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) notes. A more mathematically flexible schema for binary representation, espoused by theorist Ian Ring in his study of musical scales, has bits representing ascending tones, with the smaller bits representing lower pitches and higher bits representing higher pitches. This causes the bits to appear reversed compared with Duncan's system. Under this schema, a major scale is 101010110101 = (2741), a single root tone is 1, and a chromatic scale is still 111111111111 (4095). All the tone possibilities that begin with a root tone, and are thus scale-like, are odd-numbered. Scales may also be shown as semitones from the tonic. For