[Doug Schwarz] > The chromatic scale is based on one twelfth powers of two, i.e., if > the frequency of a note in the scale is f(n), then the frequency of > the next note is given by f(n+1) = f(n) * 2^(1/12)
This easy view of things has been known for a long time, but has only been popular (relatively) recently. Traditionally, scale designers were definitely running after rational proportions between scale notes, not fearing some problems they necessarily create, because such scales are often nicer and interesting to the musical ear. I should relate this discussion to Python somehow! :-) Easy, as I have a few Python programs doing various scale computations -- I should try to bundle these together somewhere in my personal Web site, some day... -- François Pinard http://pinard.progiciels-bpi.ca -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
