Brief Explanation Of Temperaments - Kawai CN4 Owner's Manual

N NOTE
TOUCH, TRANSPOSE AND MENU BUTTONS
After Selecting the "Temperament" function by pressing the MENU
buttons, use the VALUE buttons to select your desired
temperament.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF TEMPERAMENTS

EQUAL TEMPERAMENT (PIANO ONLY)
This is the default temperament. If a piano sound is selected the tuning is
stretched like an acoustic piano (EQUAL TEMPERAMENT). If any other
type of sound is selected the tuning will be EQUAL (FLAT). An explanation
of EQUAL TEMPERAMENT and EQUAL TEMPERAMENT (FLAT) is
provided later in this section.
If a piano sound is used in a layer with any other sound then both sounds
will use the EQUAL TEMPERAMENT (Stretched) tuning.
MERSENNE PURE TEMPERAMENT (MAJOR)
MERSENNE PURE TEMPERAMENT (MINOR)
This temperament, which eliminates dissonance's for thirds and fifths is
still popular for choral music because of its perfect harmony.
You need to be aware what key you are playing in with this temperament.
Any key modulation will result in dissonance's. When you play music in a
particular key, you need to match the key of the temperament as well.
When playing in a major key select Pure (Major) and when playing in a
minor key select Pure (minor).
PYTHAGOREAN TEMPERAMENT
This temperament, which uses mathematical ratios to eliminate
dissonance for fifths, is very limited for use with chords, but it produces
very characteristic melodic lines.
MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT
This temperament, which uses a mean between a major and minor whole
tone to eliminate dissonance for thirds, was devised to eliminate the lack
of consonance's experienced with certain fifths for the Mersenne pure
temperament. It produces chords that are more beautiful than those with
the equal temperament.
The LCD display shows the type of temperament
currently selected.
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