This track was written to demonstrate the harmonic possibilities of using higher harmonics freely whenever the composer wishes, without the bounds of a traditional scale, but within the bounds of major/minor/seventh harmony. It is also quite funky!

Harmonics of 11ths, 13th, 23rds etc are prominent in this composition, without being overwhelming in their unusualness. The highest prime harmonic used was the 127th harmonic in the final melody! E#''' was also used (125th harmonic)

It was written using a new notation system which has been devised to make accessing higher harmonics as intuitive as possible (it still takes a bit of getting one's head around!). Please contact me if you would like to see the score written in this notation system, or for details about how this notation system enables interesting harmonic composition outside of the bounds of the Western 12-note scale to be realised.

It qualifies for chiptune since although it is (much to my shame) 16-bit 44100Hz audio instead of the pure 8-bit, the sounds were synthesised from scratch using modified sin/saw waves, with a bit of band-limited noise thrown in for good measure. The synth took as input CSV 6xN matrices as sequence files, and processed in Octave/MATLAB to give MP3 output which you hear here.
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update 10th Apr 2015:

Here is a brief description of how the MP3 track was generated:

Just Intonation Notes (1/1 4/3 7/4 etc) <-> New Notation System (C F `Bb~7 etc) which is easier to read than pure numbers and where the letter corresponds (roughly) to the position in the 12ET scale
-> Excel block of chords and melody notes for visual presentation to composer (.txt)
-> Excel long (~1700 columns) of calculated note letters, frequencies, note lengths, etc
-> Excel final sequence file with 6 columns: channel, start time, frequency, note length, loudness, stereo position (.csv)
-> Octave/MATLAB code to take the 6 columns and turn them into chiptune (.mp3 or .wav)
-> Sometimes extra post processing in Audacity for final .wav

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See also:
- https://arxiv.org/a/ryan_d_1 (arXiv) for a list of my academic paper pre-prints, including my writing on music theory and Just Intonation
- http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4785-9766 (ORC ID) for my academic profile
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidryan59 for my LinkedIn profile

Sonata 1 'Cheery' - Chip Synth, Justly Intoned

Dehydrated all dried up

´the worlds within out petty voids´ for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello.

Written for and premiered by ensemble recherche.

Recorded by Chloe Deng.

the worlds within our petty voids

Quadrangle Collusion Ver 3

A dance from a parallel dimension, in a time you didn't know.

Hoovooloo (15 Steps to love) - 15EDO

It's not the case

Fading light

my very first ever commissioned piece of music! for https://twitter.com/KoboldUnderlord, who wanted a dungeon crawling type theme for their oc Wyx

wyx's treasure hunt

You were my cause and effects and my actions
you were the pause and record you were everything to me
you were the brains in my head you were electric
you had me sussed from the start maybe you know that i felt it too

But you've got no reason to be here now
it didn't go to plan
you've got no reason to be grateful for the sorry mess I am
and it's just my luck to not be there when you come around
so I'll see you brother when I see you in the lost and found.

I am the fly in your punch that ruins your party
I am the bone in your throat that chokes the life out of your body
You knock me down and you're counting up to 10
But I'm not preparing to waste another second getting up again.

FAST-fast - Lost and Found(19EDO)

not my photo this time
from split and from summer 2019 too

0 mornings

The Walk

Composer and producer from Toronto. Previous commissions for Infamous Quests, GuysFromAndromeda LLC, BBC, Universal Studios, Gems TV, MBT, Zoom, BMG amongst others. Available in UK, France, New Zealand, Canada, USA. Will write to spec, fast and original.  skype: sickfiction1


FAST-fast - Lost and Found(19EDO)

James Mulvale - Composer