Re: OT: high-precision tuner app

[Hans Åberg]

> On 26 May 2016, at 09:57, Michael Hendry <address@hidden> wrote:

> Another phenomenon about which I have doubts involves people who claim that 
> when they hear music in “sharp” keys (e.g. G, D, A, E) their experience is of 
> brightness, while the flat keys make for a more sombre sound. I’ve even heard 
> in a radio interview that this applies to F# and Gb (the one bright, the 
> other dull).

In a symphony orchestra, the string section is tuned in Pythagorean, and by 
following traditional harmony rules, can be encouraged to play in 5-limit Just 
Intonation. Moore distant keys, where there are no open strings to rely on, 
then become difficult to perform, which has in the past been used as a musical 
effect.

For fixed pitch instruments tuned in E12, like pianos, there is no difference 
though.

Also, in Pythagorean tuning, F# is higher than Gb, but it is the reverse in 
(extended) meantone tunings. If one chooses the wrong E12 enharmonically 
equivalent note in these tunings, there results a wolf interval, which is 
pretty descriptive.