> The world of alternative tuning systems is one many fear to tread. Venture away from 12-tone equal temperament, though, and you find whole communities of microtonal musicians using an array of new tunings.

Plugin synths sometimes help with the ability to load Scala files, and some DAWs have custom tuning systems, but Entonal Studio aims to provide a bridge for any synth to play microtonal tunings.

Entonal Studio is currently in Early Access at reasonable pricing, and it’s this early version that we’re exploring here. One purchase nets you plugin and standalone versions of this easy-to-use software, and it can act as a plugin host too, making microtonal tunings easier for everyone!

BEYOND 12 NOTES

Our regular system divides the octave into 12 equal notes, but what else is out there? Systems driven by ratios, such as Just Intonation, aim at perfectly concordant harmonies between notes, with relationships like 3:2 (fifth), 5:4 (major third) and 9:8 (semitone) providing perfect frequency relationships with the root note. There are systems driven by equal temperament of more notes, such as 19-note equal temperament and 53-note equal temperament which, believe it or not, sound pretty reasonable. Then there are experimentations that go even further afield, using a combination of methods. All this experimentation is a big deal among tuning enthusiasts, who have produced a huge number of unique, weird and wonderful systems to make completely new music.