User:Ganaram inukshuk

I generally go by "Ganaram" or some variant of that (ganaram_inukshuk, gdinuk). (Discord: Ganaram Inukshuk#1325; I'm generally more active on the Xen Discord.)

I've heard about microtonality on and off over the years, but what drew me into the topic was two things: HEHEHE I AM A SUPAHSTAR SAGA's video series on 19edo and Patricia Taxxon's song Spiral Staircase.

From a compositional perspective, my goal is to incorporate xenharmonic elements into an otherwise normal-sounding song, though my more ambitious goal is to not use the diatonic (LLLsLLs) scale structure at all.

From a theory perspective, my goal is to better understand xenharmony from a temperament-agnostic perspective. This primarily means edos and MOSses, but extends to MV3 scales and higher.

Main mindset

As mentioned, I prefer to look at scales based in a temperament-agnostic sense, specifically scales whose notes are a subset of an equally divided octave (edo) wherein the number of steps needed to reach each successive note is one of at least two integer values. Doing so relieves me of the expectation that a certain interval must necessarily fall within a few cents of a JI ratio and lets me be more explorative with musical scales. (It's also less names to memorize; superpyth[7] and meantone[7] both entail the same abstract scale pattern composed of five large steps and two small steps, or 5L 2s, but changing the step ratio to anything else may result in something that may be neither superpyth nor meantone.)

In other words, I see temperaments as starting with tempered JI ratios where edos and mosses are the outcome. I prefer to start with edos and mosses and have tempered JI ratios be the outcome instead.

Other running assumptions and techniques may be found under the methodologies page below.

TO-DO list, major contributions, and wish list

Contributions

• Big contributions to date
  • MOS recursion and MOS recursion algorithms; tried my best to make the descriptions for MOS recursion apply to all cases (Work-in-progress)
  • Some rewording of the TAMNAMS page for readability and flow
    • I have a few TAMNAMS-related proposals of my own that aren't quite ready to be called official. See todo list or TAMNAMS subpage.
• Other contributions
  • A page for horograms, since it was totally absent (Work-in-progress).
  • Mos family tree page for a tree I independently discovered before realizing Erv Wilson had already described it. Also has to do with mos recursion.
  • Finding and sorting the modes of an MV2/MOS by modal brightness (see subpages section below).
  • Adding descriptions for certain pages so that they also apply to step sequences, such as that for an interval matrix and muddle.
  • Some mos-related things here-and-there.

To-do list

• Clean up mos recursion page (because I feel bad leaving the algorithms untouched and untested for so long).
  • Replace pseudocode for is-this-scale-a-mos? program with python code; clarify with more examples.
  • Relate mos recursion with the mos family tree.
• Refine TAMNAMS proposals with guidance of inthar and others:
  • Mos mode naming, which requires a modified UDP notation, which itself requires clarification.
  • TAMNAMS naming extension for mosses with more than 10 notes.
    • Standardize terminology
    • Names go up to and, in some cases, beyond 3rd mosdescendants
    • Make it clear that prefixes for differentiating different mosdescendants are optional
    • Discuss temperament-agnostic alternatives to mosdescendant prefixes???
• Constructing a circle of generating intervals for any MOS supported by a specific edo.
• Constructing key signatures for any MOS.
• Composing music with these abstract ideas.

Wish list

• Every important edo page has an accompanying page or subpage that lists all of its mosses (modmosses may be a separate page) and the temperaments they support. Examples can be found on 31edo and 17edo's mos pages.
• Every page for a small (10 notes or fewer) or important (such as 7L 5s) mos page should have at least these things:
  • An overview of the mos itself (obviously).
    • The mos infobox with its TAMNAMS name, or if greater than 10 notes, its mosdescendant name. If such a thing is possible, the infobox should also find the name. (Name lookup already fulfilled: see Module:Infobox MOS)
  • A complete listing of its intervals for each mode, if the mos is small enough (around 10 notes or fewer, unless an interval listing is there already).
    • If such a feature can be implemented, there can be input field for entering step sizes (or a slider for step ratio hardness/softness), which then updates the table with cent values for every interval.
  • A listing of its modes, their step patterns, and their names if applicable.
  • The scale tree. Notes and issues on how this could be template-ified:
    • The minimum parameters are the large and small step count. This is enough to create a Stern-Brocot subtree.
    • An optional parameter is the equave; this is 1200c by default (or 2/1), but can be set to any other interval.
    • The issues so far is RTT-related info may not be supported, and only cents are supported (tritave-equivalent mosses sometimes use hekts instead of cents).

Subpages

These pages contain content that currently don't have an exact place elsewhere on the Wiki, or contains personal notes that otherwise don't have an exact place on the Wiki. I do my best to explain these things as though I magically forgot everything I know about xenharmony, so I consider it a bonus if someone else found this easy to understand.

• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Diagrams - For xen-related diagrams
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Notes - For xen-related notes
  • User:Ganaram inukshuk/Notes/TAMNAMS - Since I have so many notes related to TAMNAMS, I made a dedicated page for it
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Tables - For xen-related tables
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Code - For xen-related code
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Models - For xen-related models (needs reorganizing)
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/TAMNAMS Extension - Since there were others making their own TAMNAMS extension pages, I decided to make my own.

These pages are descriptions on how I approach various things, such as compositional techniques and how I approach a scale I've never used before.

• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Methodologies

Sandbox page (for testing things)

• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Sandbox
  • User:Ganaram inukshuk/Catalog of MOS Scales

Modules and templates

• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Template:Table Scale Tree and User:Ganaram inukshuk/Module:Table Scale Tree