microtonal cluster chords go kinda hard ngl

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Cluster chords are kind of like the everything bagel of the chord world. Take three or more very close tones, join them together, and voila, a dissonance Henry Cowl himself would be proud of. Lots of composers use them from ives to liy.

[00:00:32]And they all had different ideas about what the ideal expression of a cluster chord was. Composer Fritz Hinrich Klein thought it should be voiced like this.

[00:00:44]He called it the mother chord because it contained all other chords within it while also expressing every possible interval exactly once.

[00:00:55]Eric Whitaker focuses on clusters as atmosphere suspended in time, a tone cloud to evoke the vibe of a given scale. Jacob Collier uses them as a kind of harmonic saturation. Think of it like an imprematura, the first layer of paint on which he brings his compositions to life.

[00:01:16]>> And artists like them in pop.

[00:01:21]But none of these composers really dealt with microonal cluster chords. At least not in the way that we want to experiment with today.

[00:01:31]Did I say we needed more notes though?

[00:01:40]>> Today I'm joining forces with microonal extraordinaire Ramy Olsen aka here between the lines. Our goal, uncover the most interesting sounding cluster chords in 31 eido, their most ideal expression, and figure out how to smoothly connect them all together in a practical and coherent progression.

[00:02:08]>> Wait a minute. That's not a cluster. All those notes aren't close to each other.

[00:02:14]>> What are you on about? Of course they are, my friend. You just sang a fully diietonic seven note chord.

[00:02:21]>> Yes, but the notes were spaced apart specifically so they'd clash less. I thought the whole point of a cluster is that the notes are crammed into the tightest space possible, not that they're spread across octaves. So what I'm trying to say is, is a cluster not a voicing technique? For me, octave boundary doesn't really factor into defining a cluster, only pitch class. A cluster isn't a voicing technique per se, but more like a chord type, one which we can then voice in either closed or open positions.

[00:02:51]>> So what is a cluster?

[00:02:57]>> The Norton Grove Encyclopedia of Music defines clusters as a group of adjacent notes sounding simultaneously.

[00:03:03]>> All right, sure. But do these adjacent notes need to be physically close together? Folks like eminent YouTube music scholar Rick Biato don't seem to think so. He considers clusters, these super dense chords when spread across octaves to still be clusters. They're just considered open voice clusters.

[00:03:24]Okay. But Eric Whitaker clearly talks about clusters as a closed node voicing technique. And I think he out of anyone might know a thing or two about clusters. Wouldn't you agree?

[00:03:33]>> Well, you know who else knows a thing or two about clusters? Henry Cowell, the guy who coined the term in the first place. In his book, New Musical Resources, he clearly defines clusters as chords being built from minor and major seconds. Now, for argument's sake, you could define a major chord in a very similar way, being built from major and minor thirds. And you'd never say that because I voiced a major chord in an open position, that it's somehow suddenly not a major chord anymore.

[00:04:00]Right. Yes. But in that book, KL almost exclusively uses close cluster examples.

[00:04:06]And every dictionary I can find mentions that a key aspect to clusters is their dissonance. Are you trying to tell me this sounds dissonant to you? Okay, stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. We could overintellectualize about this all day and get absolutely nowhere. So before this drops to absolute zero, let's see if we can answer this question with actual music.

[00:04:45]This is a microonal cluster derived from the Mothra scale.

[00:04:51]It's got this really nice floaty alien pentatonic vibe.

[00:04:59]And I love it because it lives on the edge of the boundary that defines a cluster in the first place. You see, most sources like Vincent Persetti's 20th Century Harmony understand clusters as being built from secundle harmony or as he calls them chords by seconds. On your average everyday piano, this means minor and major seconds. But in the case of 31, it can also include intervals like the neutral second, the sub minor 2, and in the case of Mothra, the super major second. Stack a bunch of them on top of each other, and you get the Mothra scale, which excels at asking the question, at what point does a cluster become not a cluster anymore? Just how wide can we push these intervals until we intuit it a perceptual shift in category? I think I might have a way to answer that. Check out this three note chromatic cluster. C, C sharp, and D. I think everyone would agree that's a cluster, right?

[00:06:01]And here we have a C major chord.

[00:06:04]Something that's definitely not a cluster.

[00:06:07]Now, listen closely as we move from one sound to the other. In the interest of microonal polling data, which is a sentence that's probably never actually been spoken before, please drop a comment down below and let us know at what point does this cluster become not a cluster for you.

[00:07:01]Combing through the infinite spectrum of sound really makes us question how we categorize things. Huh. It also makes for some badass chord progressions.

[00:07:12]Wait a minute.

[00:07:14]Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

[00:07:18]Check this out. Just by moving a couple notes around, we can pretty seamlessly modulate from Mothra, one of the more zen sounds of 31, to something more familiar like Dorian.

[00:07:34]Oh, so even when you play it in 31, Dorian still has that bright minor quality.

[00:07:39]>> Yep. Dorian is always Dorian. Uh, until you shimmer it with micro tones, that is.

[00:07:49]Okay, that sounds nice. And with the introduction of the half flat 3 and half flat 7 shimmer tones, we're basically halfway to rust.

[00:08:05]And you know, rust is really close to another staple sound of 31, a temperament called moajiraa. All we need to do is half sharp our fourth degree.

[00:08:15]And there we go.

[00:08:20]Ah, I feel like it's still missing a grand finale, though. Let's add some contrary motion and resolve it into a big warm oonal cluster chord.

[00:08:37]Whoa. Did we just create a smooth way to modulate through all six of these microonally dense clusters?

[00:08:44]>> Voice leading for the win. But this is only the start. We can make this sound way more interesting.

[00:08:53]>> Welcome to the Rominous Harmonicus, a conceptual instrument designed by us to model the human voice at the highest one:1 resolution possible. It's definitely not just seven ramies in a box.

[00:09:07]>> Hello.

[00:09:08]>> What up? What's cooking?

[00:09:09]>> Hey, shh, be quiet. I'm trying to do the thing. Anyway, thinking of the human voice like it's a synth patch is exactly how we're going to take this progression from mediocre to mindblowing. Cuz there's a lot you can do in arranging the hyperfine details of a choir to optimize for microonal harmony. For example, we can adjust this vow shift wheel to highlight certain harmonics within our cluster.

[00:09:52]Every vowel reshapes the vocal tract which in turn changes the formance the resonant bands that selectively amplify parts of the harmonic series. So instead of thinking about vowels as pronunciation, try and think of them as spectral filters.

[00:10:22]Independent format control is essentially the basis of overtone singing. And we can use that to our advantage in order to bring out the best in our clusters. Take Mothra's super major second structure. Essentially, it models an 8 to7 harmonic relationship over and over.

[00:10:43]So in theory, if we wanted this cluster to shine, we need to find a vowel which naturally reinforces that relationship.

[00:10:51]And since we have extremely granular control with the Rominous Harmonicus, we can dial in each voice independently, brightening some notes and bringing them into the foreground and darkening others that might clash with our harmonic vision by pushing them into the background. This is tambberal optimization. We can build on this by adding a per volume voice knob to further emphasize our chosen harmonic structure as well as a breath knob, essentially a noise to tone ratio controller, which can help further glue our structure together.

[00:11:33]But I think we can still make it better.

[00:11:36]Heck yeah. Are we finally spreading the clusters into different octaves? No. No, we can stay in the same octave. We just >> Wait, you're not talking about Oh, yeah.

[00:11:46]pan leading.

[00:11:50]So, there we were brainstorming all the different dimensions of control we could program into the Ramonus harmonicus. And then it hit us. These clusters are enormous cordal structures that can be super difficult and overwhelming to take in all at once. What if we treated them like poly cords? a large macro structure built from smaller overlapping harmonic blocks. We could then add a pan knob to place different blocks at different places around the listener. And then as we move from one cluster to another in a similar way, one might voice lead one chord to the next, we could pan lead our way to the perfect cluster chord progression. For example, our Mothra cluster starts with the perfect fifth on F. Let's put this down the middle.

[00:12:37]It also has this other perfect fifth between our half sharp 2 and half sharp 6.

[00:12:45]But since these are micro tones within the context of F and C, they clash a little bit.

[00:12:53]We can actually soften some of that by grouping the half sharp notes and panning them left.

[00:13:01]This just leaves the half flat notes which will pan hard right.

[00:13:08]So we've basically just split the cluster into distinct harmonic blocks or harmonic zones which gives us a clearer more balanced presentation. And moreover from a harmonic motion perspective we've planted the seeds for three independent harmonic events to unfold. each developing in their own unique ways while contributing to the overall progression. It's micro movement. It's three different listening experiences happening at different places around the ear at the same time. It's also macro movement as all of that micro motion combines into a cohesive harmonic cloud.

[00:13:46]Skeptical? Well, let's zoom into our Dorius cluster and find out if panning really has that much of an effect. Oh, and by the way, if you're not already listening to this video on headphones, pause it. Go grab some headphones.

[00:13:59]You'll thank me later. Dorius is essentially just shimmery Dorian, adding a diis to both the flat 3 and flat 7 of our mode.

[00:14:10]Let's examine that flat 3 and its half flat 3 shimmer tone. When both are centered, you get maximum shimmer.

[00:14:17]Listen and try and really pay attention to that beading wobbly effect. It'll be really obvious.

[00:14:27]Now listen again and notice how that wobble nearly disappears entirely just by panning these notes opposite of each other.

[00:14:39]Whatever psycho acoustic phenomenon that is, it's definitely got a thumbs up in my book. I think this example demonstrates a strong and valid use case for this pan leading concept. Where we place notes in space directly shapes how we perceive harmony. Shimmer is a wonderful effect that I often lean into, particularly on this channel, and it's only a bonus that we can control it so precisely with panning. Pan leading is just another tool which only serves to give us another dimension to express ourselves with. Now the time has come to put our money where our mouth is with what we promised. A giant multicluster progression that smoothly drifts from Mothra to Otonal which utilizes in its making every concept we've touched on in this video. If you want to support the channel, consider becoming a member over on Patreon. We've got lectures, bonus videos, tuning files, and sampler instruments, which I'm now happy to say includes a special microonal Mothra edition of the Rominous Harmonicus.

[00:15:59]Oh, hey.

[00:17:09]Oh yeah.

[00:17:21]Oh yeah.

[00:17:48]Breaking overnight. A person steals a bagel delivery truck, then goes on a joy ride across three counties. And News Six reporter Johnny Fernandez is live for us this morning. Johnny, we know at least one person was arrested in this, right?

[00:18:02]>> Yeah, Justin, that's right. Orange County deputies, they do confirm that one person is in custody and that the driver that was driving the truck uh originally, he is okay. Now,