Monthly Archives: May 2014

Power Tools Update

Posted on May 22, 2014 by midiguru

Good news, and you’re reading it here first: Hal Leonard has agreed to do a new edition of Power Tools for Synthesizer Programming. The book is now ten years old, and continues to sell (though not in large quantities). A … Continue reading →

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Roll Your Own Theory

Posted on May 19, 2014 by midiguru

Last night I started musing about how one might develop a coherent theory of harmony (that is, scales and chords) for a tuning with 31 equal-tempered steps per octave. This tuning, which we can call 31et or 31edo for short, … Continue reading →

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More About Skeletons

Posted on May 11, 2014 by midiguru

In; reading Nicholas Cook’s A Guide to Musical Analysis, it strikes me that the analysts whose work he describes (such as Schenker and Reti) have made a fundamental mistake; they’ve attempted to apply their methods across the board to all … Continue reading →

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Skeletons

Posted on May 11, 2014 by midiguru

A hundred years ago or thereabouts, a fellow named Heinrich Schenker developed a method for analyzing the structure of pieces of classical music. His method, which is known as Schenkerian analysis, is of some academic importance — and that’s a … Continue reading →

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A Hit Before Your Mother Was Born

Posted on May 8, 2014 by midiguru

Lately I’ve been recording new and slightly twisted arrangements of Beatles tunes, using Reason 7.1. This is great fun — they’re memorable tunes, and they inspire me with creative ideas. “Day Tripper” works well in 5/8 time, for instance. But … Continue reading →

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