72 is easily my favorite EDO\ET. It has beautiful 11 limit intervals that are nearly perfect. There is just something about 11 limit chords that I absolutely adore! They have a beautiful crunchy, purring resonance to them that I can’t quite explain.
Have a listen to some of the beauty found within this tuning:
Another win for 72 EDO is that it has 12 EDO built within so you can continue playing along with your friends who play in 12.
This is all amazing when working with midi instruments. But what if you want to play acoustic natural instruments?
When dealing with 72 notes per octave, things can get a bit impractical depending on the type of instrument you want to play or even design. For example; how could you setup a guitar with 72 notes per octave? How about a horn or woodwind instrument?
A quick practical solution for bands or ensemble groups of at least six or more could be to look at 72 EDO as 6 variations of 12 EDO. Simply because 72/12 = 6. With at least six musicians\instruments each tuned to a different variation, you’d have 6 variations of 12 EDO right there under your fingers. You can tune each instrument to a different variation and arrange the music in a way to create beautiful lush 11 limit harmonies and dancing melodies that use the new intervals that 72 EDO brings.
Could this be troublesome for non fretted instruments such as Violin, Cello, etc? I’d imagine that it would take a bit of practice listening to the new harmonies that are unfamiliar. Then harmonizing with other musicians will come more easily.