Kawai CA-X - Manual (Page 30)

26 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.