132 133Appendix C: Alternative Tunings
Sequential Prophet X User’s Guide
Appendix C: Alternative Tunings
Appendix C: Alternative Tunings
By default, the Prophet X is set to standard, chromatic western tuning.
Additionally, it supports up to 64 additional alternative tunings, which
you can access using the alt tunings parameter in the global menu.
From the factory, the Prophet X ships with 16 preset alternative tunings
ranging from Equal temperament to Indonesian Gamelan tunings. If you
want, you can replace these with other tunings that you can nd on the
Internet. These must be in SysEx format. You can download them into
the Prophet X using SysEx Librarian for Mac or MIDI-OX for Windows.
Here are descriptions of the default alternative tunings:
1. 12-Tone Equal Temperament (non-erasable)
The default Western tuning, based on the twelfth root of two.
2. Harmonic Series
MIDI notes 36-95 reect harmonics 2 through 60 based on the funda-
mental of A = 27.5 Hz. The low C on a standard 5 octave keyboard acts
as the root note (55Hz), and the harmonics play upwards from there. The
remaining keys above and below the 5 octave range are lled with the
same intervals as Carlos’ Harmonic 12 Tone that follows.
3. Carlos Harmonic Twelve Tone
Wendy Carlos’ twelve note scale based on octave-repeating harmonics.
A = 1/1 (440 Hz). 1/1 17/16 9/8 19/16 5/4 21/16 11/8 3/2 13/8 27/16 7/4
15/8
4. Meantone Temperament
An early tempered tuning, with better thirds than 12ET. Sounds best in
the key of C. Use this to add an authentic touch to performances of early
Baroque music. C=1/1 (260 Hz)
5. 1/4 Tone Equal Temperament
24 notes per octave, equally spaced 24root2 intervals. Mexican composer
Julian Carillo used this for custom-built pianos in the early 20th century.
6. 19 Tone Equal Temperament
19 notes per octave (19root2) offering better thirds than 12 ET, a better
overall compromise if you can gure out the keyboard patterns.
7. 31 Tone Equal Temperament
Many people consider 31root2 to offer the best compromise towards just
intonation in an equal temperament, but it can get very tricky to keep
track of the intervals.
8. Pythagorean C
One of the earliest tuning systems known from history, the Pythagorean
scale is constructed from an upward series of pure fths (3/2) transposed
down into a single octave. The tuning works well for monophonic melo-
dies against fth drones, but has a very narrow palate of good chords
to choose from. C=1/1 (261.625 Hz) 1/1 256/243 9/8 32/27 81/64 4/3
729/512 3/2 128/81 27/16 16/9 243/128
9. Just Intonation in A with 7-Limit Tritone at D#
A rather vanilla 5-limit small interval JI, except for a single 7/5 tritone
at D#, which offers some nice possibilities for rotating around bluesy
sevenths. A=1/1 (440 Hz) 1/1 16/15 9/8 6/5 5/4 7/5 3/2 8/5 5/3 9/5 15/8
10. 3-5 Lattice in A
A pure 3 and 5-limit tuning which resolves to very symmetrical derived
relationships between notes. A=1/1 (440 Hz) 1/1 16/15 10/9 6/5 5/4 4/3
64/45 3/2 8/5 5/3 16/9 15/8
11. 3-7 Lattice in A
A pure 3 and 7-limit tuning which resolves to very symmetrical derived
relationships between notes. Some of the intervals are very close
together, offering several choices for the same nominal chords. A=1/1
(440 Hz) 1/1 9/8 8/7 7/6 9/7 21/16 4/3 3/2 32/21 12/7 7/4 63/32
To Next Page
Loading...
