Master Mode
MAPS
11-7
Intonation
Mostmodernwesternmusicuseswhatisknownasequaltemperament.Thismeansthatthe
intervalbetweeneachsemitoneofthe12‐toneoctaveispreciselythesameaseveryother
semitone.However,manydifferentintonationintervalshaveevolvedoverthecenturiesand
acrossculturesandinstruments,soequaltemperamentwill
notsoundappropriateforcertain
stylesofmusic.ThePC3Ksuppliesyouwith17differentfactoryintonationmapswhichare
usefulforarangeofdifferentstyles.Bychangingthevalueforthisparameter,youselectfrom
amongtheintonationmapsstoredinthePC3K’smemory.Youcanfurthercustomize
eachmap
orcreateyourownby editingamap(seeEditingIntonationMapsbelow.)Eachofthesemaps
definesdifferentintervalsbetweeneachofthesemitonesinasingleoctave(usedforalloctaves)
bysettingpitchoffsetsforeachnoteincents.
ScrollthroughthelistofIntonationmaps,
andlistenforthedifferencesbetweensemitones.
Someoftheintervalsbetweensemitonesmaybequitedifferentfromequaltemperament,but
you’llnoticethatallnotesarepreciselytunedwithnotesthatareanoctaveapart.Thisisbecause
theintonationmapssettheintervalswithinasingleoctave,andapply
thoseintervalstoeach
octave.
Likemanyinstrumentsbeforetheadaptationofequaltemperament,mostoftheseintonation
mapsweredesignedtosoundbestinonespecifickey.Thoughsomemayhavehistoricallybeen
inadifferentkey,allofthePC3KsfactoryintonationmapsaresettorootnoteC
bydefault.You
canchangetherootkeyofthecurrentintonationmapbyusingtheInt.Keyparameter(seethe
IntonationKey(Int.Key)sectionbelow.)
List and Description of Intonation Maps
0 None No intonation map is used, intonation is equal but cannot be edited.
1 Equal No detuning of any intervals. The standard for modern western music.
2 Classic Just Tunings are defined based on the ratios of the frequencies between intervals.
The original tuning of Classical European music.
3 Just Flat 7th Similar to classic Just, but with the Dominant 7th flatted an additional 15 cents.
4 Harmonic The perfect 4th, Tritone, and Dominant 7th are heavily flatted.
5 Just Harmonic Approximation of a historical intonation.
6 Werkmeister Named for its inventor, Andreas Werkmeister. It’s fairly close to equal
temperament, and was developed to enable transposition with less dissonance.
7 1/5th Comma Approximation of a historical intonation based on the comma system.
8 1/4th Comma Approximation of a historical intonation based on the comma system.
9 Indian Raga Based on the tunings for traditional Indian music.
10 Arabic Oriented toward the tunings of Mid-Eastern music.
11 BaliJava1 Based on the pentatonic scale of Balinese and Javanese music.
12 BaliJava2 A variation on 1Bali/Java, slightly more subtle overall.
13 BaliJava3 A more extreme variation.
14 Tibetan Based on the Chinese pentatonic scale.
15 CarlosAlpha Developed by Wendy Carlos, an innovator in microtonal tunings, this intonation
map flats each interval increasingly, resulting in an octave with quarter-tone
intervals.
16 Pyth/aug4 This is a Pythagorean tuning, based on the Greek pentatonic scale. The tritone
is 12 cents sharp.
17 Pyth/dim5 This is a Pythagorean tuning, based on the Greek pentatonic scale. The tritone
is 12 cents flat.
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