Zen

The zen scale is an 8-tone scale invented by John O'Sullivan with the aim of being as unlike 12edo as possible while still being concordant.

Scala file (tempered)

! TemperedZen.scl
!
 Tempered Zen scale, John O'Sullivan, subset of 24edo
 8
!
 100.
 250.
 350.
 550.
 700.
 850.
 1050.
 1200.

Scala file (just)

! JustZen.scl
!
 Just Zen scale, John O'Sullivan
 8
!
 17/16
 15/13
 11/9
 11/8
 3/2
 18/11
 11/6
 2/1

Etymology

The scale is deliberately named to sound similar to "xenharmonic", because its aim is to be 'as xenharmonic as possible', without sacrificing the octave or perfect fifth.

Further reading

• johnsmusic7.com: O'Sullivan's website. Contains further material on Zen tuning among other topics.