What crucial trade-off defines modern equal temperament tuning relative to the natural harmonic series?
Answer
It sacrifices the purity of individual intervals for overall flexibility across all keys.
The natural harmonic series yields perfectly consonant intervals (like the 3:2 fifth), but stacking these pure ratios does not cycle perfectly back to the octave. Equal temperament introduces slight deviations, known as comma, to achieve consistent intonation across all musical keys.
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