Today I received my AXiS 49 midi controller from C-Thru Music. It is excellent and has a groovy “selfless” mode that gives one 98 individual notes – more than a standard piano. I couldn’t resist trying my hand at an improvisation.
The music is in 17 notes per octave. Since the AXiS 49 does not have a sustain pedal port I used my M-Audio 88es to provide a sustain pedal by putting both software synths into OMNI mode to accept MIDI input from any source. The two synths I chose were pianoteq and Z3TA+. The midi performance was recorded live in Sonar 8.5 – there is no editing since that would defeat the point of the demonstration.
3 replies on “17 Selfless Notes”
Suspense or love scene I’d like to write film music. I’ve been working towards that end. Thanks for the comment, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Chris,
I was in suspense while listening your work, I am alone in this house. Very good for a suspense film, the composition resembles a dark night where I can´t find a place where I could be safe under the rain and thunders.
You can be a suspense films producer.
Mario
Here, you’ve showcased the harsh steely side of 17. You might consider trying the neutral third instead of the major third. Triads in 17 sound just dandy as long as you use neutral triads as the basic harmony rather than the much rougher and acoustically unstable major third. Minor thirds in 17, of course, sound just fine, so minor triads always work well.
Melodically, most folks tend to drift into a gapped highly unequal pentatonic mode in 17. That’s something to explore. 17’s neutral melodic mode also offers some nice resources and of course the minor mode works. Melodically, 17’s major sounds extremely dynamic, like a hyper-Pythagorean melodic mode. Works great in 17. It’s just the major triad that doesn’t sound so great harmonically — the major mode works like gangbusters melodically in 17.
Lots of new chromatic melodic possibilities in 17. Neutral triads tracing a gapped pentatonic mode in the root notes with chromatic pitches in 17 overlaid always sound great.
“It will require the efforts of many composers over many years to explore the resources of these new tunings.” — Ivor Darreg, “New Moods,” Xenharmonic Bulletin No. 5, 1975.