User:KingHyperio/EDO impressions

Same template started by Keenan Pepper many moons ago. All of this is just my opinion, if you disagree shoot me a message, any excuse to discuss this stuff.

1edo - 2-limit cool

2edo - tritone nice

3edo - augmented triad sick

4edo - diminished seven chord great

5edo - Actually interesting, simple and can be used as a rough approximation of Slendro. Better used or approximated as a subset of a larger EDO though.

6edo - Great 2.9.5.7.11 system in isolation, really lame if you're just used to 12 though.

7edo - Finds use in Thai classical music, with a decent fifth and the simplest version of Neutral. Not too interesting beyond that though.

8edo - pretty weak

9edo - Basic Mavila, roughly approximating Pelog. Good 7/6 and 15/11 as well, but its uses are more melodic as opposed to harmonic.

10edo - Good for faster music, with some interesting melodic properties, including its basic Neutral[7] scale. The 5edo subset is also a good tool.

11edo - Mainly just a subset of 22, but it has some good properties. It has decent 4:7:9:11:15 chords, with Machine[6], which can feel like a whole tone scale that can resolve, though wanting a 4:7:9:11 on the root makes that tough because you'd prefer the 7/4 to the 15/8, which doesn't resolve as nicely. It also has Orgone[7], which doubles as a warped diatonic and source of interesting harmonic choices, including the 8:11:14. All this being said, no fifth means you might as well use 22.

12edo - I mean what can I say, it's as popular as it is for a reason. As much as microtonalists act like they dislike 12 because they all have their own systems they prefer, 12 is amazing. Great fifth that's hardly improved on until 41, solid 5th harmonic, and a minor seventh that works enough like a harmonic seventh to find extensive use in blues and rock music over the 5/4. I won't even scratch the surface of why it's so good, but it's really the smallest EDO that can survive and thrive as well as it has.

13edo - For how weak it is in some aspects, it has some nice scales, like Oneirotonic and Archeotonic, the first of which is a warped diatonic that requires a completely new approach to harmony, and the second of which hits some solid intervals in its principle mode, notable ones being 5/4 and 11/8, before capping off with a small semitone into the octave.

14edo - I love 14. Sevish describes it best as the "tuning that should not work", which I'd have to agree with. It doesn't really approximate harmonics at all, which would make it bad as a new standard, but if you just play around with it, it has some amazing sounds. Its thirds are excellent, including only those most alien to a 12edo listener, while providing the tools for some great harmony. It has a usable fifth, with just enough sixths and sevenths to expand well on the thirds. It's extremely user friendly with at least a bit of basic knowledge, held together by the 7edo at its core, and offering alternatives to this neutral scale with a primitive Barbados[9] and Squares[8], both favorites of mine.

15edo - Kind of a first 11-limit. It has approximations of all primes to 11, and can use them fairly well, with Blackwood and Porcupine[7] being the classic favorite scales. However, its awful 9th harmonic is notable, making its 9/7 inconsistent. This being said, it falls into the sweet spot of melodic EDOs from 14-17, with beautiful valentine melodies that switch between three very nice seconds, those being the small semitone, neutral second, and large whole tone. A better selection of step sizes is hard to find.

16edo - I've tried writing Lofi in 16, and while I'm no great composer, I think 16 really is a great system for that. It has "detuned" thirds and fifth that in my opinion very much fit that atmosphere, with usable harmonic seventh chords, and the same beautiful valentine melodies of 15, just with an even better semitone and smaller neutral second and whole tone. One issue is that Mavila, the standard scale associated with 16, with neutral seconds and large whole tones as steps, doesn't include any harmonic seventh chords, and it's necessary to use either a MODMOS analogous to harmonic or melodic minor to include just one. Diminished includes 4, with large whole tones and small semitones, so it exists as a possible option. Either way I think it deserves more attention, especially for its melodic properties.

17edo - In my opinion 17 is the best melodic EDO out there. Its mosstep is the best possible for direction imo, and it has a neutral second and slightly wide whole tone that both work well for melodies. Where it shines is its scale selection, with Neutral[7], Superpyth[7], Squares[8], Machine[6], and Bleu[9] all making great use of these steps. Speaking of Neutral and Superpyth, it feels like the first real one of either, and it supports neutral scales such as Rast and Bayati with some degree of accuracy. Its harmony is good, made up mainly of 6:7:8:9, 9/8/7/6, 6:7:9:11, and S7 and s7 chords, which gives a good degree of versatility. There also exist great well temperaments for it, unlike many larger systems, which can pack a hell of a lot of harmonic content into a small package, while keeping its great melodic properties. If we as a culture had to fully switch over to a 17-WT, I wouldn't be opposed at all.

18edo - maybe i just haven't found any good music or theory for it yet but i don't like it

19edo - It's the new best meantone, with solid 7-limit harmony that's represented in Godzilla, with Godzilla[9] being a great scale to use, and with Magic, Keemun, and Negri all being great temperaments that add variety to what's usually thought of as just a better meantone. It's user friendly for anybody used to 12, and can be a great place to start experimenting with microtonality, as well as including a lot of interesting content.

20edo - Not a big fan, it can be used as a subminor and supermajor blackwood (which isn't consistent with the fifth), but keeping the 7-limit harmonics of 10 isn't a great feature.

21edo - 7edo subset and oneirotonic, very little else

22edo - It's as good as you've heard, it's the first really truly 11-limit EDO, with solid harmonic seventh chords, an accurate superpyth, and enough notes to vaguely approximate shrutis. Its main strength in my opinion is how efficiently it represents 4:5:6:7:9:11 subset chords in its MOSes, with a 4:5:6:9:11 in Porcupine[7], 2 4:5:6:7:9s in Pajara[10], 4 4:6:7:9:11s in Superpyth[12], and many more subsets in scales of Antikythera, Machine, Orwell, and Magic. It can be fairly weak melodically, and it has no hemififth or hemifourth, but its harmonic strengths are definitely there, making it sort of the mathematician's tuning system.

23edo - highest edo to have no diatonic, 5edo subset, or 7edo subset, so it really has no good fifth, with a worse mavila than 16

24edo - Easy playground for those used to 12. Neutral and Barbados scales are often defined in terms of it due to its familiar 12edo subset, but the weakness of its 5th and 7th harmonics (mistuned in different directions too) is really hard to work around at this size. It's best just as a superset of 12, or as a system for music that cares a lot about neutral intervals.

25edo - Seeing such a good 5/4 in such an otherwise mediocre system is interesting. It does approximate both Slendro and Pelog in one go though, so you can't fully discount it.

26edo - Good Injera, and the first real Flattone. I've never been a fan of flattone, as it has a negative harmonic seventh while the other harmonics are positive, but its 11th and 13th are more in reach than in meantone which is a plus, both of which are excellent in 26. 26 just prioritizes the wrong harmonics in my opinion.

27edo - Combines Superpyth and Neutral, but in a way that feels disingenuous due to its 11-limit intervals pretty much all being inconsistent. I'd generally rather just pick 22 or 17, but if you want a lukewarm compromise with an Augmented scale, here you go.

31edo - Simply my favorite. I've done the vast majority of my microtonal work in this system, and I just love it. It tunes the 11-limit extremely well, with the 5 and 7 being essentially pure, and the 11 and 9 being 'equally' off. It's an amazing septimal meantone, and it has useful temperaments in Orwell, Squares, Neutral, Tutone, and Slendric. It approximates all but three 11-limit intervals and their inversions better than 22, and represents 11-limit subset chords very well as well, though not quite to the same degree. Unlike 22 though, it has great melodic intervals in the valentine steps, with a close to optimal small semitone, neutral second, and large whole tone that splits the fifth, and it has a hemififth that allows it to represent Arabic Maqamat decently well, with convenient notation borrowed from standard quartertone notation. Its 13th, 17th, and 19th harmonics are all essentially equally sharp as well, giving them use alongside the 5th and 7th. 31 is a powerhouse, and the music you can make with it is great. It does have some flaws, like its relatively unwieldy size, and the fact that its vast amount of consonance can sometimes be undesirable for strong resolution. Larger EDOs than this start to be much less worth the tradeoffs.

34edo - Expands on 17 with a great 5/4. However, now the 7/4 is in the same position where it's tuned about as badly as possible, so using 17 with the occasional 34 major third is a more generally useful option. Xotla has done this to great success, so I recommend checking out his music.

37edo - Great 13-limit no threes system. Admittedly more niche than most, but I really wanna see someone make good music with it, as it requires a very different approach, especially because the otherwise obvious 8:10:13 root chord doesn't show up often in MOSes.

41edo - Approximates scales from all over the world extremely well, due to its fifth than can be divided into two parts to generate neutral scales and approximate Arabic Maqamat, into three parts to generate a decent Slendro, or into four parts to approximate classical Thai music, as well as a Mavila for Pelog. It also has an extremely accurate fifth for Pythagorean pentatonic scales and limmas, which are very useful for some Asian cultures, and a great 5-limit near JI for Western and Carnatic music, the latter of which also has Magic[22] as an option, and the former of which has a 5/4 just flat enough to double as a third for Turkish Rast, and provide footing for a solid approximation of Turkish Makam. Beyond this use, its temperaments aren't anything to write home about, and its size is very unwieldy.

58edo - First to be consistent to 17 and distinct to 11, with decent tuning all the way through. Also has thirds of every reasonably common type.

72edo - Excellent 11-limit and consistent to 17, really the furthest I could ever justify going, but I wouldn't bother.