Discovering a NEW MODE Through This Microtonal Defect

[@LeviMcClain]

A quick note on "out of tune" & how we describe music we don't like, but first! If you liked this video, please consider supporting my work on Patreon! www.patreon.com/LeviMcClain I often read the comment "it just sounds out of tune". I think a lot of musicians and creators working in the microtonal space hear that frequently. More often than not I take that as a substitute for saying "this does not sound good". That is fair. Microtones, Xenharmonics, or just about anything not in 12 can be jarring to the ears upon first listen. If it's not your cup of tea, its not your cup of tea. The wording of that comment however, has always bothered me. It presupposes 12 tone equal temperament as being the "superior" tuning system. Ubiquity does not imply superiority. On a technical level, when microtonalists hear "it sounds out of tune" we chuckle to ourselves, because, we have the insider knowledge to know better. It's not in 12, yes. That does not mean its not in tune. We are just calibrated to a different tuning system, and therefore don't feel the need to necessarily judge the music to a 12 TET standard. This might just be a minor distinction in the macro. Language after all is fluid, constantly flowing from one kind of colloquialism to the another, why scrutinize such a casual saying like "it sounds out of tune"? The language that we use matters. Every time we groan that microtonal music is "just out of tune" we entrench ourselves deeper into the idea that 12 tone equal temperament is the absolute standard, and that everything that falls short of it is bad. Don't get me wrong, there IS bad microtonal music. Just like there is BAD 12 TET music, but that's not the point. Out of tune means something very specific: You have fallen outside the bounds of expectation in terms of the overall pitch content in your music. The expectation part is important. A wise man once said "don't judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree". When we place those kinds of expectations on the fish it becomes harder and harder to see the fish for all the things its incredibly good at. If I'd have picked up this baby piano and said to myself "Yikes, its just out of tune!" that probably would have been the end of it. I'd set it down and have been on my way. No digitized tuning, no double mode shenanigans, no really unique music. I would have considered that a shame. Would you?

[@stephenweigel]

Absolutely phenomenal video, and I wish more people would express this thought. I think we need more words to differentiate the different (bundled up meanings) of “out-of-tune.” Another great artist engaging in differently-octaved layouts is Dsilton

[@alsatusmd1A13]

And yet it’s weird to refuse to use the clarinet as “just off register” for overblowing 3/1 rather than 2/1.

[@livebassngames]

thanks for that video... I sometimes feel like my tuned guitars are out of tune and sometimes my out of tune guitar plays GREAT. I will keep workin at it and get there

[@montageofchips]

There really is something beautiful about embracing microtones sometimes, and this was one of them. Thank you for this video.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

I just came from listening to something played with massively stretched octaves earlier today (by a Pythagorean comma, no less), and it sounded out of tune. But the music in this video DOESN'T sound out of tune, even though it does sound definitely non-12EDO. But with respect to your saying about judging a fish on its ability to climb a tree: As we all know: You can't tune a fish.

[@1.4142]

toy maker: I have never touched a piano in my life and will save money and effort by fudging it because kids don't know how pianos work Levi: This is revolutionary

[@LeviMcClain]

Basically 😂

[@thecringequeen31]

@urproblem It would be wrong to think that. They literally put two sets of the first 5 notes of the octave on the same line in the second octave. No serious piano manufacturer would do that.

[@Anjiruu]

ZHEANNA MENTIONED AW HELL YEAH

[@Avybavywavy]

Heat from fire from heat.

[@opalicfractalia]

The quality of these videos is insane, and the small amount of views you have is criminal. Keep it up, we need channels like yours!

[@roygbiv1122]

View number 420! Woop woop!

[@akashboinpally9228]

100%

[@Fire_Axus]

nope

[@7177YT]

Agreed, he deserves more eyeballs.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

@@7177YT . . . And more ears.

[@fazefusion2220]

“Finding beauty in dissonance” what a wonderful phrase

[@core3gamegd587]

The fact this guy makes some of the best musical content and THE best microtonal content and has *6k subs* is just mind blowing.

[@LeviMcClain]

Thank you!

[@akatrere]

i thought i was watching a video from someone w like 200k subs or smth, the production quality is so good omg + this is such an interesting topic

[@LeviMcClain]

Thank you so much! Maybe one day if I play my cards right

[@infn8loopmusic]

Measuring quality of content by sub counts just doesn't make sense. Why would something be more valuable just because it's more generally accepted by the masses? That just makes it vanilla and boring. It's the opposite of interesting. Nowadays, You are better off searching by date for a specific topic to avoid that whole 'algorithm for popular content and generating ads revenue from product placements' and it's vanilla outputs.

[@akatrere]

@@infn8loopmusic i mean it's not really measuring but rather the association of it? but i do see ur point

[@th.nd.r]

Here before this goes absolutely viral. Can’t believe the sheer quality of this video. Keep up the great work

[@LeviMcClain]

I wouldn’t count on this blowing up, but I appreciate the sentiment! Thank you for the support!!

[@braelen]

My brain is once again thoroughly broken. Thank you for expanding my view of what music can be

[@LeviMcClain]

Thanks for the recording help for the toy piano! Your engineering skills are legendary my friend

[@Ermude10]

One of my favourite things is when church bells ring and play tunes. Sometimes, they're very "out of tune" but I've always found a certain beauty to it. And many times, they're "out-of-tune" due to the bells being tuned to their bell harmonics, which is not in line with the common western scales.

[@LeviMcClain]

Bell harmonics and strike tones are fascinating. Would love to do a video one day breaking down the acoustics behind them!

[@TeleviseGuy]

Microtonal music is such a rabbit hole. Getting adjusted to it takes time, but the more you listen to it, the more you start appreciating the world and what it gives us.

[@LeviMcClain]

Definitely. The rabbit hole goes DEEP, and its so worth the journey.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

Even if you never compose anything microtonal yourself, the microtonal rabbit hole is still a great journey in learning what it is that makes 12EDO work. I wish they taught all this stuff back when I was a kid trying to learn to play the violin in the 1970s . . . .

[@aidanlogan4384]

I find difference of 20 or 40 hz very beautiful, and alot of horn instruments have false fingerings that suit that. It opens up so many arrangement effects

[@aidanlogan4384]

If you apply it to one note of a chord, it can add an otherwise inaccessible character. Or you can make a chord progression and then try moving some up or down, I like this as a way of denying resolution.

[@AyyashAhmad]

5:19 : There's something I can't quite place my finger on... His fingers: *on the piano keys*

[@LeviMcClain]

Hahahahaha

[@audilecreations]

wow... i just programmed this tuning into my favourite clean but dreamy piano patch in Reason [Five Metre Grand] - its a pure clean classical piano patch, just with insane body smoothness and dynamics, the patch just sounds so good on its own but i programmed this tuning into the patch diatonically, absolutely drenched it in effects and I swear I could play this patch all day long.... playing this patch is like discovering music for the first time again, i cant convey how stupidly theraputic it is to play reminds me of this childrens psaltry instrument my cousin used to have at their house, i would always find that thing when we visited and play it for hours.. it was always just perfectly detuned... they also had a piano that hadnt been tuned in years the amount of nostalgia i get from playing this patch.. caked in reverb and Waves Enigma, just wow.... emotional rollercoaster.. ive been familiar with microtonality since learning of Maqam system in post secondary, but it was not expanded upon in the main courses... in terms of applying microtonality, i obviously know how to program it cause i just did, but i just never knew where to possibly begin with using it.. not to mention microtonal polyphony and harmony... im originally a rock drummer so honestly I was proud of myself just to know counterpoint lol.... this video was an amazing experience, im definitrly going to check out that microtonality class

[@LeviMcClain]

Love it. There are so many paths you can take with microtonality. 31 in particular you could study for a lifetime and still have more to learn by the end.

[@uraniidumbra5219]

I would KILL to have this tuning in Scale Workshop and this toy piano as a sound font! This is ethereally beautiful.

[@ecetheplatypus]

hey, what is Scale Workshop?

[@montageofchips]

search "sevish scale workshop" and it should be the first result. It's an easy way to build microtonal scales / tuning files to plug into your vst's and stuff. It's very interesting and useful though.@@ecetheplatypus

[@simonsanchezkumrich8489]

​@@ecetheplatypusthe website where u can create scales created by sevish

[@LeReubzRic]

​​@@ecetheplatypus it allows you to make a custom scale, like the c major scale, but microtonal

[@ContrapuntalComposer]

Brilliant! Finding elegance in the apparently inelegant - love it! Also, by the way, I concur with your observation of the strong 3rd harmonic in the timbre. Specifically, I hear a fundamental strike pitch and a 3rd harmonic ring pitch.

[@familiarstranger9617]

I can't speak. I'm baffled. I adore this new realm of seemingly infinite possibilities and I'm taken by the soundscape

[@cloudtaker633]

My brain can’t even begin to think of what to say about it, but I can’t stop listening to it…

[@Telepathic_Monkey_Experiment]

This is amazing! How does this video only have 8,000 views?

[@thatguywholikeswwe636]

the quality of these vids is amazing, dont stop!!!

[@LeviMcClain]

Thank you so much! I have years worth of video ideas in the noggin, I don’t plan on stopping for a long time!

[@333_studios]

Music is the alchemy of mapping your feelings onto structures of sound and you my friend are in oceans of sound that have been seldomly charted. Awesome stuff.

[@Nate_Makes_Noise]

This video goes so hard and deserves so much more attention🔥

[@LeviMcClain]

Appreciate that! Thank you

[@scareev]

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TUNNING, it opens a *WHOLE* new world of ideas that escape the 12TET sytstem

[@montageofchips]

This is my favorite video on youtube. Everything is just so beautiful, emotional, and expressive. Thank you for this piece of art, Levi. Keep on making what you like. I support you 100% of the way.

[@emmettlukas5360]

Holy shit! This was such a well-made, fascinating video, and that song at the end blew my mind in the most satisfying way. Will that be on any streaming platforms at any point? (Possibly, as an extended version??) Absolutely crazy this doesn't have more views, but I bet it will soon!

[@LeviMcClain]

Thank you! No plans on release for this song in particular, it was mostly just a way to demonstrate the sound, but I am working on an album! Hopefully will have something out this year.

[@infraredaustrian6714]

Thanks for finding this piano and understanding it. You are musically enlightened. So beautiful!

[@LeviMcClain]

Appreciate that, thank you for watching!

[@j-man284]

I normally don't comment... but holy shit, the jam at the end was legendary! Such a great payoff. Not many people literally invent new music theory. You are breaking barriers with this channel!

[@ChrisEdgeSXE]

Adam Neely, let's go and make a double scale challenge #doubleultralocrian

[@IsaacMyers1]

I’m still waiting for him to do a lydian augmented scale challenge.

[@adornedshoe8464]

Honestly one of the best videos I’ve seen for breaking down microtonal music and its implementation

[@BobRafferty]

Amazing video. I love how you take us on a journey that pushes us past our preconceptions of what sounds in tune and lead us into a realm of very cool new harmonies.

[@LeviMcClain]

Thank you Bob! It’s all about perspective. So much to still be explored!

[@AlbySilly]

Mixing the same scale with two different base frequencies are really cool, to me it kinda feels like the music is melting into different chords when switching between the sharper and flatter scales

[@FSR-v9c]

Really a wonderful narrative description of your thoughts here. Thanks man.

[@MandrakeGuy]

i really love that "out of tune" feel, especially non-octave tunings or stretched tunings

[@Fire_Axus]

your feelings are irrational

[@MandrakeGuy]

@@Fire_Axus me trying to figure out why you needed to point that out

[@1kidnamedfinger]

@@Fire_Axus no u

[@moadot720]

1:54 I just noticed the note order was wrong shortly after this, but shortly before you pointed it out on-screen!!!! 😭✋🏾😂🤣

[@Yuki935_]

This channel is so underrated omg

[@kevinberstler]

Great video and music examples. Love the strength-based approach to what was originally viewed as a deficit. Not always easy or essential to do that, but it definitely works here.

[@AzuriumOfficial]

Astonishingly beautiful.

[@ConvincingPeople]

An odd little observation I had: The distance between the slightly sharp F# and the upper A is actually extremely close to a just 15/13, which led me to do a little mental math, and I actually think that the diesis trick here would be interesting to match to 50-EDO, with that slightly wider diesis of 48¢, as it accommodates some of the strange 13-limit and even 17-limit-adjacent aspects of this found tuning quite well and matches a few of the intervals dead on.

[@JellyMonster1]

This is fantastic. I love that the sharps/flats are painted on. Beautiful sounds. Just subscribed!

[@Typical.Anomaly]

5:06 Reminds me a bit of something (Desert Island Rain?) by Sevish.

[@charliemccarthy1076]

Amazing video. Will definitely be sharing it with my students! Subscribed

[@acrouzet]

Great video with fascinating stuff in it, definitely gonna check out more. (Great compositions too!)

[@GizzyDillespee]

Double D sounded interesting. Most people don't have 7 or 31 key per "octave" keys... so, the other 5 notes could allow for secondary modes on standard keyboards, ones that you can retune custom, of course. Yeah, I'm already subbed to Z.

[@IsaacMyers1]

This is an awesome video. I have some questions: 1. In double modes, does the double octave jump up a diesis to become pure? 2. Wouldn’t 62 be better to represent the toy piano’s tuning, seeing as roughly 5 notes are a half diesis off? 3. I love how this got us to a double mode idea. I guess I’m wondering how well the double mode idea functions with the toy piano. The main and super octaves work almost perfectly, until that pesky 6th that is actually raised by a diesis instead of lowered. And the sub octave is (very roughly) raised half a diesis. This brings me to question four, which turns out to be an addendum on question one: is this an infinitely expanding space? If we aren’t doing pure double octaves, then would the sub octave be raised a diesis creating a triple mode? How far can you take this before it stops sounding good? Sure, if you stick to just the prime octaves and only one other octave at once, it’ll work, but does it break when you try and use the sub and super octaves together? I suppose I could try and answer these questions myself, it was just something I needed to posit.

[@LeviMcClain]

Wow, thank you for your thoughtful questions! I'll try to answer here: 1. Yes by the end of the second octave the diesis jump to the 3rd octave is adjusted to its pure relative to the prime root note! 2. 62 would be better in terms of representing the pianos authentic tuning, but personally I find anything beyond 31 to be a bit too cumbersome to work with practically. The goal with this channel and my work is to show the practicality of microtonality. To this end, I've tried to dive deep into 31 with these latest videos on the channel rather than wide with exploration of other edos. Would love to do that one day, but right now I'm focused on creating a foundational body of educational work in 31, so 31 we shall explore! 3. Yeah, the toy pianos real world tuning doesn't perfectly represent the double mode idea, but its close enough to make it work. 4. I like your thinking! I had this same thought, and am working on a video right now about this very topic and an idea I'm crafting called the Quadralydian Concept!

[@culturedslob]

Damn this is super cool

[@pwabd2784]

This is great.

[@LeviMcClain]

Thanks!

[@AlbertSirup]

this is like if a piano and a gamelan metallophone had a child

[@Ermude10]

This was such a cool video!

[@robbes7rh]

I like it. It’s like peering into a realm just beyond the consensus boundaries for reality. Seems to presage what might be ear candy for humans living in the 23rd century.

[@joelbarr5171]

Fun little instrument there, it's got a melancholy sound that's unique for sure, almost a Balinese Gamelan sort of sound.

[@livebassngames]

few toys would deserve a review like this. That is one nice toy !

[@boticland4342]

Here’s an idea. Take the notes we associate with the desert and/or foreign music, and turn them into a double scale. D 👉 d 👉 f 👉 G 👉 A 👉 a 👉 c 👉 D

[@lurkdash]

Poor octave equivalency is a huge issue when beginning on saxophone, i'm gonna have to get in touch with my first music teacher and tell him i was just droping dieses

[@anatomicallymodernhuman5175]

Interesting way to treat 31 (tone equal temperament, I think you probably mean). But there’s a magic in the inharmonic overtones of the toy piano that doesn’t transfer to instruments with a more harmonic series. I don’t suppose you’d consider sampling it, exactly the way you had it placed and miked up for this video, and post it as a Kontact or Decent patch?

[@LeviMcClain]

I actually did sample it in stereo with three different dynamic inputs on each note, so a rudimentary sampler VST is possible for sure. I usually have all of my sampler instruments I create on this channel available on my Patreon for all tiers. I’ll put it up this week!

[@wellurban]

It reminds me a bit of gamelan music. Obviously it’s not a pelog or slendro scale, but the way that the tuning of the individual notes works with the inharmonic overtones is magical in a vaguely similar way.

[@boscorner]

Fog horniness

[@boscorner]

@6:10 I'm sorry

[@bennytrueoniheartradio]

It's like a mediaeval castle with wifi and modern heating and cooling capabilities, but oddly still candle lit

[@BlameJeux]

Okay, how come you make these awesome musics in every video and don't post them on Spotify? Because I swear I'd listen to it DAILY

[@LeviMcClain]

Hahaha thank you! Honestly, the stuff I make here is done very quickly. I usually make it within an hour or two. This doesn’t mean it’s bad, but it is unpolished, and hastily mixed. When I release something for streaming I want it to be something I’ve put a lot of thought, time and love into. I feel like it’s only right to give ya’ll my best. That said, I have an album in the works, and hopefully it’ll be out something this year!

[@aertos_xas]

Hey, would you share the pianoteq tuning file? I'd like to explore that!

[@stevenmayhew3944]

And then there is the third-tone, the quarter-tone, and the 31-tone piano and harpsichord. And then there is the "Fluid Piano", whose twelve semitones can be individually adjusted microtonally to plus or minus one semitone from the western tuning scheme. One example of a truly microtonal instrument is the violin! 😀

[@GarrySummer1700123Summer]

Man i really want to know what double locrian would sound like! This is so cool

[@nathanabbou4206]

Just one point about this 31 notes scale : the fifth which should be the best harmonic interval is even less accurate than our 12 notes scale. (2^(18/31)#1,4955 or 2^(7/12)#1,4984 closer to 1,5)

[@whitesky466]

I'm something of a musician myself, I've been trying to unfold that secret chord this might be it after the 99999999999999 combinations I've been trying in my whole 80 years of living

[@padraicbrown6718]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the toy piano!

[@hhhsp951]

If a percussion instrument player is playing them off tempo, that technically means that the percussion is out of tune if you think about it enough enough/too much

[@Thrustmaster64]

Great video, well worth a sub. But you know what irked me to the dephts of my soul? The fact that not once did you play all of the keys of the piano in order from leftmost to right! That's like the one thing I'd do if I got my hands on the beast.

[@BigDadaCricket]

I'm going to recommend Secret Chiefs 3 to anybody interested in these kinds of ideas. Seriously. Great video, thank you

[@ИванПетров-л5щ1м]

30 steps in 31EDO = egual to 3 major thirds. So for minor modes (phrigian etc) it would be better to use 4 minor third equivalence instead of octave (31) or 30 (3хmaj third)

[@ИванПетров-л5щ1м]

toy piano timbre is very well suited for this strange tuning. Maybe it was tuned like real pianos, not by tuner, but by trying to councide the overtones of real strings

[@emojijoyio]

Great video! The tuning reminds me of my piano but its around 60 90 cents flat around 4th octave sounds like a whole step down but its not and octave 3 and 2 certainly not as well i mean some wavey notes or notes that are half step down and other string is not can confuse my tuning app because i thought f#2 was around 88.7 hertz but i muted one string and it was 89.3 hertz f2 plus with the 39 cents my piano still has the n word pass 😭😭😭

[@martincacho8624]

I am trying to replicate this in the Sevish Scale workshop. But I am a little confused with it. Here is clear than the 0 is treated as degree 1. But in Sevish workshop 0 is 1? Does that mean that 1 here should i translated there as 2? o.o confused

[@bryanli316]

That explains why the 12 fret on my old out of tune guitar doesnt sound like a complete octave

[@That1CelloGuy]

why is there a G# +22¢ in one frame at 4:24

[@lorenzobarreras433]

WHAT ARE THESE VSTs I NEED THEM

[@Fire_Axus]

plot tip: triple modes

[@amynselema5609]

4:35 C‡̬, Dd̬, and F#‡́ are the correct notes.

[@Fire_Axus]

4:26 líbor

[@jamescuttsmusicjcm5013]

Haha those keys are very strange in how they move when you press them. :D.

[@stubbsmusic543]

The tempered tuning that we've become accustomed to is an artificial approximation in itself. That toy piano is like windchimes to me. It just IS. Why would you even bother going around the whole planet seeing how the sound of waterfalls and whooping cranes compare to tempered tuning? I dearly love tempered tuning, but I sure as heck wouldn't want to go and "tune" all the birds in the forest

[@Avybavywavy]

It sounds like windchimes. 😊

[@tygical]

i don't understand why, in modern day with modern technology, picking the temperament isn't just a thing we do before writing a song? we do it for scales, why not choose what set of scales to pick from too?

[@ShanevsDCsniperr]

this is cool

[@romeolz]

I got instant 27/37edo vibes from the toy piano!!! and it isn't even that close to being in either...?

[@the.spin.doctor]

i subscribed because your quality to subscriber count ratio is unbalanced

[@LeviMcClain]

Appreciate that! As I grow I can’t wait to have the budget to do larger scale videos. There are a lot of Ideas in the works that would benefit from a large documentary scale production. Hopefully I’ll get there one day!

[@elainebelzDetroit]

I can't help think of Durutti Column's "Piece for Out of Tune Grand Piano" - kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGHRpGx8bdV7sLM

[@robinHobin]

VST when??

[@Ladeenian]

But that toy piano has TWO CONSECUTIVE groups of black keys!

[@GillamtheGreatest]

i love the idea of this sorta stuff but i dont even get regular music theory. so i just feel too dumb to wrap my head around this

[@gottfrid_n]

cool

[@sinkdemon5813]

no way this has 700 views

[@LeviMcClain]

Tbh, I’m surprised it’s doing this well! 😂

[@NoCommentChick]

L I M I N a L

[@Starshine777]

you made this comment about how the interval was "out of tune" but "makes ... feel a certain way", but you didn't invite your listeners to say how *they* feel when they listen and hear that same thing. slow down, palio buddy. we're all probably kinda on similar wavelengths about this stuff but get off that high horse about telling people what to think and feel, and instead *ask* them what they think and feel when they hear the same thing.

[@LeviMcClain]

This… is a deeply strange comment 😂 You’re free to feel however you want about anything bud. I can’t stop you, nor would I try, or even want to try. You don’t need my permission to have opinions or feeling on things, just… have them.

[@Starshine777]

I like microtuning but you're trying to explain stuff like you know something while just being bewildered by it. Get good first. Then tell us. ^__^ thx sweetie

[@LeviMcClain]

😂😂😂

[@Fire_Axus]

7:16 nope

[@greedo69]

@@Fire_Axus your feelings are irrational.

[@Fire_Axus]

your feelings are irrational

[@shulehr]

why you're calling yourself "Livay" if its clearly written "Levi" ?

[@LeviMcClain]

@@shulehr Because it’s my name?? I mean, the pronunciation is fairly common… like the clothing brand, or you know… like in the Bible?

[@RememberGodHolyBible]

Christ died to pay your sins to satisfy the wrath of God. If you want to live and not take the full brunt of Go's wrath please look up the following: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 KJV Romans 10:2-13 KJV Proverbs 30:4-6 KJV

[@LeviMcClain]

Random, but okay 😂

[@RememberGodHolyBible]

it's not random in the slightest. There is great darkness in your videos.@@LeviMcClain

[@LeviMcClain]

@@RememberGodHolyBible would you mind elaborating on this great darkness you sense from my videos? I’m genuinely curious, because I’ve always tried to put positivity and education at the forefront of my content 😅