[sdiy] VCO tuning philosophy re-visited

[Ian Fritz]

At 02:08 PM 2/7/2011, David wrote:
>Wow. Thanks for all the food for thought everyone! Since I'm a physicist 
>first, and musician is way down the list, what I'm taking away from all 
>this is no instrument is really ever "in tune" and maybe you really don't 
>want an instrument to be technically in tune.

Maybe, maybe not.  An additional issue that hasn't been brought up is that 
synth oscillators are essentially perfectly coherent, IOW they form strong 
beats.  Acoustic instruments vary in this regard, but can be quite 
incoherent.  Beats at greater than 1 Hz can be annoying, so if you are 
playing two oscillators together you can have issues if tracking isn't 
better that 0.1% at 1kHz. That's why I have always thought that it is best 
to get the most accurate tracking possible and to do any needed detuning 
deliberately.  Many people disagree with this, but it's still my stand.

>A little sharp in the high end, a little flat in the low end may be more 
>pleasing and familiar.

Again, as was explained previously, stretch tuning is to compensate for 
anharmonicity.  That's the main reason it is pleasant, not explicitely 
because it goes sharp.

Ian