Six Three
1: Six Three, 02:32
2: Six Three Touch, 03:00
3: Six Three Orbits, 03:39
4: Six Three Particles, 02:13

Dates:
05-Dec-2025 (inception), 06-Dec-2025 (finalised), 07-Dec-2025 (released)

Artists:
Music composed, performed, produced by Norman Freund
Artwork by Norman Freund

BandCamp Purchase:
https://normanfreund.bandcamp.com/album/six-three

SHORTEN VERSION, excludes Table 1 tuning, see my BandCamp site or my social media page for full details (https://www.facebook.com/norman.freund.545/)

Description:

Marcelo Leal Ref. [1] posts an article on FaceBook group, "Microtonal Music and Tuning Theory" and tags me, I looked on with interest. A tuning scale developed using at most harmonics one through to and include sixty three, octave reduced (i.e. divided by powers of 2 to ensure the frequency ratios remained within the 1. to 2. range. 32 Notes were used in this scale with adjacent note intervals starting from 53 cent, gradually reducing to 27 cent for the last interval to the first octave. So loosely speaking a quarter tone tuning with some stretching. I have tried quarter tone equal divisions of the octave tunings (24EDO) in the past and could not really get warm with them. Still, I was intrigued. 

Thirty notes, a lot of intervals to imagine, so I thought some form of colour coding on my Ableton Push2 midi controller would help. My Digital synthesiser, PulseRectOsc has micro-tuning and a user definable colour table, so switched this on and began experimenting. Stepping back just a bit, some preparation work on a spread sheet was necessary to calculate the frequency ratios, figure out a colour system using nearest 12EDO notes as a frame work.

The colour coding was to start the root note out as RED (1), colour all the diatonic notes of the nearest 12EDO major scale notes (the white keys on a piano) in GREEN (10), colour the nearest 12EDO sharp accidentals (#) in BLUE (15) and what was left over (the ^ and \/'s) coloured in PURPLE (18). The note naming convention used here was intended as a performer guide.

The PulseRectOsc synthesiser is a drone with a pulse like wave shape, amplitude modulation, wave folder distortion, a delay+feedback net work and your choice of VST reverb (or other effect). I used the Native Instruments' Raum for reverb. PulseRecOsc has an eight track audio recorder, so I recorded some four note chords to improvise over on the Soma Lyra 8.

The Soma Lyra 8 tuning approach was to tune it by ear to eight notes from the Table 1 tuning for the first track prior to the performance, then improvise a melodic line. Subsequent tracks would use a different four note drone chord from the PulseRectOsc and the Lyra 8 would use the tuning from the previous track as a starting point but alter the tuning during the performance. Each performance would introduce additional entropy into the tuning as performed on the Lyra 8, all done live, by ear, during the performance.

Each track's duration was purposely kept short, I wanted to demonstrate the various flavours of the 63-Limit Otonality tuning and in Lyra 8 style interpret this tuning organically.

The signal chain for the Lyra 8: mono out to the Soma COSMOS (rhythmic firmware, adds reverb and stereo space) -> stereo to digital interface -> 8 track recorder of PulseRectOsc.

The tuning of the Lyra 8 is very organic, is influenced by adjacent oscillators and has a "MOD" dial to accept frequency modulations from what it calls a "Hyper LFO". The Hyper LFO comprises of two low frequency oscillators, I used them here in the OR mode not synchronised, each pulse of the LFO changes the oscillator voice frequency according to the MOD dial. You don't control it strictly, more like guiding it, you listen and decide to increase or decrease the amount of modulation. A very organic approach.

References:
[1] Marcelo Leal, 5-Dec-2025, 63-Limit Otonality by Pitch (tuning scale). FaceBook group "Microtonal Music and Tuning Theory" Link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1asmaHiK7G/

Six Three Orbits

Welcome to my place of musical experiments and my endless journey of exploring new sound textures, rhythms and melodic ideas. I am a multi-instrumentalist coming from a background of having actively played, harmonica, recorder, piano, organ, clarinet, tin whistle, pan pipes, guitar, violin, Shakuhachi, jaw harp, didgeridoo and accordion. My genre is mostly a fusion of Jazz and Soundscape, however I often seek inspiration from a wide variety of music, Celtic, Rock, Heavy Metal, Classical, Folk, Micro-tonal, just to name a few. I also build my own instruments, various Shakuhachi using them either directly in recordings or sample the sounds to incorporate in pitch shifting tools in Ableton Live. I often set myself a music challenge, taking every day sounds not considered musical, sampling, transforming and moulding them into a virtual musical instrument. Experimenting with evolving polymeters is a favourite feature of my works. I have been classically trained but soon ventured into free improvisation, which is my happy place.

I am based on the South Island of New Zealand, enjoying the great outdoors there. I often take inspiration from this for my music and associated cover art.

I have a no cover’s policy, all my works being original compositions, the only exception would be the odd jazz interpretation of a Bach piece from the Baroque era. My percussion sections do not use any artificial intelligence drum machines, nor do I use auto tuners for my violin playing. Paid likes and plays — none of that either. 

I also participate in musical collaborations, from accepting sound samples to see what I can do with them, to instrumental collaborations. Send me a message if interested.

Please join me on this wonderful journey of music exploration.