Tuning systems
Compare the same makam scale in different tuning systems: Urmavi's 17 tones, AEU's Pythagorean ratios, 53, 72 and 12 equal divisions, and pitches measured in masters' recordings. Listen to each column, then test your ear.
Values are cents from the karar (1200 cents per octave). The small number is the difference from AEU; differences over 5 cents are highlighted. Even with the kanun selected, each column plays in its own tuning here.
No performance measurement for this makam: measured pitches exist for 20 makams (MTG OTMM recordings).
In each column the degree is that system's pitch closest to the AEU degree. Urmevî-17: Wright 1978. Oransay-29: Oransay 1959. Töre-Karadeniz-41: Karadeniz 1965, 106 equal parts per octave. Source: Ozan Yarman, doctoral thesis (ITU 2008), Tables 4.13 and 4.14.
Which tuning?
The scale plays in a random tuning: 53 equal (AEU), 72 equal (kanun mandals), 12 equal (piano) or the masters' performance. Listen and guess.
Across traditions: Hijaz and Saba
The tetrachord with the same name in neighbouring traditions: Turkish makam music (AEU theory and the masters' performance), Arabic music, Byzantine chant and rebetiko. Values are cents from the karar; listen to each column. The small number is the step from the previous pitch.
Sources: the Turkish columns use the site's AEU data and MTG OTMM performance measurements; Arabic: 1932 Cairo Congress, 24 equal quarter tones per octave (jins Hijaz 2-6-2); Byzantine: 1881 Patriarchal Music Committee, 72 moria per octave (hard chromatic 6-20-4); rebetiko: bouzouki with 12 equal divisions.
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What is a tuning system?
A tuning system is the rule that decides which pitches the octave is divided into. Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (13th century) divided the octave into 17 tones with Pythagorean ratios. The Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek (AEU) system defines its 24 pitches with a chain of fifths as well; its values lie very close to 53 equal commas per octave, and this site sounds in those 53 equal divisions. On today's kanuns the mandals usually split the semitone into six (72 equal divisions per octave); the piano uses 12 equal divisions. This tool compares the same makam scale in these systems in cents and lets you hear it; pitch positions measured in master performers' recordings (20 makams) are added as a column.
Related: Ses düzeni (tuning system)Koma (comma)Pisagor koması (Pythagorean comma)Mandal53-comma circle