Simon Lloyd
3 HN mentions · mentioned in 3 months, 2019–2022
1:35 · 620K views · Jun 6, 2018
A short recording of a 1565 organ in Mantua tuned in quarter-comma meantone, showing split sharps in use. The extra keys provide separate D-sharp and A-flat for more tonalities.
Used as a concrete example of split-key instruments and an audible demonstration of the D-sharp versus E-flat difference.
3 comments from Hacker News
Except for voice [0], any fretless stringed instrument [1], any fretted string instrument with separate frets for sharps and flats [2], keyboard instruments that allow expression [3], keyboard instruments with split flat/sharp keys [4], and electronic instruments that allow unorthodox tunings without huge hassle [5]... I'm sure I'm missing some, but other than that you're totally right ;) [0] [LINK] , [LINK] [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] [3] [LINK] [4] this video [5] [LINK]
The list of export formats is really impressive. It's interesting to note that Hauptwerk (a pipe organ software emulator) is among the supported targets; some early organs used historical temperaments which sound different compared to equal temperament and some of those had split keys [1][2]. [1] This is an example of meantone organ with split sharps this video [2] This is an explanation of Meantone and split keys [LINK]
No, and yes. The difference is obvious even those who don't distinguish pitches much (can you hear the difference in the video linked in the article - this video ) because the 'wrong' one played in a scale or a chord sounds really, really horrible; that's why we have all the work done on 'tempered' tuning to reduce the gap so that everything is just slightly off.