Étunes
Experiments in Modular Tuning
Live Electronics | Eurorack modular synthesizer
2025
About the Pieces
Étunes are short exercises in tuning, exploring how tuning can modulate within a piece. The pieces are all composed in the ChucK programming language and are played in real-time through a custom orchestration framework that interfaces with a modular synthesizer.
The tuning of each piece corresponds to the following:
Intervals between notes expand and shrink
Left channel is tuned to 22-EDO, right channel is tuned to 7-EDO
The piece traverses through all EDOs between 1 and 12
Vacillation
2025
Fixed Media | 5th-order Ambisonics
A spatialized version of Étune I.
Binaural audio - please listen with headphones.
Program Notes
Vacillation is a spatialized piece for a modular synthesizer where the intervals between notes are constantly changing. The piece is composed in code using the ChucK programming language and is performed by custom software that supports complex arrangements of voices and modulating between tunings. When running, the software sends the coded note information to the synthesizer, where it is converted into voltage. There is no overdubbing in the piece, as each oscillator voice was recorded live during playback.
Performances
Transitions 2025, CCRMA Courtyard, Stanford University, October 11th 2025
