Musical Temperaments [Paperback]

Erich Neuwirth (Author), R. Steblin (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2004

This multimedia product (book) lets the reader investigate the mathematical foundations of musical tuning systems as theory and as audible experience. The embedded acoustical examples help to establish immediate connection between the formulas and the acoustical characteristics of different musical scales. The musical temperaments covered in the document are Pure, Pythagorean, Meantone, and Equal, the historically most important tuning systems. For each one of these temperaments the construction principles are explained in detail and with interactive visual aids, and whenever a mathematical formula for an interval is derived, this interval is made audible and can easily be compared with similar intervals in the different tuning systems. The sound examples in the multimedia version cover intervals, scales, and chords in the different tuning systems, and some examples even allow to listen to different scales simultaneously on the two channels of a stereo system. Besides being an introductory text with sound the document also contains a reference part which gives easy access to all the sound examples in a systematic way. System requirements: IBM PC or compatible, 8 MB RAM, CD-ROM drive, Soundcard, VGA Graphic Adapter, 16 colours, 40 MB free diskspace; Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 European Academic Software Award 1996!

Product Details

• Paperback: 77 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1997 edition (March 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3211830405
• ISBN-13: 978-3211830406
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,574,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the price unless you really need the sample CD!, June 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Musical Temperaments (Paperback)

This book is only a skimpy 70 pages long, not even 80 as the blurb says. It doesn't explain much more than the very basics of a few historical tuning systems. If you want the scoop in only 70 pages, more comprehensive info is available on the web. This is only of interest to university or other libraries who might want to stock a copy. Maybe useful for the CD examples if you really need this interactive tour. Note that the program that is installed by this CD does not run on Windows XP Home edition: MFC30.DLL is not found. Well, if you can find MFC30.DLL it might run...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technical problems solvable!, February 17, 2003

By 

Dr. Erich Neuwirth "Musikliebhaber" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Musical Temperaments (Paperback)

I am the author of Musical Temperaments.

The technical problem a reader/reviewer described is solvable.
On Windows XP just go to the NT4ENG subdirectory of the CDROM
and run SETUP.EXE there. This will install the software, and all the necessary files will be installed.

The CDROM was designed and implemented before Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, therefore START.EXE will not recognize these OS's. Manual install of the Windows NT version will work.

Then, all the almost 400 sound files will be accessible.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Amen to the anonymous customer's review!, July 9, 2008

By 

Bruce R. Gilson (Wheaton, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Musical Temperaments (Paperback)

I got the book as a used book, minus the CD-ROM, and for only $20, on Amazon Marketplace. The skimpy 70-page book isn't really even worth $20. I've seen much better books around for reasonable prices, and I rather wonder why the publisher expects anyone to pay nearly $100 for the book. As the anonymous customer who reviewed it earlier said, perhaps if you really want the CD it might be worth putting out the money, but as a reference on musical temperaments, even $20 is too much.