31 EDO: Double Mode Theory Explained

You've never heard modes like these before!
Double modes allow us to leverage the shimmer quality implicit within the falling diesis. We can use it as a momentary effect like a chorus pedal or something approximating gamelan ombak tuning to highlight certain moments in a piece of music, or we can use it structurally to create truly mind-blowing microtonal harmonies, which through a double modal framework, allows us to go freewheeling through a landscape of unexplored tonalities.
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Discovering a NEW MODE Through This Microtonal Defect:
• Discovering a NEW MODE...
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#microtonal #microtonality #31edo #31tet #musictheory #musictheorylessons #microtone #xenharmonic #xenharmonics #doublemodes #doublemode #levimusictheory #levimcclainmusictheory #tuningtheory #31tet

[@LeviMcClain]

What is the best way to think of double modes: decoration or foundation? I just uploaded a new Patreon exclusive video essay/lecture about all of the many many 7th and suspended chords a double mode can generate. If you liked this video, please consider supporting my work over there! www.patreon.com/LeviMcClain Corrections: 4:41 the chord is supposed to read Esin, not Eneu, the diagram and EDObox however, are correct.

[@mylesbrathwaite8010]

Bro 😢 you don't understand how open my heart became ~ I'm a gospel musician that had a near-death experience before, and I had a heavenly euphoric experience, wish it could've been longer (I honestly didn't want to come back), and i remember how the music felt, but not necessarily what I heard on that day (though every now and again I hear that kind of music in my head), I can remember it sounded like 3 different songs (beautiful honestly) were playing at the same time, and the melody notes were like pivot notes for the upper & lower harmonies that I heard + I started to listen to Jacob Collier music which sounded closer to the music I hear in my head (probably because I was exposed to it) but this music sounds even closer to the music I heard, and is sooooo much closer to how I felt out of my body Praise The Lord!!🕊❤️‍🔥 I'm never going to be the same after this

[@myspace_forever]

I studied music 25 years ago and thought I'd seen it all. Boy was I wrong. This is like learning jazz for the first time. Absolutely surreal...almost extraterrestrial.

[@Sim-q9t]

think this is the music of the future probably

[@jagerdroid]

I’ve watched this daily for 3 days in a row. I’ve met crack addicts with less dependency issues. But goddam microtonality is a beautiful addiction.

[@alkaliforever9051]

You are grossly underrated, I know your gonna blow up one day.

[@LeviMcClain]

I wonder about that - thats incredibly kind of you to say, it's a good feeling to know ya'll think I'm good enough as a creator to blow up one day. But on the other hand, I wonder if the microtonal music theory niche is too niche to actually be able blow up from. At least in a way that's long term career sustainable (which is the extent of which I even care to actually "blow up").

[@alkaliforever9051]

@@LeviMcClain I suppose it doesn't reach as big of an audience as popular music or theory does. But I think it brings something really special to the table, something different and unique, and I think that makes it all the more important to learn. Thanks for content you've made so far and I hope it's as fruitful for you as it is me.

[@TachyBunker]

​@@LeviMcClain i'm so unsure about the financialities of what we make as microtonalists. It's like doimg a big bet that has 50 more times the risk of failure compared to the normal, already very low chance of making a living to music.

[@thecoloroctet1365]

@Levi McClain Even if the actual music is niche, the content covering the niche has broader appeal. Most people aren’t interested in studying Topology, but they would watch a Vsauce video on how many holes people have. Never give up!

[@Kazarijyanainoyonamidawa]

With the amount of high quality and easy to understand videos actually confuses me how it hasnt has been picked up by the algorythm yet 😞

[@spilledink849]

5:33 I'm gonna need that Double Lydian song released ASAP that went so unbelievably hard

[@Lucky7d4]

Dude I am stunned by your ability to so consistently put out not only incredibly high quality and professional content, but that it is all so attention grabbing and deeply educational. I watch all your videos and really hope your dedication pays off soon and you’re greeted by many viewers who deserve this knowledge you’re spreading.

[@adrianchevalley9805]

I need an entire epic videogame scored with the style of 19:20 goddamn so beautiful

[@GertrudMathilde]

Ooh, that would be awesome!

[@GertrudMathilde]

Ooh, that would be awesome!

[@JasonPruett]

you make music as good as trent reznor maybe even better. i hope you get a lot of movie gigs music like this really make a difference in movies

[@LeviMcClain]

Really appreciate that, thank you!

[@pez1870]

​@@LeviMcClainplease make a full album

[@xavierbromius]

wake uuuppp new levi dropped

[@LeviMcClain]

🤘🤘🤘

[@lo-fi-luna]

you and zheanna erose are just the best! i love all the contribution you give to microtonal music and how you helped me get really intrested in microtonality thank you!

[@GertrudMathilde]

21:51 wow 😮 this sounds amazing. I'm so glad I discovered this. I'll be busy the next few days consuming every microtone related thing I can find. I love it.

[@kencory2476]

This is why MIDI led us all astray. Back in the day, pretty much any synthesizer could be programmed to produce any range of notes within an octave, including double modes (though maybe you'd need two synths). MIDI broke that, by enforcing the use of the chromatic scale. Modern computers/synths can restore this freedom, as Levi demonstrates.

[@redv1i]

U can define range with midi

[@stephenweigel]

Man I love seeing you explore these scales! Great visuals too! There’s some maqam music and Georgian music that ignores octave equivalence in their mode building as well. Really glad you included gamelan too :) Maybe I should make the analytical video on shimmer. Of course Mike Battaglia, myself, and Zhea use it; me and Mike mostly spicing up single melodic notes as opposed to chords (I think Mike does it in every jazz lumatone cover of his and I do it in golden hour). Another intriguing thing to think about is the range at which shimmer still “works.” It’s clearer in mid-high octave ranges and at ~10-20 cents I’d say things transition into detuning more than hearable clash. Someone should try shimmer from ~100-150 cents! Azali recently used shimmer of 63 cents in his 19edo piano music which I transcribed on my channel, and I think it works. Balance is incredibly important. If only the rest of us had the patience to completely explain what we were doing musically before executing it 😅 looking forward to seeing what you and Braelen come up with on the musical front! Sometimes the visuals for your instruments don’t seem microtonal, do you retune using the computer for the piano? Or is it secretly a synth?

[@mdrdprtcl]

Hi please make the shimmer video !

[@Moonyaltchannel]

​@@mdrdprtclbe patient.

[@sh1r013]

I would love a tutorial on this concept in 19edo

[@mordy91]

If you want to go ahead and experiment playing with double modes but dont have a 'fretless' instrument, a MPE controller or software to make it possible to play microtonal music on a regular midi keyboard but do have two keyboards lying around (whether midi controller or hardware synth) here is a hack/ shortcut to get a double mode sound and make it playable: 1) Take the two keyboards set them up and find the same or sound on both or as similar as possible (unless you intentionally want to experiment with having two distinct and different sounds - one for each offset 'version' of the mode) - if in a daw using midi controllers you could just make two midi tracks and chose each midi controller for each track and choose the same sound for both of them respectively. 2) offset the tuning by a little amount Now one keyboard will be slightly offset giving you the double mode Optional: 3) if you want to customize further and get even more of a microtonal sound you could change the tuning on the keyboards from 12-TET to another like meantone or just. (most keyboards allow this natively) Another use case for this is to keep 12-TET but offset the tuning on the second exactly a quartertone. This way you will in a similar fashion get 24-TET by combining both keyboards and playing both keyboards together - example you would get a 24-TET scale by alternating between the two keyboards. I got this tip from a this Adam Neely video kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6rbqqJuepV7rpI

[@TheBlueKidBuu]

I recently found your album Etch a Sketch, and I've been enjoying it a lot! Any chance you'll be releasing another record soon with these microtonal concepts? Listening to the demos in your videos always leaves me wanting more lol

[@braelen]

Thank you so much for having me! Those intervals are S P I C Y. Alright, back to being banished to the studio

[@LeviMcClain]

off to the dungeons with you!

[@matanharel7120]

at 4:41 isn't it supposed to be Esin?

[@LeviMcClain]

Yes, Esin! The text is wrong, diagram is right. Good catch!

[@progrockplaylists]

24:17 the smile at the end

[@JasonPruett]

i wish i could make chord progressions on the computer with the circle and geometry shapes it would be fun

[@LeviMcClain]

Eventually (and I mean eeeeeeventually) I want to design an app or a vst that'll let you do exactly that

[@QzWren]

@@LeviMcClain do you just make them manually in video editing software currently?

[@LeviMcClain]

@@QzWren yeah, unfortunately all my animation is done by hand flip book style in premiere pro

[@jbarber7127]

​​@@LeviMcClainWhat do you use to create the chords (the sound not the nice visuals)? I really want to start messing with different EDOs than 12 and I don't know where to start.

[@aibrainlet8041]

​@@jbarber7127 it might sound daunting but maybe start learning some programming and data visualization. There are a lot of creative code libraries out there which let you treat sound or visuals like data... At the end of the day that's what they are! The link between computing and music goes back a suuuppeeer long time. It was one of the first things that Ada Lovelace imagined computers might be used for.

[@Fh-jz9lq]

bruh this is incredible man You're sooo underrated btw, where can i download these beautiful songs that use double scales?

[@adornedshoe8464]

Levi I beg you! If you could make a full length documentary of the history of 31 EDO and the theory development that is going on-it may become the my favorite documentary ever. Your work is amazing, and I binge watch your videos along with videos from zhea erose frequently

[@sab_05]

You are grossly underrated, I know your gonna blow you up one day.

[@alexandernold827]

Second the Comment ive been reading... man your so mega underrated it unbelieveable.... id just thought of how cool it would be to get you be a dj at a local techrave and use this kind of music... truly remarkable what you make here...

[@adrianchevalley9805]

Microtonal ASMR Orchestral Djent is my new favourite genre of music

[@dwain3351]

Wow that video is insanely good, thank you! Also, is there a longer version of the double phrygian example played at 4:30? That song slapped hard!

[@EugenethePhilostopher]

This is amazing. I've never heard of this double octave concept previously. Are you the author? Also, the music and production quality is fantastic. One of the best music theory videos I've seen in many years.

[@woekin]

More like "Dumbledorian". The end song reminds me of Tool.

[@fresamouse]

What the actual heck??? i couldn't stop smiling throughout this whole video!!!!!! Subscribed!

[@kevinberstler]

Hell yeah! Thanks for sharing. Love your work in 31.

[@posic3073]

I love this music. Always wanted someone to go into depth of these intricate and rare sounds

[@posic3073]

Ever since sevish entered my life

[@antoineleedolliole7549]

You just identified sounds. I use a lot of and hadn't identified... Badass! your style is badass! Please keep going!

[@lydiaelsewhere1504]

This is fantastic! Hopefully one day i can afford a lumatone, i have so many ideas for microtonal music but as a keyboardist its difficult to produce lol

[@Barnaclebeard]

you're changing my brain for free, thank you so much

[@RebekahParkhurst]

Now THIS is cool content!!!!

[@LeviMcClain]

🙏🙏🙏

[@philviral]

Dude, I love this. So subscribed

[@FaerieEnderHare]

I loved that First Fast paced Bass segment at 4:31!!!

[@FahlmanCascade]

Intriguing sounds! Now, think about the placement of the five notes between the cracks of a heptatonic mode. If you want to *change keys*, you need to know how you want to deal with those.

[@elementallobsterx]

Double Dorian and Lydian etude was insane

[@sirrobinhood3409]

Very Brilliant out of the box thinking! I love it! I would however need to change the temperament to implement this or know how to bend the pitch on each note depending on the double mode.

[@vrixphillips]

wait. was that F Lydian or just F Ionian? Because I didn't hear the characteristic natural b :O then again, it's... the only place it's different from Ionian is the higher IV....

[@LeviMcClain]

If you're talking about 1:23, it's indeed F Lydian: F G A B C D E. You had my heart racing for a second! Good thing I... DOUBLE checked lol

[@kevinbaker4164]

F Lydian is not the Lydian mode of F major. It is actually the Lydian node of C major. I find it a bit ciynter intuitive but that is the convention

[@jjd9083]

@@kevinbaker4164 In response to all these comments :) - I also failed to hear the characteristic #4 of the Lydian mode but in some ways that's inevitable. Having just listened to C major our minds are still taking C as the root note - almost like there is a virtual drone of the note C hanging in the background. So rather than hearing F Lydian, we're just hearing part of the C major scale that happens to run from F to F an octave above. To really hear that Lydian sound we would have had to have established F as the new boss. Our minds, however, are quite loyal and take a while to settle on a new tonal centre. So, no, not a 31 EDO artefact - just an artefact of what we perceive to be the tonal centre of gravity This also helps explain why, by convention, F lydian is not the Lydian mode of F major. It's the lydian mode that happens to share the same notes as C major but with two very important differences - the tonal centre, the root note is F, not C; and the scale structure - the pattern of intervals - as we run up the scale starting from that root note is different. The big "ah ha!" moment for me was to run through the modes using the same root note in order, from "brightest" to "darkest". I really suggest playing these slowly one after another to get a feel for the different vibe of each mode. As Levi does in the video I'll use C as an example because that's easiest to understand. (You can do it with a plain old 12 EDO instrument :) - Lydian. C D E F# G A B. = 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7 Ionian (major) C D E F G A B = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mixolydian. C D E F G A Bb = 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 Dorian. C D Eb F G A Bb = 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 Aeolian C D Eb F G Ab Bb = 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 Phrygian. C Db Eb F G Ab Bb = 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 Locrian. C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb = 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 hope that helps Brilliant video Levi - thank you!

[@Telepathic_Monkey_Experiment]

When someone asks what key my song is in and I have to explain what double Dorian means😂 Also I noticed the you don't talk about 0-6 or 0-12, the Ultra-major and Infaminor. Thay are available thirds in 31 EDO. Also literally no-one tals about neuta-major and neutra-minor, probably because 72 EDO is the first EDO that can do them in addition to in tune major, minor, neutral, sub minor, infaminor, super major and ultra major thirds. 72 EDO's 15 thirds seams like to many and it's unpractical for anything acoustic. 31 is a good compromise. My theory is that people don't use infaminor or ultra major much because the ultra major 6th is the same as the sub minor 7th and the infaminor 7th is the same as the super major 6th. Then not having unique sixths and sevenths and the 6th being above the 7th is likely off putting. Also adding 3 new thirds is confusing, let alone 5!

[@alexr3912]

those thirds are useful in some scales like Mothra[6] and major #3#6#7, but overall a lot of people will hear them as 8/7 and 21/16, which are a second and fourth respectively. they’ve got a sort of draw towards the minor and major thirds, so hearing them as thirds in their own right can be difficult.

[@Telepathic_Monkey_Experiment]

@@alexr3912 working as both a whole tone and sub minor 3rd or as a super major or a 4th could be useful! Plus the 933 and 969 cent 6ths/7ths could be useful as pedle tones alternating between bellow minor and above major.

[@alexr3912]

@@Telepathic_Monkey_Experiment it’s an interesting idea for sure, might as well look into it a bit, see if you find it to be useful in a way i just haven’t seen yet! for that last point, the barbados temperament (in edos like 19, 24, and 34) has chords with split inframinor and ultramajor thirds, that are separated by a plain whole tone, so they sound good together. having the 950 cent tone above turns it into a really cool chord, and forms a pentatonic scale of approximately 0-250-450-700-950-1200 cents. barbados[5] and [9] are good ones to consider. i’ve tried making similar scales in 31, and while i find the 6\31 and 12\31 steps to be more dissonant in these chords, it’s also good to explore.

[@ivonsmith4255]

This is very clever & intellectual, and I can see it as an evolution of western (classical) music theory, but variations of this type of subtlety has been present and is common knowledge in many Eastern classical musics - Middle Easterns & Indian - for 100s or 1000s of years. The finer details is what makes it much more feeling, spiritual and humanly organic. But for western music & pop/rock & contemporary classical I can see this method as being the future norm of music.

[@LeviMcClain]

@@ivonsmith4255 definitely! I think the utility in a lot of these microtonal concepts I’ve been exploring and presenting here is as an extension building on western theory. You’re totally on the mark that a lot of this stuff is utilized in other cultures across the globe, albeit in a different way. The interesting thing with western music is that it is so fundamentally built on a vertical harmonic understanding of music, while many eastern cultures operate off of a fundamentally horizontal, modal framework. Each framework is the starting point of the music which each culture creates. Two different philosophies means two completely different aesthetic end products. The way the east approaches microtones is fundamentally different than the way the west approaches it. Both are cool, both can be similar in the sound/effect they produce, but they come from different places.

[@frywolny]

This is so refreshing, love it! I Really like to experiment but not sure which keyboard instruments are capable of such a unique tunning. Could you share what keys are you using? Thanks a lot!

[@raymarch3576]

you keep pulling us into that cosmos via shorts and videos, but tbh i'm just here for the music bits in between where you play stuff, i love that. Can i find more of that music somewhere on a music streaming service?

[@pauandres6815]

bruh what the actual heck is this insanity. i love it

[@LeviMcClain]

@@pauandres6815 thank you!!

[@ЯрославД-с6с]

Thanks for the video!

[@LeviMcClain]

Thanks for watching!

[@speakersr-lyefaudio6830]

Your vids are of really good quality. These must take a stupid ammount of work

[@Thomas-yl8lb]

Cool stuff!

[@LeviMcClain]

Thank you!

[@mickeyrube6623]

5:38 "🎶Transendental Simpsons🎶"

[@maestroukr]

Curious about tuner apps to do more/less than 12et notes

[@alsatusmd1A13]

This is just a special case of the concept of the upper structure of a scale, which I have originally thought to stop at two octaves plus a fourth mostly for the practical reasons that almost no known music gives a single voice that extends beyond that in spite of almost any class of pitched musical instruments normally having such a wide range of pitches and the upper structure of a chord normally being taken from a diatonic scale so that they do not need to go beyond seven thirds. In particular, it is an enharmonic upper structure of the diatonic scale, and 61/31 is also chromatic when measured as a 13 tone scale (11L 2s). Either way it is a “false” relation, but tampering with a fourteenth thus is less offensive than similarly tampering with a perfect consonance since the fourteenth already can’t be perfect.

[@SilentAsianRoach]

Ima need to process this.

[@ПавелКонстантинов-с4я]

For some reason I got the idea that the composition at the end is a point that King Crimson just didn't have time to get to. I suspect it's mainly because of the vocals. Thank you for the unique content!

[@williamcompitello2302]

Conservative musicians hearing about shimmer would believe they're having a seizure.

[@Koresz]

It looks like I just found the final boss of music theory youtubers, who makes microtonal Tigran Hamasyan music. Subbed

[@michadabrowski6897]

incredible video!

[@mordy91]

What is the background music at 9:28? Its really beautiful 🎶😌

[@LeviMcClain]

@@mordy91 just something I whipped up for this video

[@SomethingImpromptu]

It’s interesting that the gamelan instruments are tuned to produce a differential around 5-7 Hz, because that’s right within the theta brainwave band. I’ve been interested in brainwave entrainment, among other forms of consciousness alteration, since I was a teenager, & binaural beats/isochronic tones within the theta band are the ones I’ve gravitated to most, because they are excellent for both inducing REM sleep/dreams (& remembering your dreams much more vividly; some people also use them to induce lucid dreams, though I haven’t had much luck on that front), if listened to as one falls asleep, as well as for deep states of meditation. It’s definitely a band of brain activity I would associate with many forms of spiritual experience & hypnotic trance-like meditative states, so it’s rather striking & seems fitting to me that they would tune their instruments to achieve a differential beat (whatever you’d call it- technically not “binaural” in this case since you aren’t hearing each type of instrument entirely constrained to a separate ear, though that would be an interesting way to record & listen to some of their music) right within that band, which extends from 4-7Hz in humans.

[@Munggoon]

This vid is the GOAT

[@shaytkormac]

Is it weird that I'm understanding what you're saying? & I'm imagining stuff? Making stuff? As someone who studies international music & got lost in persian modes, this is making sense to me

[@MrTfuzz]

this is just perfect

[@matj12]

Which piano sound do you use for the examples in your videos? Is it just piano with reverb?

[@sabrielguindon148]

Never heard of gamelan until there was a workshop about it during the university visit. I open KZbin and I'm already getting suggestions about it lol.

[@cetrastrife7076]

such a good video, so so good

[@superactivitylad]

I know what im doing today! thanks for the inspiration!

[@yusumishi123]

The song is at 20:03 . You're welcome!

[@aphilosophicalnaturalist6245]

I think the intro is heavily inspired by Schism by Tool, the rest of the song also sounds like Tool.

[@romeolz]

My favorite "doublemode" scale is tetracot[13]. As a bonus it's a MOS scale too! Unfortunately it's not supported by 31edo, but mothra[11] is, which is my second favorite! It's generated by stacking a supermajor 2nd repeatedly and allows for some near-just 7-limit harmony and a lot of shimmery chords

[@LeviMcClain]

@@romeolz super interesting! I haven’t messed around with that one, I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@alexr3912]

something really cool you can do with the principle mode of mothra[11] is treat it similarly to a blackwood scale, with chords starting from the root alternating supermajor and subminor. places the only subminor second below the root too for resolution.

[@antoineleedolliole7549]

Ok I'm at the 22 min mark and I need to see this live!

[@soundnotestudios4896]

bro i wish i had a 31 edo keyboard. I want the resources to start doing stuff like this. this is amazing!

[@soundnotestudios4896]

I am becoming a microtonal fanatic. lol.

[@soundnotestudios4896]

Is that a regular guitar you are using and you just found the 31edo notes on the frets?

[@CHEpachilo]

Absolutely beautiful! Interesting question is how would it work if we use some scale that would have such property that 62 diesises would land on a second note in scale? Would it be like ambiguous tonal center? Or if tonal center would be obvious would it make scale character floating?

[@peregrinmiratrix4137]

Please look into the Bohlen Pierce scale! I would love to see your harmony world get even bigger

[@chrismuratore4451]

Could this be why the shimmer reverb setting on my digital reverb allows you to shift by intervals of .25 on a scale of -12.00 to +12.00? It only exists from intervallic relations that are too small for typical western 12 tone equal?

[@adornedshoe8464]

Do you think an harpeji board would be a good instrument to modify to play 31edo?

[@romeolz]

Maybe not modify but build a new one from the ground up! With 31edo there are many ways to lay out the fretboard, who says the frets have to be 1 edostep apart? The harpejji shines in the fact that it's isomorphic, which combines really nicely with microtonal theory

[@aibrainlet8041]

You should do a video on the idea of the rhythm necklace. Nearly the same idea (same math) but with rhythm !

[@antoineleedolliole7549]

Legendary.

[@atroposV]

shiminished chords. that alone makes me want to play around with this

[@manolitosanchez]

Brutal!

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

Well, this was awesome.

[@ryy5616]

I have a question. Please respond because im stuck. Im trying to use C ionian and its double mode to write music and i noticed that E half flat just doesnt exist at least on my keyboard im using. Please help🙏

[@dror.binder.composer]

thank you!

[@woodenspoon324]

fun fact that tambourine is also in 31 EDO!

[@Vortex124875]

great stuff!! does anybody know if anyone has done a similar walk through of EDO 53 (or fokker 53 etc)? 😬

[@Nimpp]

what do you use to make these 31edo visualizers? they are really nice looking

[@LeviMcClain]

@@Nimpp photoshop! Then I animate them frame by frame in premiere pro

[@eliascorrea8573]

I don't know what I feel about this music, but glad to be feeling it anyways

[@pauandres6815]

man you just blew my mind... i was left with one question tho. You showed the two versions of minor and major chords, and then the two other ones using the microtonal root so to speak. but dont they also have two posible fifths each? make it four if we count the main octave root or the microtonal one? am i tripping (yes i am) but keep with me a sec if i name them as a and b root a and b third and a and b fifth we would have aRoot athird aFifth, aRoot bthird aFifth, aRoot athird bFifth, aRoot bThird bFifth, bRoot aThird aFifth and so on... ... my brain has never been more wrinkled

[@LeviMcClain]

@@pauandres6815 yes they absolutely have two fifths possible for sure! The stability of the root-5th relation is so important to the chords we use in our popular music that I didn’t include the half flat 5th variations as “base” chords. Not even sure what you’d call them exactly, but yeah they are absolutely an option. Great observation!

[@pauandres6815]

@@LeviMcClain so in your examples when you use a or b root you also move the fifth in parallel im guessing? the possibilities are to much for me to grasp. but amazing video! i loved it

[@LeviMcClain]

@@pauandres6815 so in your parlance the options I laid out in this video would be something like: Aroot athird afifth Aroot bthird afifth Broot bthird bfifth Broot athird bfifth

[@chrismuratore4451]

My ears really love the color options, particularly in double lydian (excellent playing btw!) but my brain is like.. half flat super minor?? Oh boy😅

[@Insanalyst]

Fascinating

[@henrikljungstrand2036]

8:50 12 (tone per 2/1 octave) equal (temperament tuning), aka 12edo, is NOT the norm for me at all, in fact i detest it being regarded like some kind of faux norm, although i like it as a "xenharmonic" temperament in its own right, within certain contexts (a {2,3, 17, 19} temperament with no 5, no 7, no 11, no 13). As a strict 3-limit temperament, it is quite good, as a microtempered version of Pythagorean, although 29edo, 41edo and 53edo are all better. The norm for me is rather something like 13-limit Just Intonation, possibly nanotempered into 270 equal temperament (270 logarithmically equal parts of an almost perfect 2/1 octave) aka 270edo, or some kind of Ennealimmal temperament at any rate. Although I do like certain (equal or otherwise) microtemperaments like 111edo, 106edo, 99edo, 94edo, 88edo, 87edo, 84edo, 80edo, 77edo, 72edo, 69edo, 68edo, 65edo, 63edo, 60edo, 58edo, 57edo, 53edo, 50edo, 49edo, 46edo, 41edo, 38edo, 34edo, 31edo. And even such things as 36edo, 29edo, 28edo, 27edo, 26edo, 24edo, 22edo, 19edo, 17edo and 15edo, which are hardly microtemperaments, but are about as interesting as 12edo. Arguably 31edo is the smallest equal temperament (at least using a perfectly tuned 2/1 octave) deserving of being called a microtemperament.

[@henrikljungstrand2036]

Well, maybe 27edo could be regarded as a microtemperament also, but that is a stretch indeed, just like 22edo is a stretch. Generally i would say that any temperament tuning that tunes the main 7-limit dyadic intervals/chords worse than 10 cents off, is not a microtemperament. That includes tempering 5/4 to 400 cents, tempering 5/3 to 900 cents, or tempering 7/5 to 600 cents, like in 12edo (or any small equal temperament with pure octaves, divisible by 2 or 3). It also includes tempering 3/2 to 686 cents or 720 cents, like in 7edo or 5edo respectively, (or any small equal temperament with pure octaves, divisible by 5 or 7). 7/4 is tempered close enough in multiples of 5edo, 11/9 is tempered close enough in multiples of 7edo, and 3/2 is obviously tempered close enough in multiples of 12edo though. So ignoring 9-odd-limit consonances, i still would say 31edo is the smallest real equal microtemperament with octaves tuned to pure 2/1. Smaller equal microtemperaments might be possible, using tempered octaves, an idea i am somewhat in favour of, especially when it comes to using electronically synthesized instruments, to avoid static phase locking of basic 7-limit just intervals [narrower ( = not wider than) than three octaves]. Such as 2/1, 3/1, 4/1, 5/1, 3/2, 6/1, 7/1, 8/1, 5/2, 4/3, 7/2, 5/3, 5/4, 7/3, 8/3, 7/4, 6/5, 10/3, 15/2, 7/5, 8/5, 7/6, 14/3, (16/3), 8/7, 12/5, 15/4, 20/3, 10/7, 14/5, (16/5) (, arguably 15/7, 21/5), (16/7); and possibly 9/2, 9/4, 9/5, 9/7, 9/8, 10/9, 18/5, 14/9, 18/7, 16/9 if 3 is tuned accurately enough for 9 to be used, and 25/3, 25/4 if 5 is tuned accurately enough for 25 to be used; the same caveat might apply for 2 tuned accurately enough for 16 or 8 to be used, if we use tempered octaves. Or of extended 13-limit just intervals like 11/2, 13/2, 11/3, 13/3, 11/4, 13/4, 11/5, 13/5, 11/6, 22/3, 11/7, 13/6, 11/8, 13/7, 11/9, 13/8, 11/10 22/5, 13/9, 13/10, 26/5, 12/11, 33/4, 13/11.

[@tverdyznaqs]

Somebody gotta figure out a way to combine all this microtonal stuff with drum&bass style reese bases. That beating effect created by playing 2 nearby tones at the same time is also at the core of how those bass patches are constructed, usually achieved through playing 2 oscillators slightly detuned from one another by a set amount. But that approach tends to give producers pretty limited control over the exact speed of the wobble so perhaps a microtonal approach to that sort of sound-design could unlock some additional possibilities? Just throwing this idea out there cuz I'm too lazy to figure this out myself :p

[@mr.astronuts3825]

i would buy an album of this stuff made by you

[@geoffstockton]

I would argue that a scale serves no practical purpose as a mere series of tones. Scales are families of notes. Root notes are not starting points but rather the suns to the solar systems that are scales. They’re the central point.

[@shaytkormac]

My autism boosted up after finding your channel

[@victork8708]

Love your stuff! Would like to learn more about Indonesian music. Actually i stay in Indonesia, maybe i shall do my own research

[@adityanadgauda]

Need a full release of that double lydian song.

[@misterguy9051]

2:43 14ED3!!!

[@purplelord8531]

what if you just go in a spiral? (consistent diesis)

[@unidentifiedperson1357]

god this is so fucking cool

[@tunagostolupce4074]

I wonder what you think about the Lumatone 😗

[@LeviMcClain]

@@tunagostolupce4074 Looks cool! Never tried one - too expensive for my tastes. Hopefully (don’t hold your breathe), microtonality will catch on in the culture in a larger way and it’ll drive prices down so it’s a more realistic purchase for the average musician.

[@tunagostolupce4074]

​@@LeviMcClain I completely agree, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'm interested in building a cheap alternative to lumatone as a DIY project. It's been actually done before: A circuit board, RGB MX key switches and 3D printed keys / body. The guy who has designed it sells it for $300 - $600, which is still pricey for the quality of the product. That's why I want to build one myself. On top of that, as a CompSci student, I find tinkering with electronics interesting :D I admire the content you are publishing. I know a bunch of creators who cover microtonality, but I haven't seen such comprehensive explanation like yours before. Please keep up the great work!🙂

[@michaeltilley8708]

Hello! First time here-out of curiosity, are you related to Ernest McClain, author of THE MYTH OF INVARIANCE?

[@JoshuaBrown-b1t]

simply remapping 12 keys to simulate 31-EDO in software misses the full color of the tuning. You might get some of the intervallic flavor, but without access to all 31 distinct pitches in each octave, it’s impossible to fully realize the 31-EDO harmonic landscape on a standard keyboard.

[@superactivitylad]

the song at the end was way too good just to be at the end of a youtube video as a music theory example. sheesh.