MoonSuite
01 October 2008 Filed in: Music
Listen to Moonsuite
"Moonsuite" is an experiment using an "empirical" tuning I made up while studying LMSO's new tuning latch function.
“Tuning latch enables you to tune notes in real time using your ear. This is the same idea as being able to move the frets on an instrument during play, which is a technique used in many ethnic musics.” (from LMSO's user's manual).
I created it going through a circle of fifths by ear without caring much about being close to a 3/2 ratio (the fact that LMSO "octave-reduces" intervals is way cool) .
I ended up with 12 pitches within an octave that do not follow any possible theory.
Here they are:
0., 71.825, 169.67, 293.563, 422.097, 530.203, 572.019, 689.753, 763.106, 857.565, 1021.418, 1096.835
Cents difference among steps is:
71.825, 97.845, 123.893, 128.534, 108.106, 41.816, 117.734, 73.353, 94.459, 163.853, 75.417, 103.165
I think all these irregularities give a more natural and organic sound to electronic instruments.
The suite is composed of 3 pieces. All of them have a similar structure: a lead sound, a pad sound and some background noise.
The lead and pad sounds come from Camel Audio Cameleon 5000 additive synthesizer. The background noises from Logic Pro 8 libraries.
The 3 pieces have then been chained together crossfading from one to the other.
C. L. commented:
Great piece. Really uses the microtonal resources effectively. The essence of the piece couldn't be conveyed using 12-ET, and not all microtonal music has that property. I especially like the portamento lines.