When I listen to any piece been composed in non-12TET, I just feel sth doesn't sound alright and I quit. I can not grow accustomed to them at all.

I'm not talking about Asian or east-European music but any tuning that has been calculated mathematically like 19, 37, 51 note systems.

Would you please post any piece that you think sounds beautiful or can be a possible and acceptable alternative to 12 TET?

Thanks!

 

I remember some Asian/Mongolian guitars with some kind of spatula as a plectrum,
Don't have a link regrettably

 

Every baroque music.

It may be interesting to try an EDM with baroque temperament. Haven't done it yet.

 

Hey foster.

are you looking for inspiration? Why didnt you just say so :D

 

Please let me elaborate. Any system other than 12-note one. It means not using this 5-lines staff:

In the past if you remember there has been a lengthy discussion here about tunings:
https://audiosex.pro/threads/why-is...ost-based-on-12-tone-equal-temperament.29077/

But any tuning or division other than 12-note system does not suit my ears. For example when I hear a music been done in 19TET, after listening a bit to it, it sounds horrible in some notes.

Indian, Persian, Indonesian, etc (micro-tonal like) music is not the subject of this thread. I'm just talking about the tunings that majorly have been introduced in the 20th century based on the pure mathematics.

 

No, I'm not a person looking for inspirations. I'm just asking about the possibilities. Is it possible to find any division that beats 12-note system and sounds brilliant?

 

19 is more accurate than 12...
If something sounds wrong, it's all about your ears...
Classical music was tuned closed to a subset of 31 -12 out of 31( it's actually 12 out of 205, if we have to be precise - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter-comma_meantone), also Well-temperament (all intervals - unequal, some are more in tune, some less than in 12) or Pythagorean (this one is very close to 12, I doubt most people will notice any difference outside of few chords).
And these tunings are not something from 20th century, late Medieval/Renaissance people knew them. There are some systems introduced in 20th century that are too complex for you to use practically without the right setup and understanding (that you lack) - non-octave, based on some weird stuff relying on synthesizing specific timbres etc.
Try 5 or 7 edo for silly Eastern Asian flavour. Try NI/Soniccouture Balinese Gamelan with 5,7,9, 14 division or 11 out of 20 scale.
Btw, much of the Western microtonal music I have heard online is pretty horrible - from production or composition standpoint, so I'm not surprised that you haven't heard things that you can like.
You can always try pure intonation, it won't get more consonant than this, but it's not practical, if you want to modulate and there will be occasional out of tune notes that require enharmonics.

If you like 12 ET so much, retune to this rational interpetation of it to hear the real harmony:

0: 1/1 0.000000 unison, perfect prime
1: 25/24 70.672427 classic chromatic semitone, minor chroma
2: 9/8 203.910002 major whole tone
3: 6/5 315.641287 minor third
4: 5/4 386.313714 major third
5: 4/3 498.044999 perfect fourth
6: 45/32 590.223716 diatonic tritone
7: 3/2 701.955001 perfect fifth
8: 8/5 813.686286 minor sixth
9: 5/3 884.358713 major sixth, BP sixth
10: 9/5 1017.596288 just minor seventh, BP seventh
11: 15/8 1088.268715 classic major seventh
12: 2/1 1200.000000 octave

IF you want D-A to be a fifth, you need to temper 81/80, which leads us to meantone: 12->17->19>31>43 etc note systems.
Arabs don't temper it, you may temper diaschisma=> 22, 34 ,46, leading to more accurate than meantone, but more complex to use system.
Or schisma -> 41, 53, which are even more complex to use than the diaschismic systems.
The more accurate -> better sounding> harder to use, because there are many intervals and it won't sound "brilliant" unless you know what are you doing; there is much more room for mistakes than playing in a small scale.

Let's see how we can interpret 19 ET; one possible tuning would be something like (I'm too lazy to find the best mode, rotate the starting note to find the most simple one; of course there are other ways interpretations to 19ET just like that are several ways to retune 12 ET or any other equal scale):


0: 1/1 0.000000 unison, perfect prime
1: 25/24 70.672427 classic chromatic semitone, minor chroma
2: 16/15 111.731285 minor diatonic semitone
3: 10/9 182.403712 minor whole tone
4: 125/108 253.076139 semi-augmented whole tone
5: 6/5 315.641287 minor third
6: 5/4 386.313714 major third
7: 625/486 435.479851
8: 4/3 498.044999 perfect fourth
9: 25/18 568.717426 classic augmented fourth
10: 625/432 639.389853
11: 3/2 701.955001 perfect fifth
12: 125/81 751.121138
13: 8/5 813.686286 minor sixth
14: 5/3 884.358713 major sixth, BP sixth
15: 125/72 955.031140 classic augmented sixth
16: 9/5 1017.596288 just minor seventh, BP seventh
17: 50/27 1066.762425 grave major seventh
18: 625/324 1137.434852 octave - major diesis
19: 2/1 1200.000000 octave

About the best equal microtonal systems:
Western music - 12,19,31,43, 55 etc
Blues/African - 5,7,16 (this one can be horrible without the right timbres, in Africa it's usually used with some kind of xylophones or similar),22,26,27,31
Middle East/North Africa - 17 (very crude), 22 (maybe), 24, 26, 27, 29, 31, 34, 37, 53 (at least in theory), 72 (known from Byzantine church music)
Gamelan - 5,7,9, 14, 15 (maybe?),16, 20 (has something like the diatonic scale, but it's 11 notes and only works with inharmonic timbres)

So, 31 appears for everywhere (I guess you can do gamelan in it, too), it's just too good. In terms of harmonic accuracy matching the list goes on like this - 2, 5, 7, 12, 19, 31, 41, 53, 72, 130, 171, 224, 270, 764, 954, 1178, 1395, 1578, 2684, 3395, 7033, 8269, 8539, 14348, 16808, 36269, 58973.

 

Most of this work I am familiar with has been American, rather than Western. Such as the work of Harry Partch, Wendy Carlos, Ivor Darreg, etc. But if you looking for pure mathematics, those are not geographically or culturally specific anyway.

 

To me non 12et
Sounds like changing timbre , for example instead of having individual notes that add up to create a chord , non12et systems sound like a single note while adding harmonics to it in 9ther words changing the timbre of the sound of single note

I suspect it is because there needs to be a certain as mount of wobble or tension to be able to distinguish as separate notes which create harmony.
To me a piano playing middle c compared to electric guitar playing middle c , compared to 7 9ther instruments including synth however you change the timbre you still get same emotion .