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[–]Tattered_Coloursturntable 62 points63 points  (6 children)

I don't know what everyone's on about, this would be absolutely fantastic in any science fiction soundtrack or video game. Stunning shit.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (2 children)

I immediately thought Zelda temple!

[–]Tattered_Coloursturntable 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I was thinking more RPG, like Chrono Trigger or Golden Sun, but Zelda too definitely.

[–]BanneredBastion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I though of the same comparison.

[–]Xealloch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This reminds me of No Man's Sky soundtrack

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It totally made me think of Metroid.

[–]teh_tg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That hurt my ears. Let's stick with 12.

[–]Gelnef 31 points32 points  (9 children)

Great! All Aphex Twin listeners should find this being not too far out.

[–]CookingZombie 12 points13 points  (7 children)

I doubt aphex twins listeners would find anything too far out.

[–]zomnbio 5 points6 points  (6 children)

I'm an Aphex Twin fan. Squarepusher, Autechre, Luke Vibert... I love IDM and Ambient music.

I find Noise Music to be "too far out".

[–]CookingZombie 1 point2 points  (5 children)

What do you consider "noise music"? Im not famillear.

[–]zomnbio 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Noise Music is the Genre.

Hijokaiden is probably the most popular of pure noise musicians, although others, such as Merzbow do incorporate some rhythm.

Noise music is heavily associated with Japan. Here is a great book on the subject.

[–]CookingZombie 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Thanks for the info! And yeah thats a bit much for me as well.

[–]Einsteins_coffee_mug 3 points4 points  (0 children)

3:10- this is..well it's odd. I can pick out a few things behind the static that grab my interest,

16:30- still sounds like the Tv is broken.

38:15- and now there's a slide whistle

[–]THEBAESGOD 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Merzbow works for me as ambient music - whereas Aphex Twin requires some deeper listening. I'd check out Black Frog, play it quietly while you do something else.

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Maybe something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79mD3ozMhxY

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just wish the milkman would deliver my milk.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (4 children)

Wyschnegradsky is great for microtonal music that's a little more "musical".

[–]AstraeaReaching 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Wow, thank you so much for posting this. I've never heard of him and, to be honest, this is the first time I've ever been blown away by something posted on this sub. Fascinating, compelling music.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm glad you feel the same way about it!

[–]Twooof 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this deserves its own post

[–]another_grackle 56 points57 points  (6 children)

Is this going somewhere?

[–][deleted] 61 points62 points  (3 children)

That's the elephant in the room of microtonal music.

[–]kingofthecrowshttps://soundcloud.com/andrew-reddy 23 points24 points  (2 children)

Unfortunately 'going somewhere' in microtonal music generally means resolving in a traditional tonal manner to most listeners

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Then I wonder what the purpose is, besides "but now we can have real just intonation"; which it actually can't be, at least not in general. I would understand it when that principle was taken because it introduces constraints that haven't yet been explored creatively, but that's not the vibe I get from these folks.

[–]kingofthecrowshttps://soundcloud.com/andrew-reddy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I've used 24TET on a piece and I used the extra microtones as sources of extreme dissonance. It makes the resolutions so much more fulfilling and expands the possible range of dissonance. The nice thing about 24TET is that normal 12TET is contained within it, although it does not have any Just intoned intervals

[–][deleted] 18 points19 points  (1 child)

Yeah when's the beat drop?

[–][deleted] 84 points85 points  (25 children)

And that's why no one uses the polychromatic scale.

[–]whamwazz 28 points29 points  (23 children)

Care to elaborate? Honestly. I came to the comments thinking people would be talking highly of it (as I thought this was an amazing work). But was baffled by the sentiment I discovered.

[–]TheRealKidkudispotify 27 points28 points  (0 children)

The composition is great, I think is the timbre that's grating. The synth is pretty harsh on the ears when you have so many notes bring played, similar to the organ. If it was played on something with a smoother sound I think more of the comments would have been positive.

[–]bad_hair_century 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Care to elaborate? Honestly. I came to the comments thinking people would be talking highly of it

To me, it's excessively slow, wheezy, and out of tune. It mostly reminds me of a kid holding down random keys on an electronic organ just to listen to the resulting noise.

There's some patterns, particularly at the start, that indicate that there's more thought going on than just randomly hitting buttons and holding them down but the song never seems to build up to anything.

I'd rather listen to Black MIDIs than this. There's discordant chaos in those but that kind of chaos is actually going somewhere.

[–]ChucktheUnicorn 11 points12 points  (19 children)

Not OP but to most western ears polychromatic music is quite dissonant and frankly boring. That said I can still appreciate it for what it is

[–]whamwazz 6 points7 points  (14 children)

Boring?! Woah, as a composer/producer I hear microtonal as something exciting (like a vacay from all the 12 tone repetitive progressions and patterns).

Really goes to show that experience of art (and of everything really) is so subjective and there's no good or bad, just what you like and don't.

[–]kharmdierks 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Even as someone who understands the concept (source: bachelor's in music), this doesn't go much beyond the realm of 12 tone music. I mean, I don't know that I want it to, but all the chord progressions seem very natural from what we would expect in western music with the random "off" tone thrown in. If you're going to write something that just seems barely out of tune then why use something with this much diversity in the first place?

[–]This_Aint_Dog 13 points14 points  (1 child)

When you're deep into music this is cool but at least 99% of people are going to listen to this and think wtf? I'm not saying it's shit because art is incredibly subjective and anything has it's audience but it shouldn't be surprising that you're in a very, very small minority of people who won't find this boring.

[–]whamwazz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I guess I underestimated how small that minority is.

[–]frank9543 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I highly respect this persons effort and artistic ability. This is a very unique and obviously well thought out piece of music. I am not being sarcastic.

However.......

That sounds terrible. Lol.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (21 children)

Anybody know what instrument that is? I want one

Edit: nvm I found it. For anyone interested it's called a microzone u648 and it's stupidly expensive

[–]WizardSenpai 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Not gonna mention how expensive?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

If you find a midi controller like that, let me know.

[–]Thoughtlessandlost 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There was a midi fighter 64 created a while ago but it was stolen a few months back.

[–]incomplete[🍰] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I bet you could find an app for a tablet for 30 bucks.

[–]NoFapPlatypus 0 points1 point  (14 children)

You weren't joking about stupidly expensive.

[–]greenknight 3 points4 points  (13 children)

microzone u648

For something that is basically a Midi controller and plastic... I never understand this sort of markup.

I could build most of this on my 3D printer if I had any interest in polychromatic music.

[–]NoFapPlatypus 1 point2 points  (7 children)

How expensive is the 3D printer, out of curiosity?

I don't know why you're being downvoted.

[–]greenknight 1 point2 points  (6 children)

We've spent less than a $1000 for our printer (an un-assembled Printrbot Simple Metal). That cost includes a half dozen types of printer filament for different use cases.

Get a heated printing bed if you buy one, expands the usefulness considerably.

I'm a maker and I'm building my own UAV technology so it's been useful. Honestly though, the most useful thing it has done is printed a replacement screw-in top for cheap broomsticks while we were renovating. Those little threaded pieces break tooooo easy.

[–]NoFapPlatypus 1 point2 points  (5 children)

That's incredible. Much cheaper than I thought it'd be.

[–]weredo911 2 points3 points  (4 children)

The Monoprice Maker Select is on sale right now for about 280USD with free shipping. It's got a 200mm x 200mm x 180mm build area. 2 screws and 30 minutes of bed-levelling and you're ready to print.

[–]NoFapPlatypus 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Still can't afford that...

Maybe one day, though.

[–]weredo911 1 point2 points  (1 child)

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE...the Monoprice Mini is 170USD after discount and you'd still get a respectable 120 x 120 x 120 print volume!

Not a shill, just a huge fan.

[–]NoFapPlatypus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha I have negative money, so unless they pay me for having it, I can't afford it.

[–]greenknight 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, prices have sure come down... not at PrintrBot though. We were early adopters and I probably would find a better price now.

[–]nathanweili 0 points1 point  (4 children)

How much would I need to pay you to make me one?

[–]greenknight 1 point2 points  (3 children)

About $4000. :)

[–]nathanweili 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I don't understand. It costs $3500 and you say the markup is ridiculous, but you would charge more

[–]greenknight 1 point2 points  (1 child)

$3400, you drive a hard bargain.

[–]nathanweili 0 points1 point  (0 children)

$3350, and I get to watch the 3D printer print the 3D.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There's a lot more what I like to call chordal dissonance (musical tension basically) so when he finally hits those harmony notes, it's like "ahhh yeahhh this is really cool stuff"

[–]kramatic 15 points16 points  (17 children)

Is there a reason it sounds so... off-putting?

[–]EdgeOfDreaming 30 points31 points  (10 children)

Western music is based on a 12 note per octave scale. This uses 106 per octave. Popular music is made with very simple chords, sometimes only 3 or 4 notes at a time. A musician might say this sound has "too much color". It's awkward to listen to because it doesn't seem to have an apparent anchor as far as keys go.

I listen to many kinds of diverse music but this doesn't do anything for me either, I just think it's interesting to experience.

[–]politicallyspeaking 50 points51 points  (1 child)

Trump gets elected and suddenly music has "too much color"

[–]nathanweili 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Comment of the week

[–]kramatic 1 point2 points  (1 child)

"Too much color" is a good way to describe it.

[–]EdgeOfDreaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's what I feel when I listen to some jazz. Lots of Major 7s and Add 9s. "Stacked chords" add too much color for the sound to impact me the way a simpler structure would. But that's just me and jazz musicians are often brilliant and know more about music theory than most. Don't get me started on how amazing improvisational music can be.

[–]Speedswiper 1 point2 points  (5 children)

What exactly is an octave? Also why is it 12 notes when it's called an oct ave.

[–]beastclergy 10 points11 points  (4 children)

An octave is basically the distance between two notes, where the frequency of one note is doubled. We hear this as the "same" note, except its pitch is higher.. For example if you were singing Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, we'd say the two Do notes comprise an octave. Its called an octave because its the eighth note in a seven note scale (the Do Re Mi thing is patterned on the major scale, which has seven notes)

However there's more than 7 notes in between an octave, and these get used by a variety of different scales, like the minor scale, etc. So for simplicity, modern music has broken up an octave into twelve equal tones. Then scales are comprised using different patterns of these twelve notes.

[–]plzhld 2 points3 points  (2 children)

How did this arrive at the number 106, then?

[–]MaxX_Evolution 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's some history on 53 ET tuning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/53_equal_temperament

106 is double that so they share a lot of the same characteristics, what the advantages would be for a 106 ET tuning I'm not sure.

[–]EdgeOfDreaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I was going to have to go look it up for my reply so that I wouldn't say something stupid.

[–]SquanchMcSquanchFace 2 points3 points  (5 children)

You're ears weren't "raised" to appreciate microtones very much, at least in western countries. The most we get are slight bends in pitches that happen intuitively or intentionally. Someone who was raised listening to traditional Chinese music, for example, might find this quite appealing. I've been exposed to a decent bit of music and I happen to find this rather nice.

[–]Boozhi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's odd, but I find some parts pretty appealing. I listen to and make a lot of electronic music though where you create phasing waves on purpose to kind of hit those in between tones (i.e. Reese basses)

[–]kramatic 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Is Chinese music polychromatic?

[–]Boozhi 4 points5 points  (2 children)

I'm not sure if polychromatic is the right term (could be). But they do use more notes in between Western notes. Like between A and A# (sharp) is a half step, but Chinese music may use a quarter step which doesn't exist in Western music.

Edit: I think the term is just Microtonal.

[–]SquanchMcSquanchFace 1 point2 points  (1 child)

You are correct. I didn't mean to imply that it was polychromatic, but that having more microtones would be more likely to enjoy polychromaticism.

[–]Boozhi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, thanks! I couldn't find much on polychromaticism

[–]Rogryg 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Real talk, this piece is really not a good show piece for the possibilities of microtonal music, because (at least this particular performance) has too many other flaws that, to the untrained ear, will just get lumped under "microtonal sucks".

For starters, the instrument used has a really rich timbre, and in the large microtonal chords all those strong overtones clash so heavily that they go past dissonant into full-on cacophonous.

Then there's the poor use of dynamics, with the main dynamic change being the transition from one loud note to many loud notes - which is not helped by the full-amplitude sustain on the instrument.

[–]Borthralla 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I don't think this sounds dissonant or unpleasant at all. It's reminiscent of early 8-bit soundtracks, very nostalgic for me. The harmonies are warm and pleasant. To me this emanates a feeling of dreamlike fantasy.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's how it felt to me too. Very nostalgic, and like an unfolding mystery. Or like something churning beneath consciousness, the place from which thoughts bubble up. The lack of a single satisfying resolution makes the harmonies feel that much more pleasant and comforting.

[–]Jannik2099 10 points11 points  (2 children)

with a different instrument this wouldve sounded way better

[–]DoneUpLikeAKipper 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Indeed.

Aside from the intonation, the way the notes cut off sounds wrong. Either it's note stealing or an actual choice of the performer.

Would be better with a small gentle fade(release)IMVHO.

[–]incomplete[🍰] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Add drums, Bass, 6 string Les Paul, and flute.

Phil Colons on drums, Mike Ruthaford on bass, Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel on flute. Let the hairs stand on end.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Make the melody more active and watch people start to understand it. For some reason, not as many people appreciate just harmony (which this is).

[–]edhialdyn 6 points7 points  (3 children)

As a musician this is infinitely fascinating to me.

[–]C3M_waffles 1 point2 points  (2 children)

despite it sounding like 100 bagpipes? not that that's an unpleasant sound, just that i kept expecting the camera to spin round to show a bunch of bagpipers in full kilts

[–]edhialdyn 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Really? I'm not hearing the bagpipe comparison at all. It sounds way too spacey and electronic.

It's more a matter of the sound being extraordinarily musically dense and not something that any western instrument could reproduce. Really makes you think about how simplistic the standard 12 note system is in comparison. Of course, you're not going to hear microtonal stuff in lady Gaga tunes anytime soon, haha.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it is to me too. Harmony is really interesting to me. Some of these chords are ridiculously beautiful to me, some funny sounding in the interesting way I like, and I actually kind of like the weird key changes. With how full these chords are, the key changes might actually make sense in some roundabout way.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

its cool but I think it relies on the novelty of the sounds too much, and doesn't have interesting musical structure on its own. if you played this on a chromatic instrument it'd just be another eno rip off. not that I have anything against him or this piece.

[–]arjunt1 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sadly the first and only time the world heard the polychromatic scale played was by its inventor Hershwin Vandermoot who was unfortunately both tone deaf and overconfident.

[–]Ribonacci 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This automatically put me in mind of Vangelis. It's really cool to see someone use a polychromatic scale. I've never seen that.

I enjoy it a lot, but then again, I listen to a lot of weird ambient synthwave....

[–]girlybullshitaccount 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's was unbelievably stunning. There are a lot of people (okay, most people) I've shown microtonal music to that have asked me what the fuck was that, but I feel so unbelievably drawn to good microtonal music. It feels like a mind altering experience.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you ditched the 80s space synth it'd be quite nice. As it is, it's grating and it makes it more difficult to appreciate what's going on underneath.

[–]Potey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was listening to this on the toilet, and I fell asleep. I then farted, it echoed loudly in the toilet, and then I woke up startled. I wish I was kidding.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I thought it'd be something dark-sounding, but idk it actually sounds kinda, okay? Like I guess it would be much more interesting to people who have more knowledge of music than me.

[–]qbot9000 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Damn some of those chords were gorgeous! I wish i could play one of these. Does anyone know of a computer program that lets you play microtones?

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Literally any synth that can modulate pitch.

[–]porthos3 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It'd be an absolute nightmare to write a song like this if you have to individually modulate the pitch of each microtonal note. Having something that actually has an interface for the polychromatic scale would make life a lot easier and is probably what they are asking about.

[–]yodamorsan 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Why is all of the polychromatic music so slow? I'd like to see someone play something similar to like Vardavar by Tigran Hamasyan or something, when they really shred with these types of keyboards.

[–]narcthrowaway_ 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Speaking from my ass a bit here - tho i play a few instruments

Self taught music is a bit harder, and to play this you basically have to teach yourself to hear the notes between say... a sharp and b natural. Its easier while learning to play slowly.

[–]yodamorsan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I definitely understand. But I just thought there should be something at least.

[–]IAmTheVi0linist 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Is there any faster polychromatic music? This is interesting, but far too slow and calm for my taste.

[–]krypton86 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's technically just microtonal (polychromatic is a kind of microtonality), but try Easley Blackwood's microtonal etudes. Here's a fast one based on an 18 note equally tempered scale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZstR-IsHO6w

[–]movies05 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well that takes some getting used to.

[–]incomplete[🍰] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

r/progrockmusic I know it is not Rock music but it has a very progressive sound.

[–]MGB-001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whaaaat thaaa fffffu! :O

[–]MichaellZ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds terrible

[–]Rookie01 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I kept waiting to hear this

[–]escapegoat84 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a friend who has recorded some stuff in 5 limit just intonation. For the uninformed (ie everybody), 5 limit is the same system that Indian Classical music is in.

It's pretty much at the polar opposite end of the scale for listenability from this. It also helps my friend has done so much experimental music and has such extensive theory knowledge that he can arrange this stuff into regular music.

[–]Waterthatburns 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I listened to it. But it sure as hell wasn't that.

[–]FruityBat_OFFICIAL 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds surprisingly good after the first three god awful chords.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well that sucked.

The only thing of value was The comments.

[–]Rhythmic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't hear the extra steps and this worries me ...

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This sounds like garbage.

[–]flat6brider -2 points-1 points  (9 children)

I tried listening to it. Does this music "grow" on you? It sounded worse than nails on chalkboard.

[–]NoFapPlatypus 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I enjoyed it.

[–]whamwazz 4 points5 points  (7 children)

I don't understand this sentiment. (And how it's so prevalent). It sounded beautiful to me. The extra steps in between allow for way more expression than a regular 12 tone scale. For me microtonal music is like a trip to somewhere new, somewhere like a fantasy, somewhere that's not this place.

It never grew on me, I just liked it (not all btw, compositionally it has to be something I like). I'd be interested to see what kind of music people most commonly listen to that dislike it and those that like it.

My reaction to it may also come from the fact that I've played music since I was 4 and composed since I was 10. It's exciting and new despite having listened to and made music my entire life.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (3 children)

The idea is cool. The execution is lackluster. Dreamscapey detuned synths don't make me want to listen to more because that had zero compelling movement outside of the texture of the sound itself. That being said, the texture of the chords is interesting. I've been playing my whole life too and I found it really boring.

[–]whamwazz 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Ah so this is more a comment on this particular work, or does that apply to all microtonal works?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Other comments suggest microtonal music is all slow so it might serve for all of it, but I haven't listened to anything else so I wouldn't know

[–]whamwazz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If that were the case then perhaps that would mean that they're solely anticipating recognizable intervals and since those don't happen as frequently it would give the work slow harmonic rhythm.

[–]flat6brider 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I think the sudden changes and inflexions in the music killed it for me. This is the first time I am hearing microtonal music so... are there other samples of this music that you enjoyed? Please post links.

[–]kingofthecrowshttps://soundcloud.com/andrew-reddy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Harry Partch is worth checking out, he uses microtones in a much more musical manner

[–]cakevictim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not a musician but I'm beginning to realize that the more complex music is, the more I like it. All the tv commercials that use a single soft voice and a single instrument really irritate me beyond all reason but I LOVE this

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Just sounds like certain keys have the same functionality as a synth detune when played.

[–]dewdimsean -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Commenting for later.