"In 1854, German scientist Herman Helmholtz discovered combinational tones, a third tone heard whenever two musical tones of different harmonic pitches are sounded together.
He pointed out that these are lost with ET due to the lack of intonation"
Even J.S. Bach had to put up with these limitations and the harmonic impurity they engender. I'm sure that he would be delighted to use electronic musical instruments if he were alive today." Wendy Carlos
The reason for changing the tuning from the natural scale of supernature is to connect with a new musical system that links forms like the hydrogen wave series with new forms of Superluminal Light, a new resonance is formed !
Here is some historic data by Wendy Carlos which is a good tuning overview on new forms of digital tuning and how BACH understood this coloring of harmonics. Enjoy !
HISTORIC
[1] Not as is commonly misunderstood, for equal temperament, which Bach understood but did not personally prefer.
So our second kind of tuning for these performances is Meantone. There are several varieties of Meantone. It’s interesting that the oldest, which had the purest harmonies,[1] isn’t the one Bach himself used and recommended.[2] He insisted that the major thirds be made “a little sharp from just.” While he was willing to compromise the purity of his triads somewhat, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice them as much as is done in equal temperament. There’s good evidence that he thought the variation of consonance from key to key in circular tunings[3] was a good thing, and exploited the differences with his famous 24 Preludes and Fugues.
[1] Which is called 1/4th comma Meantone, with pure thirds and fifths flat by 1/4th of the “comma” of 22 cents (100 cents = one semitone). Bach preferred one close to 1/5th comma, with better fifths but worse thirds.
[2] Johnny Reinhard’s thesis, Bach’s Tunings, is particularly clear and thorough about this whole subject.
[3] Well-known circular tunings were developed by Werkmeister, Kirnberger, Valotti and Young. They were not as homogeneous as the mathematically idealized version I use here, but were easier in practice to tune.
The tunings of Bach’s time, which are the predecessors to our equal tempered scale, and thus closely related to it. Many alternative scales have an ethnic quality, some are more useful for unusually big, fat harmonies based on the overtone series, while others are completely new and different, worlds waiting to be discovered
The tunings of Bach’s time, which are the predecessors to our equal tempered scale, and thus closely related to it. Many alternative scales have an ethnic quality, some are more useful for unusually big, fat harmonies based on the overtone series, while others are completely new and different, worlds waiting to be discovered
FUTURE SCIENCE
So why not, as an experiment, investigate divisions which are not integer based, but allow fractional parts? That will lose all octave symmetry, but if we handle the octaving later, we might be able to find some really interesting equal-step specimens. Wendy Carlos
Thus the cosmic NADA (Sanskrit) the unversal sound current which is found now in correlation with deep space regions like Persus. Persus emits audible sonic vibrations that are part of the direct relationship between the structure of the universe through the force of "sound" waves. http://www.space.com/661-sound-waves-left-imprint-universe.html Sound thus is equlivent is the Light operating in relative patterns and duration of pitch.
On a higher level we can see it as 'spiritual acoustic Light' For the mystic realised that "thought-forms" have a basic sound power.
Thus this cosmic sound can be accessed through resonance and opening up the inner harmonic codes of nature -- we then can divide the "traditional octave" in musical tuning beyond normal octave range beyond Equal Tempered tuning taking into account new future sciences like interdimensional harmonic theory.
