[Jensson]

Music tones are based on the tuning standard 440 hz and factors from there, that is your reference point. The next tone above and below is so far away that you can make slight alterations and detect how far away from the standard it is by just measuring a single tone.

[icy_deadposts]

I believe (but could be wrong) that's only true for western music, tuned to 440hz as an "A" with 12 steps between octaves. Eastern music for example, with stringed instruments without frets, like Sitar for example, sounds very different and I believe its because they don't follow that practice. Highlighting that was my intent between linking a particular piece of music thats well outside the mainstream top 40. (alternatively, consider my tone-deaf self in middle school trying to tune my euphonium by adjusting the slide randomly and pretending i could hear a difference)

[Jensson]

If you generate the music yourself you can tune it any way you like. Using 440 hz as the basis lets you still do any kind of music, people wouldn't notice the difference since you mostly hear how it changes and not absolute pitch.

> Sitar for example, sounds very different and I believe its because they don't follow that practice

They still follow the same practice, maybe they don't center it on 440hz but the concept of tones and how far the steps between them are is the same all over the world, they just use different scales.