How did you guys get into microtonal music?

[Octahedra]

How did you guys get into microtonal music?

A few years ago I wasn't hearing all that much microtonal stuff, and never quite got inspired to have a go myself. It's probably partly that my taste has changed... Anyway, somehow I owned a DX11 for over 12 years before using the micro-tuning feature - something I'm now trying to make up for!

I only started using microtones when I was working with the granular synthesis software Crusher-X, where the oscillator pitches are set in Hertz. I was making the drone for a track called Cathode - nearly 2 years ago now. It was easier to use whole number multiples of the starting frequency than to calculate twelfth roots of anything. In the end I really liked it and spent quite a bit of time getting the other instruments tuned the same way.

Gordon

[seraph]

it's a good start:

http://xenharmonic.wikispaces.com/ProgressReport

[Octahedra]

Thanks for the link - some interesting stories there.

Gordon

[sizone]

My interest in microtuning started with hardware. Considering how rare robust tuning features are, it's weird how many of my synths (bought for other reasons) have it.
First experience was when I got a tx81 in 2002 or 03. One of the first things I did with it while paging through the menus was try out the 24 equal temperment tuning.
For several years I did very little else in the way of microtuning. This last winter I started messing with the tunings on my fizmo, Harry Partch's 43 tone scale became a favorite (he died in the next town over from where I live, so there may be some local affinity). (as an aside) The first assignment I made my logic class do was to decipher a sysex retuning string for a Roland PMA-5.
Around Febuary I discovered Scala. Making it practical, for the first time, to use scales not hardwired in the synths and to get different synths on the same page tuning wise.
The inadequacies of using a keyboard laid out in standard TET for any other tuning become obvious immediately. In a way, that's the problem that got me doing electronics again (so the next time I'm annoying you with a post on his forum, blame the scarcity and cost of alternative controllers). Looking into the hardware options for a diy controller revealed that it's do-able, but prohibitively expensive both in cost and time. Then I got distracted building apc, lunetta and op amp synth circuits (technically, with some of the weird frequency divisions most cmos counters return, a lot of lunetta stuff is microtonal, or atonal depending on who you ask).
I think I'm going to wait until I learn some microcontroller programing before trying to craft a controller again.
I always enjoyed patching synths more than playing them, now I'm enjoying building them more than patching them, so it may be a while before I make any real progress in this area.

[seraph]