User:Ganaram inukshuk

I generally go by "Ganaram" or some variant of that (ganaram_inukshuk, gdinuk). (Discord: ganaraminukshuk0; he/they; generally more active on the Xen Discord unless work bogs me down.)

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.

From a wikian perspective, my goal is to better the wiki itself, at least as it pertains to how mos-related info is displayed. The most immediate way to achieve this is to create and deploy templates for the most commonly displayed mos-related info, as well as wikifying any text present (so it looks like an actual wiki page!) and trying to verify the source or attribution to things taken for granted (because misattribution happens concerningly). I've written a style guide to be applied to all mos pages (see subpages below), but I'm also open to better ideas.

Main mindset

I summarize my main mindset using the following trinity: temperaments, mosses, and edos are not each other.

Temperaments produce mosses, but two different temperaments may produce the same mos. Edos support more than one family of mos, so it's fruitless to shoehorn the notation meant for one mos for a different mos within the same edo. Two temperaments may produce the same JI ratio, but have different qualities in different mosses.

This level of decoupling makes it so I don't let any one temperament, mos, or edo influence how I look at either. Just because a nondiatonic mos has a perfect 5th doesn't mean I should think of it as such, especially if that isn't the generator to begin with.

That said, I focus more on mosses and, secondarily, edos when it comes to this trinity. I prefer to look at scales based in a temperament-agnostic sense, as mosses that are supported by an edo, or different edos. 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. This is also less names to memorize, since there are a lot of temperament names, and looking at mosses directly means fewer names to remember.

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

TO-DO list, major contributions, and wish list

Contributions

• Modules and templates
  • Module:SB tree and Template:SB tree
  • Module:Scale tree and Template:Scale tree (contributor with CompactStar)
  • Module:MOS modes and Template:MOS modes - displays the modes in a mos.
    • Todo: simplify system of column entries, add rotational ordering
  • Module:MOS intro and Template:MOS intro
  • Module:MOS gamut and Template:MOS gamut - displays the note names for a mos, given a step ratio and notation scheme
  • Module:MOS degrees (deprecated), Module:MOS degrees v2 (current), and Template:MOS degrees - displays cent values for a mos, given a step ratio (up to 5 step ratios are supported).
    • Todo: separate JI ratio lookup into its own template, called Module:JI ratios in MOS and Template:JI ratios in MOS.
  • Module:MOS intervals and Template:MOS intervals - displays the names for a mos's intervals, or mossteps.
  • Module:MOS mode degrees and Template:MOS mode degrees - displays the degree qualities for each of a mos's modes.
  • MOS-in-EDO (or mosinedo) templates
    • Module:MOS in EDO and Template:MOS in EDO - displays mosses and their step visualization for one generator and one period count.
    • Module:MOS in EDO allgens and Template:MOS in EDO allgens - displayes the mosses and step visualizations for all generators for one period count.
    • Module:MOS in EDO allperiods, Template:MOS in EDO allperiods, and Template:MOSes in EDO - displays the mosses and step visualizations for all generators for all periods.
    • Todo: simplify code, write documentation.
  • Module:Step vis and Template:Step vis - used as part of the mosinedo templates; creates a step visualization for an arbitrary step pattern.
  • Module:EDO intro - module for Template:EDO intro, created with the intent to make entering the edo automatic.
• "Helper" modules (contains only helper functions for other modules)
  • Module:MOS notation - helper module for mos-related modules that display notation.
  • Module:Template input parse - helper module for parsing entries, such as splitting entries at delimiters or creating an associative array.
  • Module:JI ratio finder - a helper module for finding JI ratios that approximate an arbitrary cent value.
• Other contributions
  • Mos page standardization (work-in-progress)
  • 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.
  • 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.

To-do list

• Proposed modules and templates
  • Module:JI ratios in EDO and Template:JI ratios in EDO - a proposed module that shows JI ratios that an edo approximates.
  • Module:TAMEX - a proposed module, much like Module:MOS, that calculates descriptions for descendant mosses.
  • Module:MOS step sizes and Template:MOS step sizes - a proposed template that is an abridged version of the mos degeres template, showing only the sizes for the large step, small step, and generators.
  • Module:MOS genchain and Template:MOS genchain - a proposed template that shows the scale degrees reached by continually stacking a mos's generators up and down from the root.
  • Module:Xenpaper - a proposed module for generating links to Xenpaper, meant to provide audio examples of scales, such as mosses.
  • Module:Text to value - A proposed module that takes in certain text and produces a value; for example, entering a JI ratio of 3/2 produces an output that is the ratio and its cent value in parentheses (702¢).
    • This already exists as Template:Cents

• Rewrite important mos pages according to style guide (see subpages section).
  • Mosses whose pages have been rewritten to meet the style guide to satisfactory levels (that doesn't mean the pages can't be polished further!):
    • 5L 1s
    • 5L 2s
    • 4L 3s
    • 3L 4s
    • 2L 5s
    • 1L 5s
    • 7L 1s
    • 3L 7s
  • Mosses whose pages I've touched on but are considered work-in-progress:
    • 3L 5s
    • 7L 2s
    • 4L 2s
• Refine TAMNAMS proposals with guidance of inthar and others:
  • 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???
• 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.
  • All the recursive algorithms described on that page have time complexities of O(n log n), but the algorithm that generates a Christoffel word (combinatorics-on-words term for the brightest mode of a mos) has a time complexity of O(n). Resolve...?
• Standardize mosinedo pages. Examples include:
  • List of MOS scales in 12edo
  • List of MOS scales in 17edo
  • List of MOS scales in 29edo
  • List of MOS scales in 31edo
• Mos pages standardization; through the aid of templates, the most important mos pages should display the following information:
  • A standardized introductory paragraph. (Fulfilled)
  • A listing of its modes, their step patterns, and names, if it has any. (Fulfilled)
  • A listing of the mos's note names, usually in diamond-mos notation. (Fulfilled, not deployed)
  • A listing of its interval sizes and scale degrees. (Fulfilled for scale degrees, not deployed)
  • A listing of its mos relatives, around 2 generations away?
  • A scale tree that shows the tuning range and supported edos. (Fulfilled by CompactStar)
  • A means of looking up mos names, particularly TAMNAMS names. (Fulfilled by Inthar; octave-specific names only)
    • For mosses with more than 10 notes, mos descendant names are used. (These names currently aren't standardized, so this currently can't be done.)
    • Certain non-octave mosses should have their own names. (I have such a system, but it hasn't been discussed with others yet.)
  • Note: Less important mosses (such as those with very few note counts) or under-explored mosses (typically those with higher note counts) don't need all of the info described above. See User:Ganaram inukshuk/MOS page standardization guide for a proposed guide.

Wish list

• Composing music with these abstract ideas.

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.
  • User:Ganaram inukshuk/TAMEX - Rewrite of the above page for describing any mos descendant, short for "temperament-agnostic moment-of-symmetry scale extension description system"
  • User:Ganaram inukshuk/Additional temperament-agnostic mos names - Rewrite of the above page for names for proposed names.
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/MOS page standardization guide - A proposed style guide for mos pages

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

Test pages

• User:Ganaram inukshuk/Catalog of MOS Scales
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/4L 3s (Template test page and test page for style guide)
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/5L 2s (Template test page and test page for style guide)
• User:Ganaram inukshuk/TAMNAMS (Rewrite page)