Glossary

This page lists various terms conventionally used in xenharmony (or in some cases, general music theory as it applies to xen) that can be briefly described.

Cent

A cent (abbreviated to c or ¢) is the conventional measurement unit of the logarithmic distance between frequencies; in other words, the size of the interval between them. A cent is defined as a frequency ratio of 2^(1/1200), or a factor of about 1.0005778, such that the octave (2/1) spans exactly 1200 cents, and therefore that each step of 12edo spans exactly 100.

Superparticular

A superparticular or Delta-1 ratio is a ratio between two whole numbers which differ by 1: e.g. 2/1, 3/2, 4/3, 5/4, etc, representing intervals between consecutive members of the harmonic series. These are distinguished from superpartient ratios (all other ratios), which can be classified as Delta-2, Delta-3, etc. by the difference between their numerator and denominator. Note that the ratio between consecutive superparticulars is itself superparticular.