Temperaments

Temperaments

A browser instrument for writing music outside 12-tone equal temperament.

Most modern music is written using the 12 notes of the keyboard: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, and B. Different temperaments (17-tone, 19-tone, etc.) define notes at different intervals between each octave, creating the possibility of new scales and harmonies.

Pick a tuning, play it on your computer keyboard, and record what you create.

Tunings

• Every equal division of the octave from 3 to 31.
• 5-limit just intonation, Pythagorean, quarter-comma meantone, Werckmeister III, a harmonic-series scale, and Bohlen–Pierce (13 equal steps of a 3:1 tritave).
• A custom temperament editor: drag degrees along a ruler, snap them to just ratios, or lay out ratios sharing a common denominator. Up to 36 tones.
• Scale options for each tuning, including pentatonic, diatonic and octatonic shapes, with modes and a selectable tonic. Playable keys can be limited to the chosen scale.

Playing

• Two keyboard mappings: linear, where the four rows form one continuous ladder, and paired, where whole steps sit on the lower rows and the steps between them above.
• Keys can be colored by scale degree, or by how cleanly each one (theoretically) pairs with the note being held.
• Seven chord shapes: fifth, major, minor and neutral triads, harmonic seventh, and octave. A readout gives each tone’s error in cents.
• Arpeggiator with up, down, up-down and random modes, at one to twelve notes per beat.
• Percussion tab with nine kits, mapped to zones of the keyboard and tuned to the current temperament.
• 15 basic synth voices with editable oscillators, LFO, chorus and reverb. Edited voices can be saved.
• A drone, and a transpose control that moves by whole periods.

Recording

• Layer-based looper with count-in, ta beats to the bar.
• Bake settings stores a layer’s tuning and voice at record time for playback.
• Piano-roll editor for adjusting recorded notes.
• Export a mixed .wav, or stems as one

Learning

• A primer explaining octaves, twelve equal steps, scales and ratios, with animated string diagrams and keyboards of 9, 13 and 17 tones. A guided tour covers the panels.
• Demo here: