Now and Xen

In this episode, we discuss composition and performance with composer Saad Haddad. One prominent topic - the challenges involved working with orchestras and large ensembles playing microtonal music, and logistics of the industry. We also discuss ideas of east vs. west, style infiltration, using minimal sets of pitches, and maqam. Music: Vortex Temporum - Gérard Grisey Vignettes - Saad Haddad Ayshe...

After this episode, be sure to check out the new Sevish album, "Big Sway!" Myself, Sevish, and benyamind have a classic microtonal chat about all things fun and intervallic, covering topics such as intuitive tunings, voice manipulation (vocoding, autotuning, etc.), perfectionism, going gridless, expectations, and communication and accessibility within the microtonal community. Several instruments...

In this brief but informative chat with Blair Benzel, we explore uncharted territory, with a firm commitment to being true to the self, taking on challenges, putting the music first, and breaking rules just the right way. Enjoy the comfort of alien intervals that Blair brings using the Lumatone keyboard instrument (our big topic). Music [Intro] Paranola (31-TET) - performed by Blair Benzel Somethi...

An episode about synth and drums among other tidbits. Topics include names, aliases, Sevish himself, reverberance, randomness, evil, disguising tuning, non-octave tuning, flaws, beauty, the joy of doing creative work yourself, AI, picking your genres, the microtonal community, and art. Be sure to check out Steve's work as "Pentachrist" on Bandcamp, releasing new music periodically! Music The Road...

In this episode, Denny Genovese recalls his history of creating and studying microtonal music, and his experience creating and performing in the impressive Exotic Music Ensemble. Join us as we become inspired through the brown note, Ivor Darreg's secret math codes, the origins of Fractal Tune Smithy, the Moody Blues, FM synthesis, JI scales, and numerous other topics. Denny also explains his disco...

Check out Danny Playamaqui's electronic music, a hugely expansive discography using a staggering variety of techniques. Danny conducts by-ear-tuning editing, strategic de-tuning, varispeed tricks, and poly-systemic techniques in addition to starting out with xenharmonic tunings as templates. Luckily, 4 bars a day keeps the doctor away (or is it an apple? Perhaps a lemon, or some paprika). We take...

Come join us for a pleasant studio chat with Bryan Deister, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and jazz pianist extraordinaire. Recently he has been exploring microtonal covers on the Lumatone, with massive success on TikTok. He has also written many albums featuring microtonal music in various tuning systems, generally equal divisions, the most recent fully microtonal one being "In Your Hands." Our...

Chris Bandy, a cappella maestro and creative polymath, joins us to discuss the microtonality of his spectacular arrangements on YouTube. He works in Logic Pro using FlexPitch. Most of his microtonal strategies involve tuning standard adjustments and drifts, or moving microtonal distances. His most xenharmonic sounding arrangement is likely "Where is Love," and his latest video, "Silent Night," get...

Dave Keenan and Douglas Blumeyer have written an in-depth, specific guide about the mathematical principles of regular temperament theory that are groundbreaking in their consistency and explanatory power. We have them on to discuss how the exchanges evolved, de-mystify some theory concepts, and get spicy with terminology. Music [Intro] Dave Keenan - Tumbling Dekany four six five seven nine [JI] [...

Experimental bagpipe and bass legend Mat Muntz brings his Croatian folk music expertise to the table… a topic most would say he has matsered in depth. Check out his latest album "Phantom Island" on Bandcamp, which freely combines folk music and jazz idioms into a grand polysystemic masterpiece. A lot of our conversation revolves around the intriguing differences between instruments such as bagpipe...

Check out this conversation with Aaron Myers-Brooks, Pittsburgh prog guitarist/composer extraordinaire. His latest album, "Oblique," is a microtonal odyssey exploring various quirky polyrhythms, applications of 17-tone equal temperament, electronic sounds, and distortion flavors. We get an inside exclusive look at the scores to "Energy Shapes", figure out why one might use up and down arrows inste...

"One-Footed" is a piece written by Taylor Brook named after Harry Partch's "The One-Footed Bride'' Just-Intonation diagram. We discuss the aforementioned piece with Taylor Brook and John Schneider, diving into the ins and outs of writing idiomatically for the Partch ensemble, using Partch as inspiration, notation, and extended techniques on these instruments. The Del Sol quartet played the string...

Check out acreil's music! Algorithmic albums appended with "a." Keeper of obscure words in lists. Hardware enthusiast and certified synth geek. We have a delightful episode discussing how acreil works in Pure Data among other curiosities, such as how one navigates form to prevent boredom. Not only do we mess it up (or whatever), but we solve the paradox of influence and extremity, by making one ch...

Algorithmic August kicks off with Skueue, builder of the unnamed machine in Pure Data. This is an abstract, idea-filled episode packed to the brim with insights about the process. Our points of focus include a discussion of how writing affects software, uncommon disagreement about common practice, VST's in PD, programming cadences, rootful resolutions, clowntone heptatonica, and SAMPLING. Eventual...

Nicholas Denton Protsack's music abounds with spectral delights of various kinds. Our talk today has a particular focus on notation, delving into the strategy behind its presentation. As we study tuning more and more, becoming less rigid with its implementation, it becomes helpful to focus on not just approximating some tunings with others, but also to focus on the broader conceptual ideas behind...

How on earth does one create a 1200-tone tone row? Or even a 372-tone row in Sibelius? Find out in this wacky episode featuring Aaron Breeze, the swingin' licc master himself! The broader topics in this thrilling, conversational episode include silliness and perceived complexity, the connection between playing and speaking, red dress methodology, repetition and intent, presentation in music, high-...

In this colorful, rich episode, we take a look into the importance of visual and narrative elements in accompanying microtonal music and its ideas. Stephen James Taylor does this not only through writing music in film, but also through his own visual content, such as in "Surfing the Sonic Sky," an important documentary about Erv Wilson. Among the topics discussed here are: how to approach microton...

Anna-Maria Hefele, overtone singing sensation, has kindly graced us with her presence! Witness conversation about the tuning and construction of the intricate and aesthetically majestic Lambdoma project (built by Josef Baier). We also discuss how overtone singing intertwines with various musical ideas (production, style, classical technique, analytically hearing sound, the clash between overtones...

A fascinating collaboration between Ben Spees, of The Mercury Tree, and Damon Waitkus, of Jack O' the Clock. We take a look at the acoustic instruments used to create it (including non-Western ones), swap files, and talk about the challenges and inspirations behind the project. We also affirm quarter tones as part of the xenharmonic canon, nerd out about the regularity of scales, and hint at the s...

"Visitors," a lovely acoustic journey inspired by the visits of animals, is an album that leads to great conversation. Performed by Ben Hjertmann and Emmalee Hunnicutt, this masterpiece uses many different instruments which we discuss here. Fresh topics include: the act of rounding fretless tab, what a mentally ill Sufjan Stevens would sound like, performing live, JI lattices, chord symbols, and w...

We chat with Rami Olsen and Freddi Sturm, the brains behind "Hear Between the Lines," about all things microtonal arranging/content! Topics touched upon include contrived wet food analogies, channel ideas, the story of Rami's cool guitars, fooling the ear by drifting, comparing different tuning systems' whole tone scales, piano pedal shredding, and the complications that arise in microtonality fro...

Sevish and I chat about software, instruments, and philosophical questions. We are both excited to continually witness more and more people become interested in microtonality! Web-based browsers such as Scale Workshop, Xenpaper, and Leimma have made it even easier for people to play microtones without downloading synthesizers - all you need is an Internet connection. Sevish also explains how MPE w...

Check out our latest conversation with the brilliant guitarist Tolgahan Çoğulu, inventor of the LEGO microtonal guitar and automatic microtonal guitar. We dive into how these guitars work, how they could be useful for playing microtones, the inspiration behind these incredible ideas, and the geometry of making frets tune accurately on a LEGO grid! If anyone listening to this episode wants to spons...

Here's the last episode we had on as a Patreon exclusive! This wonderful conversation features Subhraag and I talking about Infinitone DMT, an extremely exciting software that acts as the first really practical digital plugin just for retuning synths! Some examples of what it can do? Automate tuning parameters, like fundamental frequency. Shift between subsets of a tuning using similar automation....

We dissect makam scales with Dr. Eric Ederer, using his fantastic instruments and deep knowledge of theory & praxis. Makam music uses a lot of different parameters to identify itself to its listeners, such as direction (seyir) and where the melody starts. There is a lot of analysis work that can be done in this field, especially in describing historically accurate modulation, and/or listing melodi...