Scale (music) identified by using a binary system of twelve zeros or ones to represent each of the twelve notes of a chromatic scale. It is assumed that the scale is tuned using 12-tone equal temperament (so that, for instance, C is the same as D), and that the tonic is in the leftmost position. For example, the binary number 101011010101, equivalent to the decimal number 2773, would represent any major scale (such as C–D–E–F–G–A–B). This system includes scales from 100000000000 (2048) to 111111111111 (4095), providing a total of 2048 possible species, but only 351 unique scales containing from 1 to 12
Scale (music) Due to the principle of octave equivalence, scales are generally considered to span a single octave, with higher or lower octaves simply repeating the pattern. A musical scale represents a division of the octave space into a certain number of scale steps, a scale step being the recognizable distance (or interval) between two successive notes of the scale. However, there is no need for scale steps to be equal within any scale and, particularly as demonstrated by microtonal music, there is no limit to how many notes can be injected within any given musical interval. A measure of the width