Motiejus Valančius

Microtonal

installation

microtonal

Wanna know about the vast world of experimental and nonwestern harmonies? Look no further! This is a potpourri of all the music out there that bends the rules away from 12 equal notes per octave.

Message me if you find any tracks that should definitely be included!

For a YouTube-based playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_zQK5KSD4m0MAFWAM2ELgZzlRI7iYA5f

Xenharmonic & Microtonal

Just a little sketch in 19-tone equal temperament.

19 edo In Five

This is a reharmonization of Happy Birthday, tuned to 22 equal divisions of the octave. It is loosely centered around what we call "porcupine temperament."


Happy Birthday

Chord sequence exploring the flavors of the decatonic major scale in 22 EDO discovered and described by Paul Erlich. [Edited to add: The temperament is called "pajara", and it was discovered independently by Erlich and Gene Ward Smith.] It's mellow, just chords. This is the scale in cents, along with 22 EDO sagittal notation:

 0:          1/1           C
 1:        109.091 cents   C||\    D!!/
 2:        218.182 cents   D
 3:        381.818 cents   D/||\   E\!
 4:        490.909 cents   F
 5:        600.000 cents   F||\    G!!/
 6:        709.091 cents   G
 7:        872.727 cents   G/||\   A\!
 8:        981.818 cents   A/|     B\!!/
 9:       1090.909 cents   A/||\   B\!
10:          2/1           C

Image courtesy of "chooyutshing" on Flickr, CC attribution-non-commercial sharealike license. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25802865@N08/4563936947/

Chord sequence in Paul Erlich's 22 EDO decatonic major (pajara).

Using an overdriven rhodes sound to demonstrate how awesome 50EDO is for thirds. Here are most of the thirds, used once each in the sequence. ~15/13 (240c), 7/6 (264c), 13/11 (288c), 6/5 (312c), 17/14 (336c), 5/4 (384c), 9/7 (432c), 13/10 (456c). Which means I've only missed out 16/13 and 81/64(or a mistuned 14/11 if you like).

See if you can work out what's going on by ear. I tried to make the difference tones as obvious as I could by using the gnarliest overdriven sound I could find. I quite like this little chord sequence, but might expand it to try and fit in the other two types of thirds.

Definitely a demo, a few muckups trying to find my way around unfamiliar tonal territory... Enjoy!

Chord sequence for Difference tones in 50EDO

I recorded this a while ago, have no idea what it's from

Sunset

This is a comma pump in the unnamed 17496/16807 temperament, tuned to 34-equal. The basic root movement is by 7/6, and the chords are tuned to 7-limit subminor 7 chords, to make the voice leading smoother.

17496/16807 Comma Pump, Subminor Chords, 34-equal

some ideas I haven't done anything with
Let me know which ones to finish

18 TET Dance

==16-EDO VERSION==

These musical examples are tuned to what is known as "mavila" temperament. It is named after the Mavila village of the Chopi people in southern Mozambique, where this tuning system was first discovered by Kraig Grady.

Because of the structure of this unique tuning, it is true that every existing piece of common practice music has a "shadow" version in mavila temperament. That is, when Beethoven wrote Fur Elise, he actually wrote two compositions - the one that you know, and the anti-diatonic equivalent in mavila temperament. It's only that the anti-diatonic versions have never been heard before.

Mavila is a tuning system whereby four stacked perfect fifths, rather than getting you to a major third, gets you to a minor third - meaning that the fifths are flat. Conversely, four stacked perfect fourths gets you to a major third, rather than a minor third. This has some very strange implications for music. The mavila diatonic scale is similar to the normal diatonic scale - except interval classes are flipped. Wherever there was a major third, you'll find a minor third, and vice versa. Half steps become whole steps and whole steps become half steps (closer to neutral second range, however). When you sharpen the leading tone in minor, you end up sharpening it down instead, meaning you flatten it. Also, minor is now major - you end up with three parallel natural/harmonic/melodic major scales, and only one minor scale. Instead of a diminished triad in the major scale, there is now an augmented triad.

In these examples, the chosen mavila temperament is 16-equal, which was chosen because it strikes a good middle ground between approximating the harmonic series and making the interval categories as distinct as possible. In contrast, 23-equal improves the fit of this temperament to the harmonic series, whereas 25-equal makes the intervals more distinct from one another.

A special thanks goes out to Graham Breed; his custom Lilypond code and several weeks worth of gchat discussion are what made all of this possible.


The Mavila Experiments - Beethoven - Fur Elise - 16-EDO

Completed January 13 (Friday), 2017.

Everyone despises you, but they won’t tell you why. They know that something is different about you, but they can’t quite put their finger on what that would be. Perhaps it is some invisible quality that cannot even truly be detected by quantitative means. Perhaps it is the opposite: so obvious, that your obliviousness towards it, at least for the duration of your lifetime, has been quite an achievement. They despise you, they somehow loathe you, in a hidden, societally unacceptable way, because you check all the boxes perfectly. They have told you that you look good, are gifted, are smart, are apparently kind, are cool, are funny, and friendly, which means that you must objectively be likeable. And yet, somehow, even with   these qualities in the bag, you are still an object of secret scorn. The thing that they hate most about you is not even something that they could collectively name, which may be the source of your latent frustration. It likely has to do with how mysterious and guarded you are, how you are extroverted but cannot flirt, how you are joyful but cannot actually ignore your own depressing thinking. Your success is just as false as your happiness. It is that perceived incongruence, real or not, that is so off-putting, that stinks within you, actively repelling the subconscious of all, save the neophyte and the troglodyte. And perhaps everyone who does appear to like you is faking his or her emotions. Why not? There’s no reason to assume the contrary. In fact, there is better reason to assume a lie, considering mainstream motivations and easily manipulated desires. 

Your artistry, all of it, is profound only as a gimmick or an as obscure phenomenon, there for those haters to simply marvel and gawk at because they have not done the same. Who has ever become ethical by simply being new and unique? You have never done so, and never will, even though others may have. To be inventive in the moral realm is a slippery slope to evil with the wrong evolution, and you have been so dull, and so lacking of self-awareness, that the wind and the rain have simply tossed you from one viewpoint to another as you “think” they would. Your worldview is no better than anyone else’s if you consume your own logical medicine like sustenance instead of candy like everyone else claims. Your role as a mere machine or cog, and your inability to conjecture, undermines you as equally as the ant, or anything that nature conjured. And, you try to make things equivalent that are not supposed to be equivalent, or will not be perceived as such.

But maybe no one despises you after all, and you are simply unlucky. “It’s Friday the 13th” you say, knowing full well that this thirteen has lasted the whole month for so many, so many who are not yourself, and who suffer more than you. Your bad luck is their delight, you privileged fool, and they would trade their sanity for your shoes. How dare you entertain this paranoia that you have some fatal flaw, that you let this conceptual femme fatale ensnare your thinking and drive you around in circles? Don’t you know that it’s wasteful to lust after such intellectual falsehood, that its distortion causes suffering that does not even exist to others, or possibly even yourself? A mere mention of this would inspire laughter. What reason do you have to be uncertain compared to anyone else? And why should they believe your anxiousness, since you exude confidence like an expert?

A Mean Little Voice (Bohlen-Pierce, or 13-ED3)

Turn Up The Love

This is an early microtonal improvisation of mine, which I did before I knew anything about regular temperaments. 24-EDO is the tuning, and this composition can be loosely thought of as being structured around "semaphore" temperament within it, and perhaps "neutral" as well.

Oblique Motion

This song will be part of the "Agnostic Depression Characteristic of the 21st Century Voice" collection.

You don’t insist upon your way
You don’t insist upon your way
You don’t have labored points to prove
You don’t steal goods in desperate times
You don’t take sides when they’re not there
You don’t treat petty tricks as art
You don’t shun truth and common sense    
You don’t insist upon your way
You don’t insist upon your way
You don’t raise your voice
You don’t raise your voice

Unusual Unreal Unbelievable You (11 - EDO)

Forever is in multiplicity and mutation. Musician and visual artist Nicola Tirabasso (VISIO), together with Haunter founders Daniele Guerrini and Francesco Birsa Alessandri called for a collective effort in order to celebrate these elements of experience. In opposition to linear notions of time itself. An attempt to let perceptions of future and past bleed together, to establish every moment as an infinite process of consumption and re-generation. A compilation of 33 artists, each contributing in their own peculiar style, adding their own blends to the palette and exposing the lineage of their work. It is precisely to state that the perennial immanence of difference is what constitutes the basis for true unity, that the curators have grouped an utterly diverse cast of contributors, whose output strikes a vastity of moods and textures, and grows out of very distinct intentionalities and backgrounds. Making kin without borders, letting mutual support evolve into a chimeric infinity.

Curated by Nicola Tirabasso and Haunter Records
Mastered by Jo at Tapewave Mastering
Artwork by Katja Novitskova & Kareem Lotfy
Cat. No. HR024 – All rights reserved.
℗ & © Haunter Records 2019
www.haunterrecords.com

Pubblicato da:
Haunter Records
Data di uscita:
4 Ottobre 2019
Copyright P:
℗ Haunter Records 2019

ssaliva - Why Me

This is a comma pump in porcupine which goes up by three 6/5's and then down two 4/3's back to 1/1. I designed it as an example of something that I thought sounded perfectly "natural," but which doesn't work at all in 12-EDO. I'll use this in a piece somewhere down the road.

The tuning here is 23-EDO, which does a much poorer job in approximating the harmonic series when compared to the other tunings listed here, so the chords don't seem to blend as well. That notwithstanding, it still has a certain interesting color to it, which I somewhat enjoy.

A Porcupine Comma Pump - 23-EDO version

It Isnt So Bad To Be Alone

Connections 1 - 13

Hegira Moya - Nowhere

from NANA WODORI - knowsur - album at Split Notes Microtonal Netlabel
http://split-notes.com/spnt004.php

SUNERU

HIKARU

HANERU

YOMU

A collection of short pieces utilizing unique tunings other than 12-TET. 

10 edo Etude

Taken from 'Action Sports 2'(G&P016), out November 8, 2020.

Besides Action Sports, the duo of friends and frequent collaborators Matthew Pepitone (alias Karmelloz) and Dylan Howe (alias Cplusplus) together form another two vital projects - Julius Theory and Portland Compressor. As Actions Sports they candidly combine their solo approach into sublime and multifaceted compositions, welcoming the listener with a great dose of warmth and pleasantly-colored sentiment. After dropping their first eponymous longplay via Barcelona-based label angoisse, Gin&Platonic is proud to present the duo's follow-up – 'Action Sports 2', which marks their most diverse and complex work yet.

Moderately reinterpreting the legacy of such as BoC or Biosphere while still staying up to date, the duo ambitiously joins the rank of rising contemporary ambient-oriented projects, recruiting from labels like West Mineral or Motion Ward. Beautifully balanced and elegantly composed, the music on Action Sports 2 seeks to erode the delimiters between pristine hi-fi digital dub, abstracted electronic glitches, and the smoked-out, but emotive haze of the American Pacific Northwest ambient. Being released in early November, the mesmerizing longplay calls for repeated listens while out on cold strolls through nature trails, or just leaving unpacked for a proper evening couch voyage with a thick damiana spliff in hand. Either way, Action Sports 2 offers enough thought space for the inherent and low-key rewarding post-summer contemplation. 

Written, produced & mastered by Matthew Pepitone & Dylan Howe
https://soundcloud.com/derrida
https://soundcloud.com/dylanmhowe

Artwork by Jiri Macku
jirimacku.tumblr.com

🍂

Action Sports 2

Digital & Cassette

Action Sports - Wi-Fi 99

Blue Yogurt Mini podcast episode III, this time they invited fetva.

Blue Yogurt Mini podcast guest fetva

This is mostly goofy experimental music theory stuff to see how different microtonal scales sound - no real musical compositions here (yet)

The Mavila Experiments - Beethoven - Fur Elise - 16-EDO

Mike Battaglia