Rubaquabiggi (Electroacoustic music) + 6-edf (Tuning demo)

June 4th, 2009
Rubaquabiggi (Mixdown 1)  by  nitro2k01(Gameboy Genius)

Electroacoustic music recorded at Studio 4, EMS Stockholm using the Serge and Buchla modular synthesizers and the spring reverbs. 8:26 of strange noises.

6-edf  by  nitro2k01(Gameboy Genius)

This is a demonstration of a (possibly useless) tuning that I played around with for a bit, which I call 6-EDF (Six equal divisions of a fifth) or or 6-TET-3/2 (6 tone equal intonation, ratio 3/2) The main feature of the scale is perfectly tuned fifths. (3/2) (And consequently, no true octave interval exists) It could also be seen as 10-EDO scale with a compressed pseudo-octave with a ratio of about 1.966:1, which is the closest octave approximation that this tuning can offer. The semitone ratio is 1.5^(1/6) = 1.069913…

The sample consists of three parts.
1) Chords consisting of a base note and 4 consecutive fifths. The chord moves 1 semitone per step.
2) Arpeggio moving a semitone per step.
3) Chords consisting of a base note, its pseudo octave (10 semitones from the base note) and the pseudo octave’s perfect fifth (16 semitones from the base note)

Left channel plays a sawtooth wave, right channel plays a square wave. Everything generated with Reaktor.

8 Responses to “Rubaquabiggi (Electroacoustic music) + 6-edf (Tuning demo)”

  1. Brian says:

    really nice work on both sound pieces.

  2. Mr Tomczak says:

    I like 6-EDF more than 7-EDF.

  3. Mr Tomczak says:

    nitro2k01, do you think “Six equally distanced fifths” is a strange way of phrasing it? wouldn’t six equal divisions of a fifth be more accurate?

  4. nitro2k01 says:

    Absolutely… I should try not to post stuff right before I go to bed. Makes it easier to make those slips.

  5. reiyano says:

    hey there nitro. I like the overall sound of that tuning. you should absolutely utilize it in a song sometime. wish I could understand most of what you talked about here. maybe after a music theory 101 class I can come back to this and be like “oh I get it”.

  6. Bud says:

    Yeah, the tuning is nice - of course the ear loves the sound of the perfect 5th, but the out of tune octaves seem to actually give it an even more preferrable tone.

    One a related note, I learned today that one of my favorite scales might have roots in the harmonic overtone series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_scale
    I think using the exact overtone pitches instead of their tempered equivalents would yield some interesting results.

  7. Mr Tomczak says:

    @ Reiyano: I was never taught this sort of stuff in music theory class, only sound engineering - I would have loved a music theory class where explored alternative tunings as well. @ nitro2k01: Well yeah fair enough - I think half the point of blogging is doing it when one is tired:) I was just double checking to make sure I was understanding everything.

  8. reiyano says:

    in that case I should probably look up a book on alt tunings….

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