Tritone
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
The tritone is the name of a musical interval that is made up of three whole tones. In 12edo, the tritone is exactly 600 ¢, or sqrt(2). As such, the term is also used generally to refer to any pitch in the neighborhood of 600 ¢, or roughly halfway between 4/3 and 3/2.
In tunings other than 12edo, and particularly in just intonation, there are a number of different tritones which have subtly different flavors, such as 7/5 and 10/7. The temperament eliminating 50/49 is of particular interest in that it equates these two tritones, and provides a JI basis for the 12edo concept of the "tritone substitution".
The following table compares selected JI tritone pairs:
| Ratios | prime limit | distance from 600 ¢ |
|---|---|---|
| 729/512, 1024/729 | 3 | 11.730 |
| 45/32, 64/45 | 5 | 9.776 |
| 7/5, 10/7 | 7 | 17.488 |
| 99/70, 140/99 | 11 | 0.088 |
| 13/9, 18/13 | 13 | 36.618 |
| 24/17, 17/12 | 17 | 3.000 |
| 27/19, 38/27 | 19 | 8.352 |
| 23/16, 32/23 | 23 | 28.274 |
| 41/29, 58/41 | 41 | 0.515 |