Using different scales together

Octahedra · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:33 am Post subject: Using different scales together

Has anyone tried using different tuning systems together at the same time?

I'm just making my first attempt. Maybe too much listening to Ligeti, Murail and Julian Anderson has made me want to be some kind of Evil Genius composer! Twisted Evil

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I've got big background chords in 12 equal temperament. There are only 10 chords in 9 minutes, but it's multitimbral with each part having its own volume variations, so there's plenty of evolution and you lose track of which note is the root. These chords aren't usually based on major or minor triads, and all that unpredictable change of emphasis and texture spoilt many of the chord progressions, so I just faded the problem notes down to silence around the changeover points. The lowest note of the chord is always E, A, C or D. Those 4 notes finally come together into their own chord in the last minute, then resolve to A major (A, C#, E) - the tonality being a surprise after all the ambiguous weirdness.

The melody takes the lowest note of the current chord (which isn't always the root), and builds a harmonic series scale from there. You multiply the original frequency by all the whole numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. up to 32 in this case.
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I've used a harmonic scale on its own before, but making it work with these chords has been a bit of a nightmare. Many of the notes cause crazy dissonance against the equal temperament stuff, although I've used some of the more acceptable dissonances on purpose (that was kind of the whole point of doing this!). Leading tones that actually give you a decent idea of what the next note will be, are really hard to find. You can't rely on experience composing with other tuning systems, and basically need to learn a lot again by trial and error.

The higher you go, the more notes you get per octave. You keep thinking of a note you want and then finding it only exists in a higher octave! If I'd used just intonation to put in those extra low notes I wouldn't have been able to fit 4 scales of 32 harmonics into the midi range of 128 notes.

So it's going to take some more tweaking before I can call it finished. Not that I'm trying to put people off the whole idea! Embarassed

Gordon

seraph · Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:17 pm Post subject:

Hi Gordon
check this out: Alphapanther. It features 12tET and Carlos Alpha at the same time Cool

Rykhaard · Joined: Sep 02, 2007 Posts: 1290 Location: Canada

Gordon -

OMG. All you've above spake almost reminds me of one who's discussing building a living arrangement in a 4th dimension. Wink

It's cool to read of what you're doing with this composition as well. I'm hoping that you'll be posting an mp3 of it, once it's ready for release. Smile

I myself am in the beginnings of attempting to toss away all of my previous musically related trainings and things that I've been used to in composing, for the past 34 years. Scale? Tuning system? To heck with that. Very Happy

I've recently started exploring melodies and movements based on no tuning system or scale at all - The Scale of Naught I'm naming it overall.

Applying the same mind frame to timing, will be coming in time as well. I'm enjoying the travels with it, so far, with my noise machine. It's become quite addictive. Smile

Octahedra · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:43 am Post subject:

seraph · Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:50 pm Post subject:

Octahedra · Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:47 am Post subject:

seraph · Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:48 pm Post subject: