Fractional sharp notation

Revision as of 04:48, 8 April 2024 by CompactStar (talk | contribs)

VERY WIP (I'll move it to the main namespace if it's finished.)

The letter notation is a notation scheme developed by CompactStar for just intonation up to the 31-limit as well as regular temperaments contained within it. It is Pythagorean notation with the letters H-Y used as accidentals reprsenting higher-limit commas (starting from H to avoid conflict with note names). The letters are given in pairs of ascending and descending commas and go in alphabetical order as the prime limit increases. It bears some similarities but is not identical to SKULO interval names and the Functional Just System.

Accidentals

Prime limit Letter Ratio Letter Ratio
5 H 81/80 I 80/81
7 J 64/63 K 63/64
11 L 33/32 M 32/33
13 N 1053/1024 O 1024/1053
17 P 4131/4096 Q 4096/4131
19 R 513/512 S 512/513
23 T 736/729 U 729/736
29 V 261/256 W 256/261
31 X 32/31 Y 31/32

For example, 5/4 is IM3 and 7/4 is Km7 (spoken names, if mechanical-sounding, can also be made out of these like "I-major third").

This system can also be used to notate regular temperaments (including both equal temperaments and rank-2 or higher). For example, 24edo could be notated by using 12edo notation together with L/M to denote the tempered 33/32 quartertone of 50 cents:

Notation