Nexus comma
The nexus comma, otherwise known as the nexisma, or – in the earliest materials where this comma is named outside of color notation – the nexuma, is an 11-limit (also 2.3.11 subgroup) unnoticeable comma with a ratio of 1771561/1769472 and a value of approximately 2 cents. In color notation, this same comma is referred to as the tribilo comma. It is the amount by which a stack of three 128/121 Alpharabian diatonic semitones falls short of a 32/27 minor third, or equivalently stated, the amount by which a stack of three 121/96's exceeds the octave. It is also the difference between the rastma and the Alpharabian comma, or the sum of the schisma and the parimo.
| Interval information |
nexisma nexuma
Tempering it out leads to the joining of the 11-limit and the 3-limit, a fact which, in light of the importance of both p-limits, lends itself to full 11-limit temperaments formed by this comma being dubbed nexus temperaments – the source of most of this comma's names. However, the color name "tribilo" is set to give source to the names no-5s no-7s temperaments that temper out this comma. While the importance of the 3-limit is generally accepted (see Pythagorean tuning, circle of fifths, FJS, Helmholtz-Ellis notation), it can be derived mathematically that the 11-limit is an excellent basis for quartertones in terms of ratio simplicity, and the 11-limit can be shown to host a clear sequence of intervals in which every other member is the octave complement of what is effectively a stack of 128/121 diatonic semitones (see Alpharabian tuning). For a list of temperaments that temper out the nexus comma, see nexus family.