User:Mousemambo/Workbench

Mousemambo's workbench for ideas and projects. Questions? Please use his Talk page or contact him through XenHarmonic Alliance's Discord server #wiki channel.

Created or substantially revised pages

• Scale design software (and redirect to it from Scale designer). A tangent from the "Tuning methods" page development project, extracted from the developing "Guide to Tuning a Software Synth in a DAW" page.

Project ideas

• "Tuning methods" Project
  • User:Mousemambo/Tuning methods. Add this new major page (or set of pages). I will note that there are excellent existing resources, like the Making Microtonal Music is Easier Than You’d Think page archived here from its original source. The problem with these is that they go out of date easily. Therefore, I am proposing a wiki solution that will be available for community maintenance including significant updates as appropriate.
  • See the section "Practical tuning for beginners pages" below for a list of what's currently available on the topic at this wiki and a few outside links.
  • To better understand how the "Tuning methods" document would work with a(the) planned how-to guide(s), I have started one example how-to guide tentatively titled "Guide to Tuning a Software Synth in a DAW" using Surge XT and Reaper as (primary) examples.
  • New article Scala tuning system. It's currently a draft outline that needs to be filled in, in part with material from the significantly flawed, sometimes simply wrong, material in User:Mousemambo/Document 2 draft. Lots of work.
  • Edit and move content from the stream-of-consciousness "Tuning base, tuning center, and tonic" (Document 2 draft) user-space page into the Scala tuning system article that's currently an outline.
  • The existing "Anamark tuning file format" page should be replaced with a redirect to a "File format" section in a new "Anamark tuning file" page.
  • Add "See: Tuning file" (or See: Tuning methods) as appropriate in the articles that currently reference them.
  • Add some "how to" information for people just beginning their journey, either as additions to existing pages or by creating new ones as appropriate. E.g. How to use tuning files, how to select which ones, how to get your electronic or software instrument to use one. These types of pages live in Category:Guides.
  • Category: Tuning methods. A category that would encompass all articles about how electronic instruments are made to adhere to alternative (non-12-EDO) tunings. "Practical tuning" or "Tuning practices" or Tuning mechanisms" or "Tuning technique" (currently in use but deprecated with redirect) or "Tuning practice" are alternatives perhaps? I note that the current Category:Tuning is about the theoretical side and not at all the practical side. However, it might instead be best to stick everything in Tuning, practical and theoretical, although that's not the direction I currently lean toward. I'd rather see "Tuning methods" offered as a category on the Category:Tuning page, and hide all the "methods" pages in there.
• Indian music (User:Mousemambo/Indian music). Replace the existing article "Indian" which, by the way, has a strange and dismaying page title (see below). Provide some history and current usage of tuning selections in the various branches of Indian music, and links to outside information. See the "Indian music" section below for a review of what this wiki already has on the topic.
• Scale and tuning system design. I'm interested as a beginner in what goes into selecting a "good" scale or tuning system, and what "good" means. It probably means "useful for making music I like listening to" which just moves the question to "What attributes of scales and tunings seem to help make music that appeals to many people?" A good question for generating an article or set of them -- "Scale design" and "Tuning system design" for example. See the section "Scale and tuning system design" below for a collection of relevant links. Fredg999‎ has suggested on Discord Xen#wiki that he's interested in adding a "Scale design" section to the "Scale" page, so watch for that. Some properties that I believe people consider in scale and tuning design:
  • Correspondence to the harmonic series, especially the fifth and/or third. Harmonic sounds are perceived by humans as more sonorous, in part due to harmonic blending.
  • Includes many close-to-harmonic fifths among intervals of the scale's (or possible scale in the tuning) notes.
  • Is an EDO with the useful properties of those (modulation is relatively easy, for example).
  • Is a MOS scale (many scales that people have found attractive for making music happen to be MOS scales.
  • Has enough corresponding scale degrees with 12edo that it is possible to compose in it using music theoretic understanding from Common Practice theory (e.g. 19edo).
  • Is an EDO close enough to a popular temperament to substitute for it, e.g. 19edo for 1/3-comma meantone.
  • Has few enough pitches per equave that there's no need to select a subset for mapping to standard piano format controllers.
• Scale naming. How are scales named? Are there existing conventions in the Xen community. Note a Discord discussion regarding square brackets used in scale names. Note the existing Temperament names page. Some related pages are:
  • Notation (and Category:Notation)
  • Comparison of mode notation systems
  • Temperament naming
  • Scale naming

Practical tuning for beginners pages

Below is a list of existing Xen wiki pages (still expanding by search, as of August 2023) relevant to beginners who want to set their electronic instruments to other than 12-EDO tuning. Synth/sampler manuals frequently don't provide enough background information, instead assuming you already know something about tuning files.

It's useful to consider the trajectory of beginners newly arriving at the wiki. The wiki's front page has a section "If you are new to musical tuning" that doesn't get into practical how-to issues, but the page also has a very appropriate and helpful section "Practical xenharmonics" (Useful Tools, List of microtonal software plugins, Microtonal instruments). "Useful tools" simply redirects to the "List of music software" page, which seems sensible if inconsistent.

Related to that visitor's initial likely trajectory, note that the wiki's main sidebar also includes a section "Practice" with links underneath to some essential starting points for people seeking practical tuning guidance, especially "Software" and (of less relevance to this work) "Pedagogy." Also in that sidebar, "Useful Tools" (redirects to List of music software) is listed under "Theory" which is odd unless you know how useful the "practice" tools are for better understanding theory.

• Categories with practical tuning articles:
  • Category:Tuning
  • Category:Guides
  • Category:Software
  • Category:Resources
  • Category:Practice
  • Category:Pedagogy (This is an odd word choice, and I believe that "Education" or "Learn" might be better. I note that Fredg999 is considering "Guides" instead, which I am liking more.)
  • Category:Tuning technique (a soft redirect to Category:Regular temperament tuning, otherwise could be an attractive category for all tuning file and closely related pages)
• List of music software. Good page with ongoing maintenance activity. Linked to from the Main Page in the "Practical xenharmonics" section, as a "Useful tools" redirect. Also in the Navigation sidebar boath as "Software" under the Practice section, and as "Useful Tools" under the Theory section.
• List of microtonal software plugins. Very important page at this time (August 2023), well maintained with updates. Linked to from the Main Page in the "Practical xenharmonics" section. Also from the "Software plugins" section of the "List of music software" page.
• DAWs. The section "Approaches to Microtonal Composition in a DAW" has some good info about practical tuning issues, though without enough detail to actually do it. Needs a link to some more practical how-to page.(s)
• Scala. Has a brief section on tuning files, which needs "See: Tuning files" added.
• Tuning system.
• Pedagogy. Excellent page with a name that unfortunately doesn't scream, "New folks start here!" "Education" would be better because it's more common, or "Learn" is even more common. I note that User:Fredg999/Sandbox#Summary_of_proposed_changes notices the same problem, and implies that "Guides" would be a good choice -- I agree. An important page because there's a link to it in the wiki's default/Navigation sidebar. Understandably focused on tuning theory, not practical issues. Update 2023-08-05: The sidebar link has been renamed Guides.
• New Tuning Method. Relevant, but mostly outdated page whose last substantial update was June 2016, so no mention of MTS-ESP, MPE or tuner plugins.
• Creating Scala scl files for rank two temperaments. Beginners won't know what a "rank two temperament" is (I personally have no idea) or what Scala does (I know what it does but haven't figured out how to use it yet). I don't understand this page at all yet, but I'm sure others do.
• Pedagogy questions. Old abandoned page.
• PedagogyTradeoffs. Redirects to the "Pedagogy questions" page section: When_is_learning_a_microtonal_system_of_pitches_harder_than_learning_the_12-equal_system.3F_When_is_it_easier.3F
• MicroPedagogyCollective. Old abandoned page.
• Useful Tools. Redirects to the List of music software.
• Anamark tuning file format. A good page already. Too bad there isn't an equivalent for Scala SCL/KBM file formats!

Also, there are some not (yet) totally outdated pages out beyond the Xenharmonic wiki that are worth learning from:

• Making Microtonal Music is Easier Than You’d Think., by Michael W. Dean. Also archived here as Making Microtonal Music is Easier Than You’d Think.
• Microtuning and Alternative Intonation Systems, by Jacky Ligon. MIDI.org (website), Sep 2020.
• CronoX 2 User Guide 1.02.sdw, Appendix A: Using TUN Files, by Jacky Ligon. 2003. (PDF)
• MIDI tuning standard Wikipedia.
• Scala scale file (.SCL) format specification. Huygens-Fokker Foundation (website)
• Scala keyboard mapping file (.KBM) format specification. Huygens-Fokker Foundation (website)
• Anamark tuning file (.TUN) format. Mizzen Microtonal Piano (website).
• ... more to be added

Indian music

Existing pages addressing microtonality in various branches of Indian music (e.g. Hindustani classical, Hindustani semi-classical, Carnatic classical, Sikh, Odissi, filmi, etc.):

• Indian
• Category:Indian
• ... to be further developed

There is some movement in the music world for moving away from referring to "Indian music" as a broad category, and toward instead referring to South Asian music. This is to distinguish the music primarily or entirely found within the country of India from (admittedly closely related) traditional/classical/artistic, folk, and contemporary music found in the South Asia region but outside India itself. I wouldn't say that movement is strong, but it has a point.

I note that under Category:Traditions all the cultural traditions (not just Indian) are named with strange and somewhat dismaying names that omit the word "music" that should follow. E.g. Indian, Arabic and Greek should sensibly be Indian music, Arabic music, and Greek music. The words "Indian," "Arabic," and "Greek" by themselves can mean a people, a culture, or (except for Indian) a language. I believe that these page names and category names should specify "music" or "microtonality" or something else specific. Wikipedia (which this is not) follows WP:Noun.

Xenharmonic music: An introduction to 21st century tuning systems

• Foundations
  • Glossary
  • Interval
  • Ratio
  • Harmonic series and the Overtone scale
  • Scale
    • Mode. "Tonal center" redirects to here, but probably should redirect to Tonic.
    • 5L 2s. "Diatonic" has a link to here.
    • Scale naming
    • Moment of symmetry (MOS)
    • Harmonic limit. This article badly needs a non-mathematical introductory summary paragraph, to go with its Wikipedia link to Limit (music).
• Tuning systems and temperament
  • Tuning system
  • Temperament
    • Just intonation
    • Comma
    • Temperament naming
    • Regular temperament
    • Equal-step tuning
    • Support
    • Tempering out
    • Temperament families and clans
• Tuning system analysis and design
  • Equave
  • Generator
  • Monzo
  • Val
  • Tuning system design. A needed article explaining some of the (sometimes conflicting) qualities that make a tuning system attractive, e.g. many consonant intervals, attractive harmonies, easy modulation to other keys, similarity to existing popular tunings, etc.
  • Monographs
    • Dave Keenan & Douglas Blumeyer's guide to RTT: introductions
    • Mike's lectures on regular temperament theory
    • Mike Sheiman's Very Easy Scale Building From The Harmonic Series Page
    • Xenharmonic music theory part 1: Perception of microtones, part 2: Dissonance Theory, part 3: Tuning theory
    • Aura's Music Theory: Introduction
• Xenharmonic harmony
  • Dyad
  • Interval quality
  • Consonance and dissonance
  • Diatonic functional harmony
  • Just intonation harmony (or Harmony in just intonation). This needed article would present an introduction to creating harmony in just intonation tunings. Some ideas to include...
    • Historically, pure tunings were understood to mostly support only limited dyadic harmony, because few intervals in any purely JI tuning were considered acceptably consonant. Interval table analysis of an example JI tuning reveals how many of that tunings' dyadic intervals are unusable for harmony. Consonant triads are very rare in JI tunings.
    • However, many traditional cultural musics successfully integrated dyadic harmony, e.g. ancient Greek music and its early European descendants, traditional classical Chinese music, and some traditional African music.
    • Melodic arpeggiation and the introduction of ostinato in accompaniment provided an opening to harmonic ideas without the more glaring dissonance of simultaneous tones.
    • The development of meantone temperaments in European music expanded the number of acceptably consonant intervals (List of meantone intervals), while listeners became more accepting of less pure intervals as consonant (most extremely in Emancipation of the dissonance), allowing expansion and exploration of triadic and larger harmonies.
  • Dyadic chord
  • Harmony in Specific Tunings
    • Blacksmith temperament modal harmony (in 15edo)
    • Harmony of 23edo
  • Monographs
    • Aura's Ideas on Functional Harmony‎‎
    • FloraC's Overview on Functional Harmony

Wiki Toolkit

• General purpose development pages
  • User:Mousemambo/Sandbox
  • User:Mousemambo/Document draft template
    • User:Mousemambo/Document draft
    • User:Mousemambo/Document 2 draft
• This wiki's culture
  • Xenharmonic Wiki:Conventions
  • Xenharmonic Wiki:Article guidelines
  • Xenharmonic Wiki:Wikifuture
  • Xenharmonic Wiki:Things to do [also its Discussion page]
• Useful category links
  • Category:Stubs
  • Category:Todo
  • Category:Todo:expand
  • Special:RecentChanges
• Wiki editing reminders
  • Help:Editing
  • Wikispaces Wikitext Reference
  • Category:Wikipedia text help (@Wikipedia)
  • Help:Cheatsheet (@Wikipedia)
  • Xen wiki Templates
    • Category:Hidden_categories
    • Category:Templates
    • Message boxes
    • Uncategorized templates
    • Unused templates
    • Might be especially useful: Template:Mbox, Template:Stub, Template:Wikipedia, Template:ScaleWorkshop, Template:Todo (and see Category:Todo for already defined ToDo tasks)
• Wiki health
  • Category:Xenharmonic Wiki
  • Xenharmonic Wiki:License
  • Xenharmonic Wiki:Terms of Service
  • Xenharmonic Wiki:Policy (orphaned)
  • Xenharmonic Wiki:Conduct (orphaned)
  • Xenharmonic Alliance: Microtonal Music Forum @ facebook
  • Xenwiki Work Group @ facebook
  • Sysops

All user sub-pages

• Document 2 draft
• Document draft
• Document draft template
• Introduction to xenharmonic music terminology
• Scala tuning system
• Tuning methods
• Workbench