All info at https://doomcorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-odysseys-through-microtonal-tunings

Cosmic Odysseys through Microtonal Tunings

Transcendent Dreams Amidst Tau Ceti's Embrace

Title:
Hydrogren

Dates:
19-Oct-2024 (inception), 20-Oct-2024 (finalised), 21-Oct-2024 (released)

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

BandCamp Purchase:
https://normanfreund.bandcamp.com/track/hydrogen

Description:
Music inspired by physics.

My recent composition, Quantum Shells Ref. [1], used a microtuning scale Ref. [2] based on atomic quantum shell numbers. During my background research into quantum shell numbers, I found that Hydrogen atoms vibrate at discrete frequencies Ref. [3] p. 1108 equ. (49-29) as attributed to Niels Bohr (1885-1962).

These vibrations are a function of physical constants and the quantum states, j and k of the hydrogen atom, where j and k are the integers 1,2,3 ... , where k is greater than j. Each time the atom makes a transition from one state to another, radiation at a specific frequency is emitted as:

f = C * (1/j^2 - 1/k^2)

where
C = 3.2695E15 Hz

So this got me intrigued, a frequency based upon two integer numbers, I immediately thought of my Ableton Push2, an 8x8 grid based midi controller. Assign j to the column position and k to the row position of the midi note pads.

Naturally the hydrogen frequencies had to be pitched down several octaves to place them back into the limits of human hearing. Concert pitch frequency is 440 Hz, so to get the atom frequencies near this, you would have to drop the hydrogen frequency by about 42 octaves. Now that is one hell of an octaver!

I quickly put together a Max (Cycling 74) patch, to map the row,column positions to the tuning and a custom synthesiser to listen to what the harmonies sounded like. A very funky keyboard indeed, very widely spaced intervals and very narrowly spaced intervals on the one playing grid. I liked what I heard, so refined the synthesiser (NOF_HydrogenFrequency), doing the initial prototypes as a Max standalone, then finally a Live friendly Max for Live (M4L) device, that I could place in an arrangement, ready to compose music with it.

"Hydrogen" uses the NOF_HydroggenFreuqnecy synthesiser in three tracks, each synchronised using the same basic tuning with a reference frequency of 6644.88 Hz, giving the 8x8 pad an octave range of -1 to -8.  Some drum tracks were then added.

Now I had the frame work for improvising with the Soma Pipe. I sung into the Soma Pipe (Drum, Oktava, Reverb and Orpheus modes), fed this into the Soma Cosmos (original firmware), then finally into Ableton Live for recording. The original firmware for the Cosmos uses drifting timing, but yet my Hydrogen composition was in a strict 4/4 rhythm, but hey it worked, tweaking the mix levels, delay gains and degree of suppression of older recordings in the Cosmos memory with the new incoming audio.

There is a lot of fine detail in the NOF_HydroggenFreuqnecy tracks, find a quiet place to listen, with the following fictional story that came to my mind when the audio part of the project was completed:



Experiments in the Hydrogen Lab.

Hydrogen vibrations are detected and
pitched down to within the limits
of human hearing.

The engineers decide to sing along,
improvising to what they hear.
An improvised drum kit is fed
through the test equipment,
experimenting with the control dials.

The sounds of the hydrogen atoms continue
to echo through the vast tunnels in
the test facility.

Pings are sent out to the outside world.

They wait and listen.


The story line, I think Hainbach would approve of.

References:
[1]
Music, “Quantum Shells”
SoundCloud, https://soundcloud.com/norman-freund/quantum-shells
BandCamp, https://normanfreund.bandcamp.com/track/quantum-shells
by Norman Freund, 8-Oct-2024

[2]
Kristal McKinstry, 4 October 2024 10:52, posting on the FaceBook group "Microtonal Music and Tuning Theory".

[3]
David Halliday, Robert Resnick, "Physics Part 2", Third Edition, Wiley, 1978

Buy Hydrogen

Hydrogen

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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.

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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.

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New tracks tagged #microtuning,