Neutral second

A neutral second (n2) is an interval that spans one step of the diatonic scale with a quality between major and minor. It exists in neutralized diatonic scales as exactly one half of a minor third.

In just intonation, an interval may be classified as a neutral second if it is reasonably mapped to 1\7 and 3\24 (precisely one step of the diatonic scale and one and a half steps of the chromatic scale).

As a concrete interval region, it is typically near 150 cents in size, distinct from the semitone of roughly 100 cents and the major second of roughly 200 ¢. A rough tuning range for the neutral second is 130 to 170 ¢ according to Margo Schulter's theory of interval regions.

In just intonation

By prime limit

The 3-limit and 5-limit do not have simple neutral seconds, so we start with the 7-limit:

• The 7-limit septimal neutral second

Todo: complete page

In moment-of-symmetry scales

Intervals between 120 and 171 cents generate the following MOS scales:

These tables start from the last monolarge MOS generated by the interval range.

MOSes with more than 12 notes are not included.

Range	MOS
120-133c	1L 8s	9L 1s
133-150c	1L 7s	8L 1s
150-171c	1L 6s	7L 1s