Section 2 — System•MIDI Parameters
4 ENSONIQ KT Musician’s Manual
by many contemporary composers and can be used in some Middle Eastern music.
• 19-TONE-EQU — Centered on C4, this scale divides the octave into 19 equal steps. From C4
to G5 forms an octave. This scale yields very pure thirds and sixths, but not fifths. Like the
24-tone scale, this has been used by some modern composers.
• 31-TONE-EQU — Centered on C4, this scale divides the octave into 31 equal steps. From C4
to G6 forms an octave. Similar to 19-tone in the purity of its intervals.
• 53-TONE-EQU — This scale divides the octave into 53 equal steps. From C2 to F6 forms an
octave. It yields very pure thirds, fourths and fifths.
• HARMONIC — This is a mathematically generated scale based on the relationships of the
partials in the harmonics of the fifth octave of the linear harmonic spectrum. It is interesting
mostly from a theoretical standpoint.
• CARLOSALPHA — The first of three scales derived mathematically by Wendy Carlos in the
search for scales with the maximum purity of primary intervals, Alpha is based on the
division of the octave into 15.385 equal steps (78 cents per key). One pitch “octave” covers 16
keys, though because the Carlos scales are asymmetric (not based on whole number divisions
of the octave) they do not yield pure octaves.
• CARLOS-BETA — Wendy Carlos’ Beta scale is based on the division of the octave into 18.809
equal steps 63.8 cents per key. One pitch “octave” covers 19 keys, though, again, being
asymmetric it yields no pure octaves.
• CARLOSGAMMA — Wendy Carlos’ Gamma scale is based on the division of the octave into
34.188 equal steps (35.1 cents per key). This scale has essentially perfect major thirds, fourths
and fifths. One pitch “octave” covers 35 keys, though, again, being asymmetric it yields no
pure octaves.
• PARTCH-43 — Harry Partch was a pioneer of micro-tonality in the early 20th century. He
developed this 43-tone-per-octave scale of pure intervals, and even designed an entire
orchestra of instruments for music using this scale. The tonal center is found on key D2 (the
low D on the 76-note keyboard). This pitch-table has been transposed up an octave to bring
the notes into a more usable range.
• REVERSE — This pitch-table simply reverses the pitch-tracking of the keyboard, putting the
highest notes at the bottom of the keyboard and the highest notes at the top. Lots of fun.
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