The Harry Partch Instrumentarium (2012)

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44 pointsbrudgers4 comments

Tempered tuning is a great example of "worse is better"(1) (including the part where "worse" winds up being "better" for various cases). When making an instrument, every interval between adjacent notes has the ratio of (12th root of 2). And it allows the musician to play any mode almost perfectly.

(1) https://dreamsongs.com/RiseOfWorseIsBetter.html

Equal temperament is better if your goal is to be able to play in any key.

For some kinds of music this doesn't matter and alternative tuning systems could allow the composer to realise their goals more effectively.

Solid point. I never thought about Equal Temperament as an example of Worse is Better, but yeah.

And after going through heroic efforts to get the ratios of notes exact, you're probably going to want to add a little vibrato or chorus effect to give it more warmth and character. So it's self-defeating in a way.

Nonetheless, the exploration of alternate tunings can be fascinating.

Thanks! I've heard some performances with Partch's instruments, but a visual 'orientation' like this is rare.

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