3. Select a root by pressing one of the keys in the range shown in the illustration below. Remember to keep the CONTROL button depressed.

The note for the keyboard key you press is applied as the root. If you press key F5, for example, the root becomes F.

F￿4F5

No sound is produced when the keys are pressed.

When Baroque Pitch (page E-29) is ON, the root is a half-note higher than the key you press. This means that to set a root of C, you should press B4.

4.Release the CONTROL button to exit temperament setting.

NOTE

If you select the temperament only without specifying the root in the above procedure, the root automatically becomes C.

Temperament root settings are not affected when you change the Transpose setting.

The keys you should press to set the root in step 3 of the above procedure are fixed. They are not affected by transpose settings, etc.

E-28

About Temperaments

Equal Temperament

This tuning system is the most widely used for keyboard musical instruments in the world today. The octave is divided into 12 semitones that are equal in frequency ratio. With this system, you can perform in all the major and minor keys without any adjustment. Though we take this system for granted these days, it was a revolutionary development in the history of music. Equal Temperament tuning has been the most common system used in the world since the middle of the 18th Century.

Kirnberger III

This is also one of the precursors to equal temperament.

It is an evolution of just intonation and ￿the mean-tone system, and all keys (from C-major to F -major) can be used for keyboard play.

Werckmeister

Werckmeister is a famous theorist who also did research on equal temperament. This particular system is said to

be a precursor￿ to equal temperament, and all keys (from C-major to F -major) can be used for keyboard play.

Mean-Tone System

This system was the first actually used for tuning of keyboard musical instruments. It was widely used starting from the Renaissance up until the second half of the 18th Century. During the days of Handel and Bach, it was employed for cembalos, organs, and pianos.

Pythagorean System

This system was developed by the philosopher Pythagoras sometime during the 5th Century B.C. Most of the fifths in this system do not deviate from the “pure” (acoustically correct) intervals. The Pythagorean system is perfect within a small range of tones and in the simple keys, but it becomes inadequate in others. Despite this, this system was used for Middle Age religious music, which was performed (sung) using only the simple keys.

Just Intonation

This system is one of the “pure” systems in which many of the fifths and thirds are acoustically correct. Try setting the root to C and playing C, E, G.

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