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Appendix C: Alternative Tunings
Sequential
Prophet Rev2 User’s Guide
Appendix C: Alternative Tunings
Appendix C: Alternative Tunings
By default, the Prophet Rev2 is set to standard, chromatic western
tuning. Additionally, it supports up to 16 additional alternative tunings,
which you can access using the
alt
tunings
parameter in the
global
menu.
From the factory, the Prophet Rev2 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 find on the Internet. These must be in SysEx format. You can down-
load them into the Prophet Rev2 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 reflect 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 filled 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 figure 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 fifths (3/2) transposed
down into a single octave. The tuning works well for monophonic melo-
dies against fifth 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
Summary of Contents for Prophet Rev 2
Page 1: ...8 16 Voice Polyphonic Synthesizer ...
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