Sevish’s scale impressions
February 21, 2022 | Microtonal/Xenharmonic, Musical Myths
Here are some of my thoughts on various microtonal scales. These thoughts are my own subjective impressions and there’s no need to take them seriously. Enjoy!
Equal-step tunings
- 1edo – wide-open featureless space
- 2edo – dual opposition
- 3edo – dreamy flashback, bells
- 4edo – cartoony horror, staircase
- 5edo – open, bright colour, ease
- 6edo – cartoony wonder, tension
- 7edo – flat, comfort, bright colour
- 8edo – moist shit
- 9edo – bells, chimes
- 10edo – vivid, open
- 11edo – pure, warped, intuitive
- 12edo – nostalgia, comfort, jazzy, transparent
- 13edo – warped liminal space
- 14edo – multicoloured
- 15edo – wonky
- 16edo – expressive
- 17edo – angular, intuitive, colourful
- 18edo – bright colour, I still haven’t explored this one
- 19edo – flat, wonky, uncanny, pale
- 22edo – chill, trippy, hyper-jazz
- 23edo – bright colour, unstable
- 24edo – something you think should be familiar is now wretched, hyper-jazz
- 29edo – expanded wonky wonder
- 31edo – rest, clarity, transparency, and once you get this far out, each edo has the capacity for extreme variety
- 314edo – way too many notes. this is the point where you’ve gone too far
Bonus, here are some temperament impressions too
- blackwood – jazzy, dirty, trippy barbershop pole effects
- machine – sparkly, pure, unusual
- mavila – face swap, expectation and surprise
- porcupine – an otonal- and Arabian- influenced diatonic without being either of those things
What are your own impressions?
5 Comments
wow! that’s hilarious!
how do you feel about equal divisions of non-octave ratios? personally i’m a fan of dividing thirds e.g. 5ed11/9 and 5ed5/4
I love these scales and have used equal divisions of non-octave ratios such as 3/1, 3/2 and 8/3. Haven’t tried equal divisions of thirds yet. Lots here to explore!
your feelings are irrational
Oh, nice! I was thinking of doing something very similar myself, on the descriptions Entonal Studio provides for each scale, so I can keep track of what I think of scales- but for now since I dont have a wide grasp on edo, or scales, I think this will come in handy. though I guess I can comment my thoughts on things that you didnt mention here
27edo – simply, slightly off- I cant really describe it, familiar but a funky dissonance that I love in 27
Bohlen Pierce – quizzical, mysterious. for some reason it always seems a little unresolved. probably great for quiz show, videogame puzzles, and curiosity about space music