31 Tone Equal Temperament

53 Tone Equal Temperament

53 tone equal temperament (53-ET) is a tuning that is substantially more fine-tuned than 31-ET. 53-ET is the next finer equal temperament after 41 equal temperament that improves on the match of fifths and fourths to their true intervals in just intonation.

The step size is about 22.64 cents, an interval wide enough for nearly all listeners to hear, but narrow enough that the notes sound very close to each other. This step size is between 1/4th and 1/5th the size of a half-step in 12-ET, and is wider than one half the step size of 31-ET.

I have not composed in 53-ET and do not plan to devote much energy to doing so in the forseeable future. This is because 31-ET is much more manageable, and yet is completely new territory for me and offers possibilities that seem inexhaustible by a single composer in a single lifetime. Perhaps some day others will find 53-ET worth exploring in a way that I have not.

Strengths of 53-ET

Challenges with 53-ET

External Resources