Difference tones in “ non-Pythagorean” scales based on logarithms

Abstract

In order to explore tonality outside of the "Pythagorean" paradigm of integer ratios, Robert Schneider introduced a musical scale based on the logarithm function. We seek to refine Schneider's scale so that the difference tones generated by different degrees of the scale are themselves octave equivalents of notes in the scale. In doing so, we prove that a scale which contains all its difference tones in this way must consist solely of integer ratios. With this in mind, we present some methods for producing logarithmic scales which contain many, but not all, of the difference tones they generate.