Making Microtonal Music is Easier Than You’d Think: Difference between revisions

Matthew Dolmage, in Canada, makes some gorgeous microtonal (and non-microtonal) guitars. [https://www.etsy.com/shop/DolmageDesigns?ref=search_shop_redirect Here is the Dolmage Designs Etsy], and [https://www.facebook.com/pg/dolmagedesigns/about/?ref=page_internal here's his Facebook]. [https://biptunia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/sdfg.jpg][[undefined|link=]][[:File:Sdfg-450x300.jpg|[[Image:sdfg-450x300.jpg|link=|300x300px]]]] Ben Spees from Mercury Tree has a Dolmage Designs microtonal guitar neck, and loves it. If you want the top of the line, have a bunch to spend, and don't mind waiting several months for something custom, amazing, and microtonal, talk to Dan Memory at Oni Guitars in Australia. [https://www.instagram.com/oniguitars/ Pix here]. Contact [http://www.oniguitars.com/ info is here.] [https://biptunia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/burl.png][[undefined|link=]][[:File:Burl-450x306.png|[[Image:burl-450x306.png|link=|300x300px]]]] [https://biptunia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Oni2.png][[undefined|link=]][[:File:Oni2-450x315.png|[[Image:Oni2-450x315.png|link=|300x300px]]]] [https://biptunia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/oni-2.png][[undefined|link=]][[:File:Oni-2-450x250.png|[[Image:oni-2-450x250.png|link=|300x300px]]]] [https://eastwoodguitars.com/blogs/news/new-eastwood-custom-shop-phase-4-mt-microtonal-guitar Eastwood Guitars] makes microtonal models: [https://biptunia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Phase_4-3banner.jpg][[undefined|link=]][[:File:Phase 4-3banner-450x256.jpg|[[Image:Phase_4-3banner-450x256.jpg|link=|300x300px]]]] [http://www.starrettguitars.com/ Starrett Guitars] makes some real beauties too, and does custom microtonal work. [https://biptunia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/pic07.jpg][[undefined|link=]][[:File:Pic07-450x148.jpg|[[Image:pic07-450x148.jpg|link=|300x300px]]]] FYI, There's a [https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/21eeep/microtonal_guitars/ microtonal guitar thread on Reddit]. And [https://www.microstick.net/ Neil Haverstick] has some good articles and books on microtonal instruments in specific, and microtonal music in general: [https://biptunia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/45710347_10156833714929282_3451817773586448384_n.jpg][[undefined|link=]][[:File:45710347 10156833714929282 3451817773586448384 n-380x350.jpg|[[Image:45710347_10156833714929282_3451817773586448384_n-380x350.jpg|link=|300x300px]]]] Other than my fretless guitar, I mainly use guitar sounds in Kontakt played with a MIDI keyboard and re-tuned to non-12 TETs with the technique enumerated above. But the real deal is having a good microtonal fretted guitar, and learning to use it. '''CLOSING ARGUMENTS ''' Microtonal music is a whole new world to fall into. It's relatively simple to dabble in it. And if you're good at 12 TET music, it doesn't take long to sound good in xen. But the wormholes you can fall down are incredibly deep and varied. It's a synthesis of art and deep math that is almost mystical to some people, far more so than ordinary everyday boring old 12 TET music. Microtonal music is a great way to rocket yourself out of a rut, go to the next level, in parallel universes you didn't even know existed previously. It's a great path for musicians who have an insatiable thirst for the new, and for information. Plus it can sound darned good too. You don't have to completely "go microtonal." Some microtonal musicians are exclusively microtonal, some almost to a macho "I'm different!" extent. But many of the better ones aren't exclusively microtonal, or consider themselves musicians first, and microtonal musicians a close second. I think that's a healthy and honest attitude. Personally, the first 7 BipTunia records were 12 edo. VERY strange 12 edo, but 12 edo. The 8th BipTunia record was 90% microtonal. The next one we're working on now will likely be about 50% to 60% microtonal, and I think that's likely where I'll stay going forth. I will make an informed guess that microtonal music is something that about 1 in 10,000 musicians who grew up in the west, or in a western tradition, do on a regular basis. At least the number is very likely somewhere in that magnitude. But xen is going to become more common, because it's ''good.'' ''S''o it's a fine thing to get skilled at doing if you want to stand out.

'''RECOMMENDED MICROTONAL RESOURCES ''' [https://www.facebook.com/groups/xenharmonic2/ The Xenharmonic Alliance] Facebook group that's a continuation of an in-person group co-founded by Ivor Darreg in the 1970s. The pre-Internet iteration also functioned through the postal mail, sending cassette tapes back and forth (!) The main reason there are any recordings of Ivor actually playing music himself at all is because Johnny Reinhard kept tapes that were personally given to him by Ivor, and Johnny [https://johnnyreinhard.bandcamp.com/album/ivor-darreg-originals-i recently started putting them online]. Ivor died a few months after the World Wide Web started, and before most people knew it existed. But Ivor was on a ''mission'', and asked Johnny to share the music. So when the technology became ubiquitous, Ivor now lives again in the ears of people who weren't even alive when Ivor was playing gigs with his crazy homemade instruments.