Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup makemicromusic Xrunken Hedz in 16-EDO Anti-Diatonic

Hi all,
Here's the (not quite finished) song that was almost my entry for the 2010 UnTwelve competition, called "Xrunken Hedz":

/makemicromusic/files/Igliashon%20Jones/XrunkenHedz.mp3

It features all of my 16-tone instruments: acoustic and electric guitars and Hugh Tracy electric kalimba. Stylistically, it sort of takes some inspiration from the Mars Volta (though it's not nearly as frenetic or intricate), and makes a good example of some "wayward guitar wankery" in a few places.

It's quite an interesting scale, IMHO--it feels like something between 7-EDO and the regular diatonic scale, and I swear that the 150-cent neutral 2nds that account for 5 out of the 7 steps of the scale boggle my ears. They really do seem to go back and forth between sounding like major and minor 2nds to me, to the point that sometimes the melodic passages sound totally diatonic. The fifths are rather...er, "colorful"...on account of the fact that they are heavily tempered to make it so 4 of them (minus two octaves) approximate a 6/5 rather than a 5/4.

This track has a lot of untapped potential in terms of additional melodies and layers, better transitions, and more studio polish, so I feel a little shame to release it in such a half-baked form. However, it does not belong on an album, and it was stripped of its original purpose when I came up with a better song for UnTwelve; thus, it's been condemned to an eternity in limbo. l figure I might as well let it free.

-Igs

🔗Daniel Forró <dan.for@...>

Moog finally entered world of microtonality...

--------------------------------------------------------------
PHATTY TUNER Alternate Scales Editor

Explore the World with Moog:: For decades, Moog instruments have been
used by adventurous musicians to map the sonic universe. Now they
can be used to explore the more exotic reaches of our own planet.
With Moog�s Phatty Tuner software, musicians can retune each note of
the octave and compose in scales once available only to players of
hard-to-find world instruments. Indian, Chinese and Turkish scales
are now easily accessible along with Meantone, Pythagorean, Just and
other historic and experimental temperaments.

Available for the Slim Phatty and coming soon for the Little Phatty
with OS v3.0, this free download makes experimenting with alternate
scales a breeze. Tuning data is easily editable and is displayed as
a ratio, frequency and in cents. Scala files (www.huygens-fokker.org/
scala) can be imported and exported for use with other tuning
software. An unlimited number of tunings can be saved on your
computer and the synthesizer�s hardware can store up to thirty-two
different tunings; enough to take you around the world and back again.

Check out the video

If your musical explorations actually take you around the world, the
Little Phatty and Slim Phatty�s convenient size and universal power
supplies make them ideal travel partners.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

🔗Carl Lumma <carl@...>

Wonderful news! Let's all download it, even if we delete the
file afterwards. I'm sure someone is paying attention to the
download counter... -Carl

At 12:39 AM 1/14/2011, you wrote:
>Moog finally entered world of microtonality...
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>PHATTY TUNER Alternate Scales Editor
>
>Explore the World with Moog:: For decades, Moog instruments have been
>used by adventurous musicians to map the sonic universe. Now they
>can be used to explore the more exotic reaches of our own planet.
>With Moog�s Phatty Tuner software, musicians can retune each note of
>the octave and compose in scales once available only to players of
>hard-to-find world instruments. Indian, Chinese and Turkish scales
>are now easily accessible along with Meantone, Pythagorean, Just and
>other historic and experimental temperaments.
>
>Available for the Slim Phatty and coming soon for the Little Phatty
>with OS v3.0, this free download makes experimenting with alternate
>scales a breeze. Tuning data is easily editable and is displayed as
>a ratio, frequency and in cents. Scala files (www.huygens-fokker.org/
>scala) can be imported and exported for use with other tuning
>software. An unlimited number of tunings can be saved on your
>computer and the synthesizer�s hardware can store up to thirty-two
>different tunings; enough to take you around the world and back again.
>
>Check out the video
>
>If your musical explorations actually take you around the world, the
>Little Phatty and Slim Phatty�s convenient size and universal power
>supplies make them ideal travel partners.
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

🔗Michael <djtrancendance@...>

Igs,

You seem to have a thing for this abstract "space jazz" feel...again the
abstract drums sound very playful and, this time around, the guitar gives it an
almost "psychedelic reggae" sound. And the soft pads and blips at the beginning
work really well...almost sounds like an intro to a Goa/Ambient song before it
turns on its head into "Space Jazz"...never seen that genre combo before and it
sounds sweet.
The staccato rhythm cuts on the first breakdown at 2:00 just screams
attitude and has those great big-band style synth stabs...it almost feels
Beatles-esque to me. The guitar solo at the end has a killer sharp and silky
smooth sound to the production...and then it goes back to the abstract
reggae/"space jazz" feel.

That said there are some significant drawbacks to my ears. While the
production style is awesome...the looping through the same chords and holding
the exact same mood for all of the song does get a bit monotonous at times (if
there's anything "surprising" that changes...it's in the arrangement and
solos). The scale and/or chords/counterpoint used, to my ears, also sounds
rather unstable...the emotional effect is a bit like a child swinging from one
side of a balance beam to another (left to right...) slowly flapping his hands
to keep balance....and while it goes well with the "Space Jazz" feel, it sounds
like a bit of a nervous wreck at times.

>"This track has a lot of untapped potential in terms of additional melodies and
>layers, better transitions, and more studio polish"
Funny, because all of the above, in general, sound great to me. Maybe the
transitions are a bit sudden and not so smooth at times (IE sudden starts/stops
of the rhythm, chords, and melodies rather than a smooth "roll over" of energy
and resolve occurring between parts with the chords)...but that's about it.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

🔗aum <aum@...>

🔗Daniel Forró <dan.for@...>

Unfortunately we can expect too much from it, besides it's usable
only as tuning editor for that concrete Little Phatty synt...

Here is excerpt from editor guide. Only 12 tones in octave, each +/-
100 Cent retuning...

-------------------

Phatty Tuner User�s Guide

Tunings Menu
The Tunings menu remembers the scales entered into the instrument,
allowing the user to recall and
organize the usable scales. Scala files are also supported, as long
as they are twelve-tone files; other
tunings with fewer or greater number of pitches are currently not
supported. These can be loaded into the
program using the File > Open menu option. Scala files can also be
exported from the program using the
Save As menu option.
The top portion shows the selected scale preset number, the scale's
name, and the selected root note for
this scale. The scale preset number can be changed to send the
current working tuning to a different
preset location in the instrument. The root note is stored along with
the preset, and will determine which
note is considered to have a 1:1 ratio. This is useful for performing
in the same tuning scale but in a
different key.

Tuning Table
Below the title area, there is a table whose rows represent the notes
in one octave, and whose columns
describe the information entered in the rightmost column of each row
in different ways. Twelve-tone
octave tunings are supported, allowing the user to temper pitch
classes relative to a root note. The top
and bottom rows are read-only, indicating the root note.
In the leftmost column, you see the note name and its assigned
frequency. In the default tuning mode,
twelve-tone equal temperament (12TET), each pitch is exactly 100
cents away from each of its
neighboring notes. This is the modern western sound with which most
people are familiar.
The second column shows a note's deviation from 12TET in cents. For
12TET, this will be zero cents in
all fields. For any other tuning, these values will differ.
The third column describes the ratio between the root note and every
other note. This number will always
be between one and two, where two represents one octave above the
root note.
The fourth column is where the user can specify the relationship
between the individual notes in the
octave, and the root note, in cents. Please note that the current
setup does not support more than 100
cent deviation for each note from 12TET. For example, if the root
note is C and the D note (normally
tuned to 200 cents from root) is tuned below 100 or above 300 cents
from root, the program will highlight
the input field in red to indicate that this tuning will not be
applied correctly when sent via MIDI.
When the desired tuning data is present in the tuning table, press
the SEND button to send the scale to
the Phatty hardware. It will be loaded into the tuning location
specified by the �scale#� field. Read your
Phatty manual for additional information.

------------------------------

Daniel F

On 14 Jan 2011, at 7:50 PM, aum wrote:

> Good news, Daniel and good idea, Carl!
> No Linux version, what a pitty.
> Does anybody know if every note can be freely tuned or if it is only
> possible to retune 12 notes in octave?
> Milan
>
>
> On 01/14/2011 10:10 AM, Carl Lumma wrote:
>> Wonderful news! Let's all download it, even if we delete the
>> file afterwards. I'm sure someone is paying attention to the
>> download counter... -Carl
>>
>> At 12:39 AM 1/14/2011, you wrote:
>>
>>> Moog finally entered world of microtonality...
>>>
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>> PHATTY TUNER Alternate Scales Editor

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

🔗Daniel Forró <dan.for@...>

🔗aum <aum@...>

🔗Carl Lumma <carl@...>

🔗Michael <djtrancendance@...>

Carl>"Moog is a fantastic company, and I think one of the only companies in
synth hardware with any kind of margins. That they're showing interest is a
Good Sign."

Agreed...now if we could only (also) get Yamaha or Roland to do the same
thing... :-D

The day musicians can buy a major hardware synth (Roland, Yamaha, or Moog)
simply upload a SCALA file, load it, automatically have the scale mapped the
keyboard, plus use individual knobs to tweak the "detuning" (even if it's just
tone 1 to 12 within an octave with individual knobs) will represent a huge
chance to help curious musicians find out "what those knobs do" and ultimately
get them into microtonality.

It's also already amazing how many of those three major brand
synths/keyboards (especially Yamaha Motifs) I've seen in live acts...now imagine
if they were custom-microtonal-scale capable right out of the box with no
additional software or system editing needed...

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

🔗Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>

this is great!! it sounds like a sci fi sound track!

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 10:01 PM, cityoftheasleep
<igliashon@...>wrote:

>
>
> Hi all,
> Here's the (not quite finished) song that was almost my entry for the 2010
> UnTwelve competition, called "Xrunken Hedz":
>
>
> /makemicromusic/files/Igliashon%20Jones/XrunkenHedz.mp3
>
> It features all of my 16-tone instruments: acoustic and electric guitars
> and Hugh Tracy electric kalimba. Stylistically, it sort of takes some
> inspiration from the Mars Volta (though it's not nearly as frenetic or
> intricate), and makes a good example of some "wayward guitar wankery" in a
> few places.
>
> It's quite an interesting scale, IMHO--it feels like something between
> 7-EDO and the regular diatonic scale, and I swear that the 150-cent neutral
> 2nds that account for 5 out of the 7 steps of the scale boggle my ears. They
> really do seem to go back and forth between sounding like major and minor
> 2nds to me, to the point that sometimes the melodic passages sound totally
> diatonic. The fifths are rather...er, "colorful"...on account of the fact
> that they are heavily tempered to make it so 4 of them (minus two octaves)
> approximate a 6/5 rather than a 5/4.
>
> This track has a lot of untapped potential in terms of additional melodies
> and layers, better transitions, and more studio polish, so I feel a little
> shame to release it in such a half-baked form. However, it does not belong
> on an album, and it was stripped of its original purpose when I came up with
> a better song for UnTwelve; thus, it's been condemned to an eternity in
> limbo. l figure I might as well let it free.
>
> -Igs
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

🔗Carl Lumma <carl@...>

🔗akjmicro <aaron@...>

Igs,

I'm curious to hear this, as usual. I'm sure it's your usual high level.

I just wanted to say that it's interesting you mention the Tracey kalimba and anti-diatonic: my two Tracey kalimbas are in 23-edo anti-diatonic, which is somewhat closely related to 16-edo....

AKJ

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "cityoftheasleep" <igliashon@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> Here's the (not quite finished) song that was almost my entry for the 2010 UnTwelve competition, called "Xrunken Hedz":
>
> /makemicromusic/files/Igliashon%20Jones/XrunkenHedz.mp3
>
> It features all of my 16-tone instruments: acoustic and electric guitars and Hugh Tracy electric kalimba. Stylistically, it sort of takes some inspiration from the Mars Volta (though it's not nearly as frenetic or intricate), and makes a good example of some "wayward guitar wankery" in a few places.
>
> It's quite an interesting scale, IMHO--it feels like something between 7-EDO and the regular diatonic scale, and I swear that the 150-cent neutral 2nds that account for 5 out of the 7 steps of the scale boggle my ears. They really do seem to go back and forth between sounding like major and minor 2nds to me, to the point that sometimes the melodic passages sound totally diatonic. The fifths are rather...er, "colorful"...on account of the fact that they are heavily tempered to make it so 4 of them (minus two octaves) approximate a 6/5 rather than a 5/4.
>
> This track has a lot of untapped potential in terms of additional melodies and layers, better transitions, and more studio polish, so I feel a little shame to release it in such a half-baked form. However, it does not belong on an album, and it was stripped of its original purpose when I came up with a better song for UnTwelve; thus, it's been condemned to an eternity in limbo. l figure I might as well let it free.
>
> -Igs
>

Xrunken Hedz in 16-EDO Anti-Diatonic

🔗cityoftheasleep <igliashon@...>

🔗Daniel Forró <dan.for@...>

🔗Carl Lumma <carl@...>

🔗Michael <djtrancendance@...>

🔗aum <aum@...>

🔗Daniel Forró <dan.for@...>

🔗Daniel Forró <dan.for@...>

🔗Daniel Forró <dan.for@...>

🔗aum <aum@...>

🔗Carl Lumma <carl@...>

🔗Michael <djtrancendance@...>

🔗Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>

🔗Carl Lumma <carl@...>

🔗akjmicro <aaron@...>