All music pieces on this page are freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.
- Microtonal music
- On-To-Sû, So-Na-Ta
- Music on the Commodore 64
- Sound examples of the Roland Super JX
- Links
Microtonal music
Asîmchômsaia
The first successful result of my experiments in the field of alternative tunings. It uses 5-tone equal temperament, i.e. one octave is divided into 5 equal steps. Additionally, it is in 5/8 measure, which gives a far-going symmetry between pitch and time component, enabling me to use various slightly crazy mathematical techniques. Details to the latter can be found on Music and Mathematics.
Sharks
Piano composition in 17-tone equal temperament, i.e. one octave is divided into 17 equal steps. Besides, it is in 17/8 meter, which gives similar properties as for "Asîmchômsaia" - this time, however, there was not much math used. Played by Jacob Barton and Daniel Sedgwick on two retuned pianos, on september 26, 2006 at Rice University (Houston, Texas), in the context of the Seventeen Tone Piano Projects Phase 2.
Gon Dance
Piano composition in 19-tone equal temperament, i.e. one octave is divided into 19 equal steps. Basiert auf einer Tonleiter aus 9 Ganztönen. Background was the same mathematical modulation model as for "On-To-Sû, So-Na-Ta". For details, see Music and Mathematics.
Gon Dance (MP3) - Gon Dance (score)
One minute prelude (added 2010-07-12)
Piano composition, also in 17-tone equal temperament. It was written for the 2010 60x60 Untwelve contest, which required microtonal compositions at most 60 seconds long. (My piece was not selected, though.) The piece explores some of the modulation possibilities of 17-tone equal temperament, namely the possibility to modulate to keys farther away (measured in steps on the circle of fifths) than would be possible in 12-equal. There is, e.g., a modulation to a key 8 fifths apart, the longest distance possible in 17EDO. (In 12EDO, the longest distance possible is 6 fifths steps). The tonality inside the keys is traditional-sounding minor, but the modulation steps are microtonal.
One minute prelude (SoundClick)Morph 96 (added 2010-07-17)
Originally composed for 1/16 tone piano (a piano with 97 keys, which span only one octave). This recording, however, uses a synth guitar sound of the csound software synthesizer. It follows the paradigm of minimal music with a short basic musical phrase that is constantly iterated with gradual transformations. The concrete transformations that appear are mainly "morphing" transitions between chords, made possible by the extremely slight pitch variations that 96-tone equal temperament offers.
On-To-Sû, So-Na-Ta
(Already described under Music and Mathematics - appearing here again for completeness.) Slightly old-fashioned sounding piano composition based on a harmonics that slightly differs from classical harmony. It was composed (among other reasons) as a test for a mathematical model of musical modulation - detailed explanations of the underlying theory can be found on Music and Mathematics.
Music on the Commodore 64
All sounds of the following pieces were programmed on a Commodore 64. This machine, when programmed in the right way, can be turned into a surprising musical instrument. (Well, it's not actually high quality; the pieces are here mainly for nostalgic reasons, since my Commodore 64 including all of its synth software was scrapped in 2002 - *sniff*).
C64 Random Impression
Random-generated melodies without rhythm, without structure, without development. Boring to death if you insist on listening "actively", but not that bad as background. Based on a whole-tone scale, which creates slightly impressionist effects.
The pieces are hosted on Ruccas. The sample is ogg vorbis, the others are MP3.
Sample (119 KB) - C64 Random Impression 1 (3611 KB) - C64 Random Impression 2 (4138 KB)
C64 Atmosphere
Statistic sound experiment inspired by Iannis Xenakis: pitches sliding up and down like atoms in a gas.(Unfortunately, there was an artithmetic overflow in the software that caused all pitches to end in a low grumble - for the same reason, the whole thing ends after 50 seconds...) Maybe not exactly music, but in any case an example for the surprising sound facilities of the Commodore 64. (Format: ogg vorbis.)
Sound examples of the Roland Super JX
Sections of "Always going down", a synth piece whose style is a little Psychedelic Rock/Pink Floyd, with a lot of strange chords. All tracks were played on a Roland JX 10. (Format ogg vorbis.)
Always going down Sample 1(816 KB) - Always going down Sample 2 (463 KB) - Always going down Sample 3 (682 KB)
Links
- free.superhits.ch -
My profile on mx3.ch -
My profile on SoundClick
Three of the many places in the internet that offer free music downloads! - Ruccas
A site for music created with algorithmical, generative and other "unconventional" techniques. - YaHoo Forum MakeMicroMusic - Xenharmonic Forum (notonlymusic.com)
Two forums (today called "social networks") for composers, performers and, of course, listeners of music in alternative tunings. - Microtonal Wiki
Wiki page about microtonal music.