Talk:7-limit tuning

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Reference to / conflict with 5-limit tuning

Latest comment: 7 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

There is a fine article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Five-limit_tuning

which is worth linking here.

That page also features a 7-limit table, but confusingly, it uses different fractions than on this page. I don't know which one is (more) correct, or what the difference means.

217.104.69.33 (talk) 23:51, 9 February 2019 (UTC)commonpikeReply

Error in reference 3

Latest comment: 4 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion

The Great Highland Bagpipes are not mentioned on page 212. There is a mention of them on page 201, but it gives different ratios: (7:8), !:1, 9:8, 5:4, 4:3, 3:2, 5:3, 7:4, (2:1).

Not sure where the person who entered this info on the page got their info from. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Brak (talk • contribs) 10:53, 26 October 2020 (UTC)Reply

I just corrected this error. Trumpetrep (talk) 01:37, 11 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

Anachronisms

Latest comment: 4 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria described several 7-limit tuning systems for the diatonic and chromatic genera. He describes several "soft" (μαλακός) diatonic tunings which all use 7-limit intervals.^[1]

↑ Barker, Andrew (1989). Greek Musical Writings: II Harmonic and Acoustic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521616972.

In support of this nonsensical statement, Andrew Barker's translation of Ptolemy's work is cited. No page number is given, because nowhere in the book does the word "7-limit" appear.

When Wikipedia policy talks about original research, this is exactly the kind of content it forbids: "Articles must not contain any new analysis or synthesis of published material that reaches or implies a conclusion not clearly stated by the sources themselves."

Some editor decided to meld the very 20th century concept of limits devised by Harry Partch with work done in the 2nd century and simply call it a day. That is shoddy work, and it is expressly against policy for good reason: it confuses the reader.

So many of our articles about tuning go out of their way to overcomplicate simple concepts. Just intonation was an example of this style until it was overhauled. I wonder if the enthusiasm intonation editors have for this subject could be channeled into tidying up these articles. Trumpetrep (talk) 02:21, 11 March 2026 (UTC)Reply

[1] Barker, Andrew (1989). Greek Musical Writings: II Harmonic and Acoustic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521616972.

[1]