Swan Lake

[JHC]

I was into semi-hemi-demis, quavering right away, half and quarter tones too, some eighths, but especially microtones,
considering how loud and transitory they can be..

.

well 1/4 tones would be as in Indian music (Asian) but 1/8 and micro (what is a micro tone) what music system has these ? and they would only be playable on a fret less string instrument or a musical saw or Trombone and not to any degree of accuracy, I think my ears would rebel

[John Watt]

J.H.C.! So far, I can't disagree with your assessments. I tried making detachable frets for my guitar, like a sitar,
enabling that raga sound, so I can agree with your Indian influence.
Quarter, half and eighth tones are genuine notes caused by bending pitch, strings on a guitar.
But when I'm talking microtones, I'm talking about a specific electrical trail generated by electrically driven effects,
automatically created by a distortion enabled by a microtone. If we were talking computers,
I'd continue by typing that each individual byte of these visuals can be deleted or altered individually,
what computers can control, not like the microtones I'm using, occurring naturally,
just needing to be controlled by overlaying other microtones that buffer the feedback flow.

It's one thing to be in tune, be tonal, be twelve tone, and bend notes.
Being microtonal is musical on an atomic level, an extra dimension that uplifts any composition,
if you have an instrument with scientific, harmonic tuning, for each note.
It's one thing to resonate with other musicians, it's another to resonate through your earthly environment,
and musically, that makes me want to rebel.

[JHC]

So it's rock etc that has these (1/8 and micro) + some jazz ??

[John Watt]

I'd have to admit that microtones are a basic building block for any tone or pitch,
but with electronic amplification, they can become a dominant sound in themselves.
"Bending" any note exposes the listener to microtones, and acoustically, they just fade away.
But electronic feedback, or capturing them digitally, can allow them to emit as sound in a controllable way.
But that's like trying to capture a comet, you can't, but you can buffer it with various means,
so you can aim it through your speakers, where hopefully, it creates a wanted noise.

Using a mechanical device to detune my guitar, having a floating tuning, works best.
When microtones are feeding back, perfect pitch enables a linear, one-dimensional expression,
but slight detuning compresses their propogation, and feeding additional microtonal feedback can be a buffer.
Please, think of the signal from an electric instrument as a comet going along a wire.
It's not a note those magnets and electricity are generating, but a coalesced atomic bundle.
You can imagine it as rubbing off, losing electrons, along the sides.
You can see it as having a leading edge, that loses mass as it pushes its way through the wire.
And even the trail, the last section of the sound "envelope", is a tone generator through your amp.

Different effects make this occur differently, and it all goes back to Jimi Hendrix being a military radar operator,
and inventing phase shifting and flanging, amongst other sound generators, for his electric guitar and recording studio.

[JHC]

I can't see how anything can be one dimensional, and re "rubbing off, losing electrons, along the sides." do you mean decaying?? which all noise does? however you are a guitar expert and I would not challenge your area of expertise.