there were the Salem witch trials, with witch burnings drownings and spoked wheel crushings. witches subscribed to alternate thinking, some maybe related to the lunar phases. there are twelve notes in an octave, twelve hours x2 in a day and twelve months a year. from what I recall reading, an octave is supposed to be half the cycle length as the one before it, and without checking i’m not sure this makes sense or not. also midi only divides into 12 by 120? maybe 124. unless you start with 0. so 0-11 would be a length, 11-23 would be twice its length making it double, then 23-35 would be the length of octave one and two, and adding an octaves cycle length if the range were a hz number for each successive octave. and an octave divided evenly would be an equal temperament, thanks to Wendy Carlos for the helpful terminology. so then the black keys would be a half step, making the octave really seven notes. now it’s time to check that? or let things fly like this until there’s a musicians culling in five or ten years. so a modern keyboard would just be a likeable frequency range bracket divided equally and then you can divide the keys into blocks of different colored keys and each key would have a raised number at the top for it’s frequency, and one below it for it’s midi note? or are midi notes now too arbitrary to fully rationalize.
OK then.
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There were the Salem witch trials, with witch burnings, drownings, and spoked wheel crushings. Witches subscribed to alternate thinking—some of it possibly related to lunar phases.
There are twelve notes in an octave, twelve hours (×2) in a day, and twelve months in a year. From what I recall reading, an octave is supposed to be half the cycle length of the one before it. Without checking, I’m not sure if that actually makes sense.
Also, MIDI only divides into 12 evenly by 120? Maybe 124—unless you start with 0. So if you think in terms of zero-based counting:
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0–11 would be one octave,
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12–23 would be the next (double in pitch),
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24–35 would follow, representing the span of the first two octaves combined, and so on.
If these were expressed in Hz, each successive octave would add a length proportional to the previous cycles. An octave divided evenly is what we call equal temperament—thanks to Wendy Carlos for the helpful terminology.
In this system, the black keys on a piano represent half steps, which makes the “core” of the octave feel like it’s seven main notes (the white keys), even though the full chromatic scale has twelve.
Is that accurate? Or should I just let ideas fly like this until there’s some kind of musician’s culling in five or ten years?
So, a modern keyboard is essentially a likeable frequency range bracket, divided equally. You could imagine designing one where:
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The keys are grouped in colored blocks,
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Each key has a raised number at the top showing its frequency,
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And another number below it representing its MIDI note.
But are MIDI notes now too arbitrary to fully rationalize?
Let me know if you’d like this turned into a blog post, a visual diagram, or a more technical explanation.
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I liked the post before realizing it’s just copy/pasting from chatGPT
It’s not copy/paste
I asked chatGPT to format the text
It’s the third time in my life I use it
Handy in this case