Creating Your Own Scales?

[Teeleh]

So, from what I understand, a scale is a group of notes in one octave, such as D5 to D6, with a couple of notes left untouched (or raising/lowering a note by a semitone) so that it creates a certain "vibe". Am I correct in assuming that?

I hope so, because I've been looking for a way to have an original sound and what better way than to create my own scale?

[coquillo]

There's a bit more to it than that

"Scala is a powerful software tool for experimentation with musical tunings, such as just intonation scales, equal and historical temperaments, microtonal and macrotonal scales, and non-Western scales. It supports scale creation, editing, comparison, analysis, storage, tuning of electronic instruments, and MIDI file generation and tuning conversion. All this is integrated into a single application with a wide variety of mathematical routines and scale creation methods. Scala is ideal for the exploration of tunings and becoming familiar with the concepts involved. In addition, a very large library of scales is freely available for Scala and can be used for analysis or music creation."

http://www.huygens-fokker.org/scala/

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[JoaCHIP]

What defines a valid scale is culture specific. For western europe and the US, the rules are pretty simple, as everything conforms to the same 12 semitones. If we go back to before equal temperament, everyone used just intonation - which today would be considered "micro-tonal" and "exotic".

In India they have scales that span two octaves before repeating.

In Africa they still use just intonation a lot.

In the Arabian world and Turkey they have quarter notes.

If you wanna experiment, I recommend starting out with a simple pentatonic scale (the black keys on the keyboard) and start mutating that. Historically, pentatonic has been the foundation for a lot of useful scales.

[aquar]

So, from what I understand, a scale is a group of notes in one octave, such as D5 to D6, with a couple of notes left untouched (or raising/lowering a note by a semitone) so that it creates a certain "vibe". Am I correct in assuming that?

I hope so, because I've been looking for a way to have an original sound and what better way than to create my own scale?

if you just take the standard tunings there's not much likelyhood you'll create your own scales as such. to you they may well be your own but of course most scales have been done and have names associated.

i think you are right though in your approach, to be truely original you just have to jump outside the box. i think the trouble is our ears have evolved to accept certain scales and any attempt to move away from the mainstream scales usually ends up sounding kind of weird. for me though i find unusual scales interesting.
your target audience in some cases will sometimes consider some of your notes as simply wrong as if they are bum notes. a side effect from many years of listening to mainstream pop music i guess.

[Rottweiler]

So, from what I understand, a scale is a group of notes in one octave, such as D5 to D6, with a couple of notes left untouched (or raising/lowering a note by a semitone) so that it creates a certain "vibe". Am I correct in assuming that?

I hope so, because I've been looking for a way to have an original sound and what better way than to create my own scale?

First, you are fking correct in assuming that. But. You shouldn't just use simply the given notes. One important thing is to learn your chosen scale's characteristic intervals and notes, and using them wisely.

Also educating yourself in terms of music theory is crucial if you want to go into these depths. Writing music is aint that easy if you want to do it consciously. You have to practice for long months before you see the results of it.

And remember, smoking a fat joint and banging the midi keys is always much easier , and a lot of times it is at least that effective (if we talk about electronic music of course).

Keep up the work, and buy a midi controller if you do not have one, its crucial.

[Rottweiler]

a side effect from many years of listening to mainstream pop music i guess.

Be cautious, getting accustomed to pop music isnt just because its primitive and silly (although in a lot of times it's the case).

Most modern pop music is heavily influenced by things which are different from your usual 12-ET classical tuning, even if they are played with piano. Blues and afro-american blood is forever injected into the vessels of mainstream music, even if some classically trained heads would never accept it .

Anyone not agreeing with me, try to sound like the latest hit in G major .
(It all depends on the style though, of course.)

[Bobbotov]

I think first understand what scales already exist. You can go to this website which can display all (most) of the scales that are extant in ET (equal temperament).

http://www.apassion4jazz.net/keys.html

Try and come up with one that is not listed and see what you get. Chances are within the 12 note ET octave most have already been identified. The other issue with scales is chords. To make any kind of tonality for harmony, melody there needs to be accompanying chord structure. Not to say that interesting results may be possible you might be reinventing the wheel if you do not understand what has already been defined.

I think the best approach is working with micro-tonal scales in discovering new areas to explore. If you have been raised on equal temperament, micro-tonal will sound off and out of tune (it is by definition in comparison to ET). However, it is an acquired taste that is very rich once you get the hang of it. Much world music is in non ET scales and several composers like Harry Partch have invented their own micro-tonal scales (in his case 43 note scales). The nice thing about a lot of soft synths is the ability to use non traditional tunings and scales. Experiment and see what happens.

Here are a few micro-tonal examples:

[Teeleh]

Just to assuage any fears, I do not listen to pop music.

I know that I can't be very original in anything I do in music, but it makes it more personal and sacred to me, thinking that I'm doing something that only I have done. Plus, I think it'll make people appreciate my music more knowing that I've done things differently.

I'm a noob when it comes to music theory, though. Are there any books or websites that you guys could recommend? I'd prefer a website as money's a bit tight right now.

Also, are there any synths that allow you to make small changes in pitch per note? For example, if I hit C5, it'll be slightly higher in pitch than C5 on another synth, but hitting D5 would sound the same on both. That sounds confusing, doesn't it? Is there any way that I could change the pitch of certain notes so that it'll have a certain micro-tonality? I usually work with Fabfilter Twin 2.

[Bobbotov]

What you want to do is create .tun files for any synth that can use them. You will need to check the specs of the particular synth to see if it accepts .tun files. Many do.

There is free software that can be used to create .tun files called Scala:

http://www.huygens-fokker.org/scala/

There is a list of synths that can use these files provided and there are probably more that are not listed.

Another aspect you may want to look into is Just Intonation. Here is a web page that details what that means:

http://www.justintonation.net/

As to music theory online there numerous sites. Just Google "music theory."

[pensaku]

Every synthesizers even simple ones are made of many different scales.

Main keys are just traditional scales but there is another sound added to it which are made of different tunings.

Creating a scale means you also need to create those added harmonic scales too...

If you create those added multiple scales and play along with it that's what makes those vibes not just one scale.

[tapper mike]

Teeleh

"There is nothing you can do that can't be done. No song you can sing that can't be sung"
John Lennon -

Sprituality doesn't come from music, although many have tried to infuse spirituality into music. If you think you are going to find the holy grail thru a set of frequencies you are sadly mistaken. Emotive values are subjective, transitive, temporal, and implied at best. Most commonly attained by rhythm tempo metre and articulation.

[Cuauhtli]

Also, are there any synths that allow you to make small changes in pitch per note? For example, if I hit C5, it'll be slightly higher in pitch than C5 on another synth, but hitting D5 would sound the same on both. That sounds confusing, doesn't it? Is there any way that I could change the pitch of certain notes so that it'll have a certain micro-tonality? I usually work with Fabfilter Twin 2.

Not that I know of, at least not on a note by note basis. There are synths that have a "pitch drift" feature. Choose a note (C4 for example), the farther a note is from C4, the more the pitch deviates from the norm. I believe Massive has this feature: keyboard tracking of the oscillators.

The Pitch bend wheel/ribbon is an option. You could also edit your recorded midi files to apply pitch bend, more accurate but more tedious/time consuming.

EDIT:
How could I forget. The Kore synths feature microtuning where you can change the pitch of the 12 notes +/-99 cents. So you can raise the pitch of all the A notes 5 cents for example.

They go for $50 and you can try the demos (fully functional) for 30 days.

[jancivil]

So, from what I understand, a scale is a group of notes in one octave...

I hope so, because I've been looking for a way to have an original sound and what better way than to create my own scale?

You're getting way ahead of yourself here. You need to experience some scales in the wide world of music for a while.

[shanecgriffo]

just stick to the white keys............