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 (though he frequently takes weeks-long breaks from participating there).

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 The problem with these is that they go out of date easily.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 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

This [developing] outline can be used as an introductory course through the Xenharmonic Wiki for people interested in understanding, playing or composing xenharmonic music. Although it consists entirely of links to Xen Wiki and some Wikipedia articles, without any text of its own, it's ordered to guide a growing conceptual understanding for those new to the subject. The intention is to help answer the question, "Where should I begin learning about xenharmonic music?" for those who wish to go deeper than the introductory texts provided by the list of Guides.

This course extends from a prerequisite of Music Theory 101, a ubiquitous first-semester college course whose material is also commonly taught to high school piano, guitar and jazz musicians. There are several free online textbooks teaching Music Theory 101 [recommendations need to be provided]. The course draws a somewhat arbitrary line between "beginner" material that is included, and "intermediate" material that is not. A guideline for that distinction is that the material presented might fit within a one-semester college course.

This "Introduction to xenharmonic music" course begins by reintroducing some basic musicology terms but in a xenharmonic context. That may mean they have unusual definitions, or that they're explained in a way that points toward how they're understood and used in xenharmonic musicology and music. If there is corresponding English Wikipedia page, a link is provided here to help contrast the xenharmonic perspective with the one more commonly taught in conventional music theory [in progress]. However, some Wikipedia pages were created with a partly or entirely xenharmonic perspective (e.g. Regular diatonic tuning), although this can be difficult for beginners to recognize.

Some of the articles linked to by this outline start with useful introductory material but then go deeper than the level intended by this course. In these cases, readers are encouraged to use their judgement to decide when a useful depth of understanding has been reached, and then return to this outline. Revisiting deeper material at a later time is always available.

Foundations

• Glossary
• Interval. Wikipedia: Interval (music).
• Ratio
• Harmonic series and the Overtone scale. Wikipedia: Harmonic series (music).
• Scale. Wikipedia: Scale (music).
  • Mode. "Tonal center" redirects to here, but probably should redirect to Tonic. Wikipedia: Mode (music).
  • 5L 2s. "Diatonic" has a link to here. Wikipedia: Diatonic scale, and Regular diatonic tuning.
  • 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).
• Tonic

Tuning systems and temperament

• Tuning system. Wikipedia: Musical tuning § Tuning systems.
• Just intonation. Wikipedia: Just intonation.
• Comma. Wikipedia: Comma.
  • Pythagorean comma. Wikipedia: Pythagorean comma.
  • 81/80 (aka Ptolemaic comma). Wikipedia: Syntonic comma.
• Temperament
  • Equal temperament
  • Equal-step tuning
  • Regular temperament. Wikipedia: Regular temperament.
  • Linear temperament
  • Support
  • Tempering out
  • Temperament naming
  • Temperament families and clans
• Notable historical and common tuning systems
  • Pythagorean tuning. Wikipedia: Pythagorean tuning.
  • Meantone family. Wikipedia: Meantone temperament.
    • Ptolemy's intense diatonic scale (at Wikipedia)
    • Quarter-comma meantone. Wikipedia: Quarter-comma meantone
  • 12edo. Wikipedia: 12 equal temperament.
• Articles
  • Paul Erlich. A middle path between just intonation and the equal temperaments.

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. Some possible qualities:
  • 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.
• Tour of regular temperaments
• Notable xenharmonic tuning systems
  • 19edo. Wikipedia: 19 equal temperament.
  • 24edo (aka, quarter tone scale). Wikipedia: Quarter tone.
  • 31edo. Wikipedia: 31 equal temperament.
  • 53edo. Wikipedia: 53 equal temperament.
• Articles
  • 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
  • Siggy. A Trivial Knot (blog). 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 (JI) tunings. It introduces ideas and strategies for harmony that also apply to other uneven tunings, and provides a foundation for understanding more extended xenharmonic harmonization. Some ideas to include...
  • In ancient music, "pure" tunings based on lower harmonic series overtones (e.g. Pythagorean, aka 3-limit) 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 3-limit JI tuning (see provided table) reveals how many of that tunings' dyadic intervals are unusable for harmony. Triads that are consonant — by traditional measure — are unavailable in ancient JI tunings.
  • However, many traditional cultural musics successfully integrated dyadic harmony, e.g. ancient Greek music and its early European descendants, traditional Middle Eastern music, traditional classical Chinese music, and some traditional African music.
  • The expansion of JI tunings from 3-limit (Pythagorean) to 5-limit (e.g. Ptolemaic) increased the number of intervals considered consonant, and therefore the harmonic possibilities in these tunings. Although options for triadic harmony were still limited compared to later developments, the strongly consonant Ptolemaic just major triad became available.
  • Melodic arpeggiation, and the introduction of ostinato in early basso continuo accompaniment, provided an opening to harmonic ideas in early European JI music, without the more obvious dissonance of notes sounded simultaneously.
  • Later, the development of meantone temperaments in European Renaissance music expanded the number of acceptably consonant intervals (List of meantone intervals), while listeners also became more accepting of less pure intervals as consonant (continuing into the 20th century Emancipation of the dissonance). This allowed expansion and exploration of triadic and larger harmonies. These tempered tunings also permitted key modulation on fixed-pitch instruments like piano.
• Dyadic chord
• Harmony in specific tunings
  • 24edo interval names and harmonies
  • Blacksmith temperament modal harmony (in 15edo)
  • Harmony of 23edo
• Articles
  • Aura's Ideas on Functional Harmony‎‎
  • FloraC's Overview on Functional Harmony

Elements of good Xenharmonic Wiki article writing

Here is an outline of some ideas about how to make the Xenharmonic Wiki more useful to musicians.

• Introduction to good nonfiction writing (with an emphasis on exposition)
  • Why are you writing?
  • What is "good" in good nonfiction writing?
    • Clarity of purpose: Strong focus on the idea being presented.
    • Clarity of statement: Intelligibility in the contexts of reader and meaning.
    • Clarity of structure: A nonfiction narrative arc.
  • How to write an effective nonfiction paragraph or "paragraphic" section (a section functioning like a paragraph).
    • Each paragraph presents one idea.
    • Paragraphs include:
      • Always, an initial statement of the idea.
      • Optionally, the definition of a new term.
      • Almost always, how the idea connects to previously presented ideas (provides context).
      • Optionally, how the idea connects to related ideas outside this writing (provides context).
      • Always, sentence(s) that develop(s) the idea.
      • Always, sentence(s) that support(s) the idea.
      • Always, an explanation of why the idea is valuable.
      • Usually, a summary of what the paragraph has presented.
      • Optionally, a description of how this idea connects to the next idea(s) to be presented.
    • Edit your paragraphs to analyze what functions every sentence is providing (see above), simplify wording and phrasing, use natural speech, remove unhelpful redundancy, create powerful flow between paragraphs.
  • What is an explanation and what are some types of explanation?
  • Effective narrative structure in nonfiction writing.
  • Tone in writing: Encyclopedic, authoritative, monographic, conversational, informal, comedic, etc.
  • Recommended reading for learning how to write better nonfiction (to be added).

• Every Xenharmonic Wiki article should include...
  • An introductory paragraph or two that:
    • Is accessible to the Wiki's yet-to-be-officially defined target audience: musicians with at least a basic introduction to music theory. This can be defined as first-semester, college Music Theory 101, but is also commonly introduced to high-school piano, guitar, and jazz musicians.
    • Provides links to beginner and intermediate-level articles on music theory as needed.
    • Clearly places the article's topic into the context of music.
    • Presents the purpose of the article in a way that will be understood by someone completely new to the article's concept, with links to articles about concepts that are necessary prerequisites.
    • Regardless of the topic (advanced or not), includes absolutely no math theory terminology beyond high school level, unless it is very commonly used in Xenharmonic music discussions, and links to/toward beginner-level articles are provided. If no such article exists, omit that terminology from the introduction, and present it later with a red link to create that article. There are certainly also alternative ways to address the serious Xenharmonic Wiki problem of inaccessible articles that understandably frighten off musicians without a higher math degree. There are occasional paired articles, one for beginners (e.g. Mapping) and one for advanced readers (e.g. Temperament mapping matrices). This can be an effective approach but requires substantially more work.
  • Sections that divide the article into different depths of understanding, i.e. that require the reader to have less or more preexisting understandings. More advanced understandings belong in sections later in the article. This is true even formore advanced articles, because in effective narrative nonfiction writing there is always a progression of understanding.
  • No list or table without an effective explanation of its contents.

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)
  • Wikipedia link format. As a Xenharmonic Wiki link in the visual editor... Wikipedia:<articleName>
  • Xenharmonic Wiki file format. :File:<filename>
• 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