User:BudjarnLambeth/Moon dust
The moon dust scale[idiosyncratic term] is a 16-tone JI scale, with a period of 16/1 (four octaves), invented by Budjarn Lambeth in 2025.
It was inspired by the work of Maeve Gutierrez (see history section).
It has distinctly dynamic melodic steps with interspersed bendy little steps and big stark leaps.
It contains a mixture of familiar 3-limit harmonies with very xenharmonic no-5s no-13s 19-limit harmonies. It has many dissonances to create tension but also many consonances to resolve it.
Intervals
- 17/14
- 19/14
- 3/2
- 9/4
- 19/8
- 11/4
- 7/2
- 4/1
- 9/2
- 11/2
- 6/1
- 9/1
- 19/2
- 11/1
- 57/4
- 16/1
As an enumerated chord that is:
- 56:68:76:84:126:133:154:196:224:252:308:336:504:532:616:784:896
Which occurs above the tonic of the 112th mode of the harmonic series. (See: overtone scale.)
Practical techniques
Keyboard mapping
When using the scale on an isomorphic keyboard such as the Lumatone or Scale Workshop, it is recommended to have one axis ascend by 1 step at a time, and the other axis ascend by 5 steps at a time.
Frequency in Hz
Lambeth usually sets the frequency of the tonic note - note 0 of the scale - to F#2, that is 92.4986 Hz.
He recommends setting it anywhere between 75Hz and 120Hz, or anywhere between D2 and A#2.
Chord voicing
When voicing chords, Lambeth recommends that the two lowest notes of the chord should be 5 scale steps apart.
Above this foundation, you can then add any higher notes you wish as chord extensions.
(He reminds that rules are made to be broken, though, of course.)
Alternatively, another way Lambeth recommends to use this scale is to forget about vertical harmony and to instead focus on writing interweaving melodic lines that each sound good on their own, and they will just naturally generate consonant harmonies. (Similar to late medieval/early Renaissance harmony.)
Combining with other scales
You can have one instrument tuned to the moon dust scale, and another instrument tuned to any other over-7 primodal scale, and have them play simultaneously.
Some over-7 scales are listed on the following page:
Scale Workshop
History
Maeve Gutierrez shared the following JI chord in the Xenharmonic Alliance Discord server in late September 2025:
- 11/9 - 19/7 - 3/1 - 19/4 - 7/1 - 9/1 - 11/1
Budjarn Lambeth then moved the whole chord (except the 11/9) down 1 octave, to get:
- 11/9 - 19/14 - 3/2 - 19/8 - 7/2 - 9/2 - 11/2
Lambeth then added a 4/1 to act as the equivalence and a 16/1 to act as the period.
He then filled in the rest of the notes around those using Scale Workshop and his ears.
Approximations in other tunings
EDOs
According to Lambeth, the moon dust scale sounds particularly nice in 24edo, 30edo, 31edo or 72edo.
As scale degrees of 24edo, it is:
- 7, 11, 14, 28, 30 35, 43, 48, 52, 59, 62, 76, 78, 83, 91, 96
As scale degrees of 30edo:
- 9, 13, 18, 35, 37, 44, 54, 60, 65, 74, 78, 95, 97, 104, 114, 120
As scale degrees of 31edo:
- 9, 14, 18, 36, 39, 45, 56, 62, 67, 76, 80, 98, 101, 107, 118, 124
As scale degrees of 72edo:
- 21, 32, 42, 84, 90, 105, 130, 144, 156, 177, 186, 228, 234, 249, 274, 288