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Kawai CA-X User Manual

Page 30

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KAWAI DIGITAL PIANO CA-X

Function Buttons

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.

WERCKMEISTER III TEMPERAMENT
KIRNBERGER III TEMPERAMENT

These two temperaments are placed in between Meantone and

Pythagorean. For music with few accidentals, this temperament produces

the beautiful chords of the mean tone, but as accidentals increase, the

temperament produces the characteristic melodies of the Pythagorean

temperament. It is used primarily for classical music written in the Baroque

era to revive the original characteristics.

EQUAL TEMPERAMENT (FLAT)

This is “unstretched” equal temperament that divides the scale into twelve

equal semitones. This produces the same chordal intervals in all twelve

keys, and has the advantage of limitless modulation of the key. However

the tonality of each key becomes less characteristic and no chord is in

pure consonance.

EQUAL TEMPERAMENT

This is the most popular piano temperament. The hearing ability of a

human is uneven and is not as accurate with high frequency and low

frequency as it is with the middle range. This temperament’s tuning is

stretched to compensate for this so the sound will be heard naturally to

the ears. This “Stretched” equal temperament is a practical variation of

the “unstretched” equal temperament which was invented on a

mathematical basis.

NOTE

After you have selected the desired temperament, please read the following

section on selecting a key signature for the temperament before

continuing.