strudel-weird

name

strudel-weird

description

Break out of 12-tone equal temperament and 4/4 — xenharmonic pitch (n-EDO via fractional MIDI, just-intonation freq ratios, neutral/harmonic "blue" notes) and odd/shifting rhythm (metric modulation, polymeter drift, Euclidean, odd meters). Use for math-rock, microtonal, maqam/oud color, Polyphia-style angularity, or any time the user says "weird", "microtonal", "math rock", "xenharmonic", "polyrhythm", "odd time". This is about NOTES and TIME — for timbral weirdness (filters, distortion, granular) see [[strudel-effects]]. For the full primitive catalog see [[strudel-modifiers]].

Most music sits in two cages: 12 equal semitones and 4/4. This skill is the lock-picks for both. Two independent axes — pitch-weird and rhythm-weird — and you can turn either knob without the other.

The one rule that makes weird listenable: it has to groove. Microtones and 7/8 read as "broken" unless something steady underneath says "this is on purpose." Anchor every experiment to a plain kick or a clear pulse. Weird-but-dancing is the goal; weird-but-noodling is the failure mode. (See Aesthetic below — it's the actual point, not an afterthought.)

Microtonal pitch

12-EDO works because 2^(19/12) ≈ 2.9966 — 19 semitones almost perfectly nails the 3:1 perfect twelfth, so the whole system stays consonant on the cheap. To leave it, you bend that approximation on purpose.

note() accepts fractional MIDI numbers, which is the master key — any tuning is just "what numbers do I feed it."

Quarter tones (24-EDO) — the rock-solid starting point. Step by 0.5:

note("69 69.5 70.5 69 67.5 69").s("triangle")   // A4, A‿, Bb‿, A, G‿, A — neutral inflections

Arbitrary n-EDO via a generator. Step size is 12/n semitones. 19-EDO (12/19 ≈ 0.632) is the friendliest "weird" tuning because of the twelfth above; 31-EDO (≈0.387) gets you near-just thirds:

note(run(7).mul(12/19).add(60))   // first 7 degrees of 19-EDO from middle C
note(run(8).mul(12/31).add(60))   // 31-EDO run

Just intonation via freq() ratios. Skip MIDI entirely and state Hz directly — exact small-integer ratios are more consonant than 12-EDO, and the 7th & 11th harmonics are the microtonal "blue notes" (the maqam / oud / fretless color):

// over A2 = 110:  1/1, 3/2, 7/4(flat-7 harmonic), 11/8(neutral-4)
freq("110 165 192.5 151.25").s("sawtooth").lpf(700)

Ratio	Hz over 110	Color
3/2	165	clean fifth
5/4	137.5	sweeter-than-12EDO major third
7/4	192.5	flat, "bluesy" seventh (~31¢ below 12-EDO)
11/8	151.25	neutral/half-sharp fourth — the "exotic" one

Beating / shimmer (Holdsworth "it stopped being an instrument"): stack two copies a hair apart so they phase against each other:

stack(note("a3"), note("a3").add(0.07)).s("sawtooth")   // ~7 cents → slow chorus beat

Verify by ear (I can't render offline and don't drive your browser): .detune(¢) per-voice cents, .tune("<name>") named temperaments, and glide/portamento between microtones are build-dependent — our pinned @strudel/web@1.3.0 has no .glide(), though .slide(semitones) (pitch-sweep across a note) does exist. To imply a fretless slide reliably, run a dense ladder of fractional steps fast: note(run(13).mul(12/24).add(60)).fast(8).

Weird rhythm

Metric modulation — the ÷6 vs ÷4 flip. Take one pulse and re-divide it per cycle. This is the single most useful "math" move and it stays danceable because the beat doesn't move, only the subdivision:

s("hh*<6 4>").bank("RolandTR909")        // 6 then 4 hits per cycle, alternating
s("perc").bank("RolandTR909").fast("<6 4 6 4>")   // same idea, safer form

Polymeter drift (Polyphia angularity). Two voices, different step counts, same step length — they slide out of phase and re-converge. "An idea lasts 5 seconds then onto the next":

pm( note("0 1 2 3 4 5 6").scale("E:phrygian:dominant"),  // melody in 7
    s("bd sd").bank("RolandTR909") )                      // kit in 4

Euclidean spreads k hits over n slots — every culture's groove is some (k,n):

s("bd(5,8)").bank("RolandTR909")     // 5-over-8 son clave-ish
note("a2").struct("t(7,16)")         // 7-over-16 bassline

Odd meters are just setcps + subdivision: feel 7/8 as [x x x] of unequal groups, e.g. s("bd*3 sd").bank(...) over a cycle you treat as 7.

Harmony bridge: 12-EDO → microtonal

The cheap gateway from normal to exotic is harmonic-minor V — A-minor leaning on an E-major chord (the i↔V you said you like). That major third over the dominant is Phrygian dominant, which already sounds Middle-Eastern, so a microtonal/maqam layer on top reads as "continuation," not "out of tune":

n("0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7").scale("A:minor:harmonic")   // the G# is the spice; resolve down to A
note("e3").add("<0 0 0 0.11>")                    // nudge one note toward 11-limit neutral → maqam tilt

Aesthetic (this is the point, not the syntax)

• Weird must groove. A steady kick is permission. Without it, microtones = "out of tune", odd meter = "can't play." Lock the experiment to a pulse.
• Microtones are seasoning, not the meal. One bent note or a drone against a 12-EDO bed reads as "exotic." Everything microtonal at once reads as broken. Blues is an ingredient, not a dish — same logic.
• Angular but resolving. Short motifs, fast hand-offs, then land on a downbeat/root. Fragmented-and-sewn-together, not aimless.
• Faceless / modular voices ("ego death", swap-the-masked-player): build the stack() so any one voice can drop or be swapped without collapse. Each part self-sufficient; the track survives losing any one.

Putting it together

A 12-EDO groove + a just-intoned drone + a quarter-tone motif + a flipping hat, all nailed to a 4/4 kick so it dances:

setcps(0.5)
stack(
  s("bd ~ bd ~").bank("RolandTR909").gain(0.8),          // the anchor — never drop this
  freq("110 165 192.5").s("sawtooth").lpf(700).gain(0.3).room(0.5),  // JI drone: 1, 3/2, 7/4
  note("69 69.5 70.5 69 67.5 69").s("triangle")          // quarter-tone motif, lands on A
    .fast("<1 2>").gain(0.4).delay(0.3),
  s("hh*<6 4>").bank("RolandTR909").gain(0.25),           // 6↔4 metric flip
)

Notes

• Drum samples need .bank(...) or they silently drop — see [[strudel-compose]] pitfalls.
• This complements [[strudel-modifiers]] (polymeter/polyrhythm, freq, .add, scale) — that's the dry catalog; this is the opinionated how/why.
• I can't audio-test patterns here. Items marked verify by ear are yours to confirm in the player; the fractional-MIDI / freq / pm / Euclidean primitives are standard Strudel.