User:ArrowHead294/EDO impressions

7edo

I find 7edo to be great for blowing people's minds since it completely eliminates any concept of "minor" or "major" in the diatonic scale. Everything is neutral.

The smallest one that does 5-limit well, and is right on the midpoint of the regular diatonic tuning spectrum, separating meantone from Parapythagorean and Superpythagorean. Has the largest possible contrast between major and minor for a meantone tuning, though it's far from optimal tuning for many areas of Western music (since the thirds can sound quite sludgy on certain timbres such as organs).

I also wish the way common-practice chords and scales were taught involved giving people a more general perspective on how chords and scales work, and didn't use terms like "whole step" and "half step" and others which are specific to 12edo.

19edo (1⁄3-comma meantone)

Has a radically different sound than 12edo and is a great alternative tuning to get into when starting out with microtonality and alternate tunings. Somewhat loose diatonic scale, but much tighter pentatonic, making it potentially a very good choice for songs with largely pentatonic melodies like Hillsong Worship's Highlands. However, its sound is much more jarring compared to 31edo or 43edo, and so it can take quite of getting used to.

22edo

Equivalent to 1⁄4-comma superpyth, 22 goes in the opposite direction of meantone. You'll find harmonic sevenths in places where you'd normally expect minor sevenths (e.g. C–B♭ is now halfway between 16/9 and 7/4 instead of between 16/9 and 9/5), subminor thirds in places where you'd normally expect minor thirds, and supermajor thirds where you'd expect major thirds. Fifths are very bright and shimmery but not wolf-sounding like 5edo is. Probably the best EDO for Superpythagorean temperament there is.

24edo (Quarter tones)

For a while, 24 was the only microtonal tuning I ever knew about. It's very convenient as a microtonal tuning, since it's meantone and preserves all the familiar intervals of 12edo. The ability to use the 11th and 13th harmonics and their intervals (without 7) as consonances is a huge bonus. Also supports semaphore with alternating whole steps and quarter tones, allowing for tons of new progressions and modulatory possibilities. Unfortunately I think it's far from the best tuning to get into for introducing microtonality, since it doesn't do the 7th harmonic's intervals well at all, and I've found that most Westerners consider the sound of 11/8 and 13/8 to be much weirder compared to 7/4.

29edo

Accurate fifths, but tuned sharp instead of flat. The "evil twin" of 12 equal in the 5-limit. Another great tuning for exploring beyond-meantone xenharmony, supporting parapyth (making it potentially a good choice of tuning for certain Mediæval works in non-microtonal contexts) and especially porcupine.

31edo (Quarter-comma meantone)

This is the first alternative tuning I knew about that wasn't quarter tones. I got interested in it through Baroque and Renaissance music due to it being an excellent representation of quarter-comma meantone. Personally, I think this is the best alternative tuning for most non-classical Western musicians to use. Since everything sounds more mellow and calm compared to 12, I think that many, if not most, contemporary worship songs would sound better in 31 compared to 12. The number of notes is not overly unwieldy (though it is pushing the limits of practicality on guitars and basses, it's still doable for chords), and the differences between its sound and 12edo's sound are big enough that people will notice (and therefore they might actually care) but not so big that it sounds jarring like 19edo can be (and often is). It also allows many interesting symmetry breaks and comma pumps over 12 that to me are an extremely interesting effect.

I also think it's the best practical tuning for songs with largely pentatonic melodies, maybe even better than 19.

If we keep A at 440 Hz, to me, keys from A major and F♯ minor onwards among the sharps sound noticeably darker in 31 and more energetic in 12, D and G major and their relative minor keys sound similar, while flat keys sound noticeably brighter in 31 and more "serious" in 12.

36edo (Sixth tones)

This is a great microtonal tuning which is also a great gateway into microtonality for Western musicians. Has true harmonic sevenths, along with very accurate and distinct approximations to septimal subminor and supermajor thirds and sixths. Since the 7th harmonic and all of its intervals are all pretty much variations on familiar intervals, from my experience many people consider the sound of the new intervals in 36edo to be more forgiving, whereas the "new" intervals in 24edo tend to sound much more jarring and weird in comparison.

53edo

Works great as an extended Pythagorean tuning, making it well-suited for Mediæval music. Also suited for those wanting to experiment with true 5-limit JI but also having the ability to modulate without things getting too unwieldy. Turkish music theory is also based on 53edo. However, this is truly near the stopping point for physical instruments and 107 frets isn't practical for almost any real-world guitar or bass.

55edo

A standardisation and representation of 1/6-comma meantone, proposed by Telemann as a theoretical basis for analysing the intervals of meantone. Works well for most of Western music written since the Renaissance and even works today for songs that don't presuppose 12edo's enharmonics, but in practice I think it's really best suited for certain classical works as it's gotten to the point of diminishing returns. For non-classical musicians, the sound is likely to be far too similar to 12edo to justify the significant extra complexity, especially since 43 and 50 are already pushing it.