sorry I don't buy this idea that it has anything to do with 12TET vs. just intonation. It's a bit sketchy to say that Eb has a different pitch than D# when there's no information in 'sharp' or 'flat' that says exactly how sharp or how flat, or from where in the harmonic series you pulled this note from.sql_error_uname wrote:just to be clear, it is not only the name that is different, these notes have a different pitch all together .
a piano roll can not display this, the scales in western music we use today, this sysytem is only an APPROXIMATION !!!!
it is an approximation to the existing physical pure intervals which can be calculated.
that is also the reason why intervals in ours scales are simply wrong, because the are an APPROXIMATION only, they differ from the real interval.
they sound different but what you get is a scale that can be transposed and STILL has the same intervals within.
hence no difference between sharp and flat on the key .
it is not only about a different name, it is about a different system.
we like having flats because it makes it easier to contextualise/conceptualise sequences of notes, that's all.