Splinter

This piece explores Just Intonation in electronic music.

Conventional Western music utilises an equally tempered scale based on dividing an octave into twelve equally spaced intervals called ‘semitones’. The pitched ratio (i.e. ‘distance in frequency’) between these intervals can be found by taking the 12th root of 2, which is then further logarithmically divisible by 100 cents. The frequency ratio from a given starting frequency - a ‘unison’ of 1:1 - to the next semitone interval is commonly taken to be 1.059463:1. The rationale for use of the equally tempered scale is the ability to modulate seamlessly between any of the 12 available keys. However, the naturally occurring harmonics do not blend perfectly when using equal temperament which can lead to ‘beating’ - a form of amplitude modulation - when playing closely-related notes on natural instruments. This can be further explored by searching “why it’s impossible to tune a piano” or any derivation thereof.

This piece explores the lesser used Just Intonation scale to derive its available intervals. This alternative ‘natural’ scale is based on integer proportions as found in the Harmonic Series. This scale yields differences in size of the intervals between the adjacent notes found within the Equally Tempered scale, which limits the ability to modulate between keys, but yields perfect harmonics. This scale therefore offers exploration of subtly different harmony, often subjectively referred to as ‘warmer’ or ‘richer’ because the just perfect 5ths are 2 cents ‘sharper’ than the equally tempered 5th, the major third is 14 cents flatter than the equally tempered major third and the dominant 7th is 18 cents sharper.

This electronic piece is written using F as the fundamental and utilises 3rds, 5ths and b7ths accordingly.