2,-3]
<0,-1,7,10]>
2789.3304, 1431.2645 40.49033, 73.19864 2789.330, 4147.396, 4440.191, 5944.654 3.017, -3.922, -0.337, -0.382 0.454182,
4.281341,
0.864185
[-2,1,3,-2>, [-5,3,-1,1>, [-7,4,2,-1>, [-3,2,-4,3> 39ed5, 37ed5, 41ed5, 35ed5, 76ed5, 78ed5, 74ed5, 43ed5(fk) c39, c37, c41, c35, c76, c78, c74, c43fk

Wijzerplaat scales

All of these scales are octave-repeating subsets of 31edo. They are tempered by definition. Sometimes multiple MOSes may generate the same tone, which is why when you combine an x-tone, y-tone and z-tone MOS, the total number of tones/octave may still be less than (x+y+z).

This list is not exhaustive. There are many other possible wijzerplaat scales.

The scale names are idiosyncratic.

The wijzerplaat scales
Name Parent tuning used Tones per period used Scale pattern Tones generated by 5\31, 11\31, 13\31 5\31 generators up:down,
11\31 up:down,
13\31 up:down
7 integer limit intervals approximated within 15¢
PolyMOS 5\31(up2down2) 11\31(up0down2) 13\31(up1down1) 31edo 9 tones per 31\31 5 4 1 3 5 2 1 5 5 5, 3, 3 2:2,
0:2,
1:1
5/4, 4/3, 3/2, 2/1, 5/2, 3/1, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1