If anyone is interested in atonal / micro-tonal / quarter-tonal music, check out Wyschnegradsky - he's one of the more prominent composers in this "genre". His compositions are probably one of the gentler introductions into this stuff.
For stuff that sounds (somewhat) micro-tonal but isn't, there is Pictures at an Exhibition - The Hut on Fowl's Legs.
I disagree with clumping atonal together with microtonal, they are two completely different things.
Regarding Wyschnegradsky, maybe his music is a gentle introduction into atonal music, I don't know. Compared to other microtonal music though, I find it quite dissonant. Some alternatives I would suggest:
Also, many cultures have microtonality as the basis of melody. Makam in Turkish/Ottoman classical music, Qawwali in Pakistani Sufi music, both Carnatic and Hindustani music from Inda, Tuvan from Mongolia, etc. A great recent example is Aphex Twin's most recent album - Syro - which is pretty much end-to-end quarter-tone and microtonally based.
For fun with microtonal synthesis, (or just "fretless", depending on your zoom factor), I recommend playing with DIN Is Noise ( http://dinisnoise.org/ )
Other features include a script api (in Tcl!), support for thousands of simultanious oscillators, a microtonal mouse+kbd interface, and a Bézier editor for the waveform, envelope, etc.
DIN may be next to impossible[1] to use as an actual instrument, but it's still really fun to play with. I would love to see some of DIN's unique ideas (like Bézier envelopes) used in other synths.
[1] The C.C.C.C., MSBR, and TG albums on my shelf suggest "impossible" is merely personal opinion.
Thx for this. Doesn't work in IE 11, but i'll look at later. On my ticklist is working thru the text by Partch[0] and Don Ellis' quarter tone book, which has sax and (I think) 3-valve trumpet fingerings. The amazon blurb on Partch is interesting, I always assumed he had a traditional Western European theory education.
Ellis book PDF available w/registration and maybe payment [1], maybe archived somewhere on web:
6 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 25.5 ms ] threadFor stuff that sounds (somewhat) micro-tonal but isn't, there is Pictures at an Exhibition - The Hut on Fowl's Legs.
Regarding Wyschnegradsky, maybe his music is a gentle introduction into atonal music, I don't know. Compared to other microtonal music though, I find it quite dissonant. Some alternatives I would suggest:
Wendy Carlos' album "Beaty in the Beast", Easley Blackwood's etudes, such as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odTIoRzbDhA , Sevish's music: https://soundcloud.com/sevish ,Cryptic Ruse's music: https://soundcloud.com/crypticruse, X.J. Scott's music: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=141776 ,Prent Rodgers' music: https://soundcloud.com/prent-rodgers ,Dante Rosati's music: https://soundcloud.com/dante-rosati ,Syzygy's music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3FZkQTn51o
And I could go on.
Other features include a script api (in Tcl!), support for thousands of simultanious oscillators, a microtonal mouse+kbd interface, and a Bézier editor for the waveform, envelope, etc.
DIN may be next to impossible[1] to use as an actual instrument, but it's still really fun to play with. I would love to see some of DIN's unique ideas (like Bézier envelopes) used in other synths.
[1] The C.C.C.C., MSBR, and TG albums on my shelf suggest "impossible" is merely personal opinion.
Ellis book PDF available w/registration and maybe payment [1], maybe archived somewhere on web:
[0] http://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Music-Creative-Fulfillments-Pa...
[1] http://www.scribd.com/doc/151154827/Don-Ellis-Quarter-Tones#...