[code_duck]

It’s the use of 0-9, a-b that I find awkward and object to.

Why not have 16 notes per octave? Uh... wow, well, because it sounds bizarre and would make it difficult to play all existing western music in addition to confusing to every musician practiced in contemporary standard music. Why not 8? Hmm. Are you actually a musician or just speculating?

[chrispeel]

Not a musician at all. See my other comment which contains links explaining the utility of 12-note octaves.

[code_duck]

Your opinion on this resembles a blind person who has never painted deciding that painters could use 5 primary colors instead of 3. Or, maybe we should make do with 2 because it works out cleanly.

12 note octaves are not ‘utility’, it’s how almost every single piece of music you’ve ever heard was constructed. Breaking the octave into smaller units creates sounds that are off putting and unfamiliar. Check out ‘microtonal’ music. There is also Indian music that uses divisions like 20 per octave.

It seems your analysis and suggestions are based purely on mathematical concepts of this notation. However, it’s not useful to consider this this notation divorced from its implementation.