Kawai MR170 Owner's Manual page 11

E Temperament characteristic
+ Equal temperament |
This, by far the most popular piano temperament, divides the scale into
twelve equal semitones and has the advantage of producing the same
chords for all transposition.
e Mersenne temperament
This temperament, which eliminates consonances for thirds and fifth, is
still popular for choral music.
e Pythagorean temperament
« Meantone temperaments
This temperament, which uses a mean between a major and minor
whole tone to eliminate consonances for thirds, was devised to eliminate
the lack of consonances experienced with certain fifth for the Mersenne
pure temperament. It produces chords that are more beautiful than
those with the equal temperament.
« Werckmeister Ill temperament, Kirnberger Ill temperament
For key signature with accidentals, this temperament produces the
beautiful chords of the mean tone, but, as the accidentals increase, the
tension increases, and the temperament produces the beautiful
melodies of the Pythagorean temperament. Itis used primarily for
classical music written to take advantage of these characteristics.