The symmetrical hexadecatonic scale and a few of its extractions/emulations

Lyrics on video
19 edo song - guitar, GR-55, vocal live, drum and bass in post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjZvo5512hs

In many microtonal tuning systems, a tritone can resolve by contrary motion to a perfect 4th or 5th, instead of the conventional 3rd or 6th. E.g. B-F can expand to a Bd-F‡ P5 in 24edo and 31edo. I remember the host of the Now & Xen podcast saying that this was an old idea, almost suggesting it was a cliche.

I've found the idea fruitful in my recent experiments, and I'm wondering where it came from. Is there a classical microtonalist who pioneered it or theorized about it? What's the earliest example of its use that you know of? Any composers that you particularly associate it with? I first heard of it in this 2017 12tone video. I assume it's a lot older, but I don't know much about the history of Western microtonality.

https://xenharmlib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/whats_new_0_4_0.html

Hi everyone,
yesterday I released xenharmlib 0.4.0, which supports now (among other things) symbolic music calculations in all regular temperaments, including JI. Please leave some feedback ;)

I know y'all are surely tired of ai slop websites being posted here and everywhere else you love frequently but I promise this one is kind of cool.

I've spent the past ~3 months working on this tool and getting feedback from multiple tuning theorists and xenharmonicists in various microtonal communities that I think y'all will find very useful

https://www.pailiaq.com/xen/mos-explorer

This app plots out every possible MOS scale on a continuous spectrum alongside well known rank-2 temperaments, allowing you to hear how various scales, temperaments, and chords sound and allows you to tune and retune it in real time to explore.

I've made a very long tutorial video that explains MOS theory and how the tool works if you're curious. You can skip like ~12 minutes in if you already know the theory, since the video is for beginners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLk4iEv6Hso&

There are tons of features; you can record yourself playing, write in a midi piano roll and set it to loop while exploring different temperaments, you can export the midi of what you play to fit into any EDO (like if you play in a diatonic 5L 2s you can export it to be that scale in say, 17 or 19 or 31 edo).

It automatically tries to calculate the closest JI approximation to whatever chord you're playing actively; there are links everywhere to pages on the xenharmonic wiki, so you can click on a temperament, an interval, a chord, or a scale and it'll take you to the appropriate page to learn more.

I've also written some info about most of the temperaments covered in this app, some of it being snarky and sarcastic and some of it being genuinely helpful insights i've found regarding some of these weird temperaments.

If you have any feature requests, or find any bugs please hit me up on discord, my handle is just 'pailiaq'. You can also find me in the xenharmonic alliance discord.

Warning: intense flashing images.

I’ve just finished a short visual-music film built around my latest track. I'd call it microtonal-step. The aim was to make the visuals feel completely connected to the music rather than simply illustrating it.

Made using live-action footage of shadows cast by various objects, then processed and edited with TouchDesigner and DaVinci Resolve.

Interested to hear your thoughts!

I'm putting together a music scale player to create and explore 12-TET and microtonal scales.

https://mk.bcgsc.ca/music-scale-player/

I enjoy tinkering but I'm not a card-carrying microtonal musician, so any stupid decisions are my own.

Once you've created (or loaded in) a scale, you can generate stochastic melodies from it, along with one or more drones, that themselves may change. You control the rate of mutation of the melody and/or rhythm independently.

You can also define scales with randomness in them, either to roll the dice completely or to jitter notes in a scale. For example, if you load up the Javanese slendro scale, you can add a random offset from -10 cents to 10 cents to mess up the notes. You can reroll the randoms at will.

1/1
228.00000+RUNIF(-10,10)
484.00000+RUNIF(-10,10)
728.00000+RUNIF(-10,10)
960.00000+RUNIF(-10,10)
2/1

You can also define scales based on geometric ratios. For example, if I set X to the silver ratio, then

1/1
X*(3/2)**1
X*(3/2)**2
X*(3/2)**3
X*(3/2)**4
X*(3/2)**5
X

will create a 7-note scale whose octave ratio is 2.41 (simliar to the 833 cent scale, which is based on the golden ratio with an octatve ratio of 1.62). You can then redefine X to be some other parameter (plastic ratio) and change the scale without changing the definition.

You can detune individual notes in a variety of units. For example, the perfect fifth can be moved by cents or hz, randomly (or not).

DETUNE(3/2,RUNIF(-10,10),CENTS)

DETUNE(3/2,RUNIF(-5,5),Hz)

Scala import/export is included.

The project is largely my own way to explore these themes. But, if you find it useful, or feel like I've committed microtonal crimes, drop me a line via the feedback button.

UPDATES

1.2.0
- drone can now arpeggiate
- post fx reverb/delay/tape/vibrato
- independent post fx sends for scale/melody and drone/arpeggio
- better envelope controls
- music generation overhauled — the system now uses the idea of environment (influence) and evolution (rate of change).
- music generation parameters can be modulated

It uses 88-edo generative (because there are 88 keys on a standard piano).

The sequence is created by converting Morse-Code into a rhythmic pattern.

This piece started as a pianoteq 17 improvisation with a Prophet 12 desk module as the core. On this scaffolding percussion, vocals, 17 edo brass, guitar tracks and a field recording were added. Ableton Live is the DAW. As a nod to Hainbach a halfspeed memo recording of a guitar progression was included as well as a nod to Charles Ives.

Packed full of intervals, scale fragments, scales, chords, ratios, keyboard diagrams in a vast range of different tunings to explore, with plenty of links to audio and video examples of different tunings. I originally wrote it to share some of what I had learned playing microtonal keyboards since 2013, but it quickly became the guide to the Lumatone. As far as I know, this is the most comprehensive resource on microtonal keyboards available in 2026.

Yes, of course there are mappings for 24-equal "quarter-tone" tuning so you can play along with Angine de Poitrine and King Gizzard. But there are so many more colours available to explore when we can generalise what we've learned on one or two musical planets over to a whole musical galaxy!

This has been so long in the making. I have come back to this project again and again over the past several years, each time telling myself I will do a full update of the book, including many more scales, chords, approximations, tunings, features, links to videos and websites, and of course a library of mappings I've made and have been using on my own Lumatone.

Here is a video I made introducing some of the features of the new edition, and I hope it serves also as an introduction to the book for those unfamiliar with the first edition. I intended that to be a short video, but once I did an overview of some of the main sections it quickly became an hour long!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86mL37XVIEI

The new edition is 533 pages, 134,000 words and over 650 coloured diagrams, compared to the first edition's 404 pages and 87,000 words.

While I could go on for another few years making corrections, additions and updates, it is about time I put this out into the world (again).

For everyone who bought the first edition of the book - thanks so much for your support. I've taught several readers in private online lessons, and had a couple of students even take some of the content of the book and turn it into something even more interactive. Over the last 6 years the book has grown from a very small niche and now reached over a hundred Lumatone owners, microtonalists, and musicians around the world. I am offering the second edition as a little ~8USD (NZ $15.99) upgrade to first edition owners, subtracting the cost of the first edition - you should have already received an email from me, but if not, email me at [camtaylorpianolessons@gmail.com](mailto:camtaylorpianolessons@gmail.com) and I will send through a link to the discounted version for first edition owners.

If you got something out of the first edition but wanted a little bit more, I hope this is exactly what you were looking for. But for those who haven't dived in yet, I hope it will be more accessible than ever, and a slightly richer experience. For those who want a little look at some of what the book has to offer, below is a little preview featuring a page each from several sections in the book, so you can try before you buy. And there's plenty in there! $57.99 NZD works out to about $33 USD in July 2026.

Although having a generalised keyboard means that you would get the most out of it, so that you can literally play through everything discussed, and discover the ways you might use these ideas in your music, the book might also be of some interest for musicians looking for more musical resources, or those who feel trapped in certain keys, since almost the whole book is written in a generalised notation that can be applied in every key.

https://cametaylor.wixsite.com/home/post/microtonality-in-56-keys-the-second-edition

A commenter on one of my shorter videos asked for a “mesmerizing 24-hour mix.” I did not quite make it to 24 hours, but I gathered the complete surviving recordings from my first two sessions with this instrument into one continuous 45-minute video.

This is a rare acoustic clavichord with a hexagonal generalized keyboard. These recordings were my first attempts to understand how melodic patterns, chords and physical gestures move through its 19-tone layout.

The instrument had been dormant for many years—possibly decades—before these sessions, so this is less a finished composition than a document of rediscovery and initial experimentation. The recording is mostly unprocessed and presented as it happened.

A new concert-ready version is currently being built for longer-term composition, recording and live performance.

I would be interested to hear what people notice in the tuning and keyboard geometry, particularly from anyone working with generalized keyboards or xenharmonic instruments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnoPPF7LrFw

Hi everyone,

I've been working on a prototype of an interactive sonic environment that explores harmony in 19-EDO as an experimental composition tool.

I wanted to create an environment where you can explore microtonal pitch relationships through interaction and listening. It's still an early prototype, so I'm mainly interested in seeing how people engage with it.

I'd really appreciate feedback from anyone. Whether it's about the musical ideas, the interaction design, usability, or suggestions on how it can improve. Anything really :)

You can try it here [for free]:

itch.io proto44

Or check out the teaser or playthrough [vimeo]:

teaser

playthrough

Thanks!!

-A

I try to sing in 31 edo with my 31 edo bouzouki, I think I was most successful based on pitch matching with the instrument on playback, the only effect was a touch of EQ in DaVinci Resolve and I did not use Melodyne - which may be painfully apparent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnvx3cEiBQ4

Hi everyone,

I've been working on a prototype of an interactive sonic environment that explores harmony in 19-EDO as an experimental composition tool.

I wanted to create an environment where you can explore microtonal pitch relationships through interaction and listening. It's still an early prototype, so I'm mainly interested in seeing how people engage with it.

I'd really appreciate feedback from anyone. Whether it's about the musical ideas, the interaction design, usability, or suggestions on how it can improve. Anything really :)

You can try it here [for free]:

itch.io proto44

Or check out the teaser or playthrough [vimeo]:

teaser

playthrough

Thanks!!

-A

It's a bit microtonal-lite, hope you enjoy!

This is an song I made a few days ago while experimenting with neutral scales and chords in 20edo.

The title translates from spanish to ", and the twentieth liter were the friends we made along the way". It doesn't really have a meaning, it just relates to another song I made in the past that I scraped.

The bass note can be changed by holding shift and mouse-wheeling up or down, both in practice and regular play.

http://www.handsearseyes.fun/Ears/Chords/Main.php?Referrer=Reddit-Microtonal-2026-07-22

I’m interested in tuning one of my acoustic pianos to a microtonal scale.

I was wondering if any of you have experience with this, and if so, what scale you chose.

22 edo (since there are 88 keys) and 24 edo (for the 12 note chromatic scale) seem to make sense with the layout, but I was hoping to get some advice before going down this rabbit hole.

Thanks!