#and having its format a little different

[creaturefeaster]

shocking: dood "creaturefeaster" lestab has a twinkle of motivation. will they finally work on something? nobody can say for sure

[nightowlfury]

▸ “But what's the... occasion?” ▹ “...Nothing in particular.”

[headfullof-ideas]

Soft follow-up to my Monumential post. We don’t know much about Lemuria and the Monumentials themselves, aside from the fact that Lemuria sank six thousand years prior to the show, and the Monumentials have been around for at least a little longer than that. Long enough that Lemuria already had more than one device to control them, and effectively enough that it seemed to be a somewhat militant thing. At least that’s what the intention was when the Benthos line tried to usurp Doreus.

But that’s all we know. There’s not much information about how long the Monumentials had been around, or what Lemuria was like in regard to the rest of the world. Which means it’s a whole entire sandbox for us six fans to play with. I’ve already talked about how I also like to imply that the Monumentials aren’t from this world, but I also like to play with Lemuria’s origins, the Nekton and Benthos’s families connection to one another, and all sorts of other stuff. Each AU I have tends to have slightly different origins or functions when it comes to Lemuria and the Monumentials lore, but I’ve built an entire background for the Monumentials and how they’re linked to Lemuria’s history.

I’m writing this because I’ve been revising and editing my Subnautica/The Deep story, and all the above is pretty important to the story itself, aside from a few tweaks to make it fit with the games lore

[starry-bi-sky]

just wanted to say that your thomas wayne au is making me swoon - baby bruce is the most adorable baby ever and they love each other so much 😭

(I saw you mentioned them meeting canon dc and I think everyone of the batfam would be unwillingly won over by this adorable baby and their grandad (and adult bruce would either be paralysed by emotion or start crying or both)) (and maybe there is no martha wayne, simply thomas and alfred raising the cutest and most troublesome baby 😏)

Aaaaahhh I'm so glad you like it 🥺 i love making aus that have the emotional effect of a gut punch on the Bats 🥰 its why 'Danny being a variant of Jason' is such a fun little au I have that I haven't shared here since its pretty convoluted imo.

And i absolutely agree you have it down pat that the canon DC Batfam would be unwillingly won over by Baby Bruce and Danny/Thomas frfr. Danny is so protective and affectionate with his little guy, and I have a personal headcanon that he teaches Bruce how to play piano after discovering an interest in it once he's adopted by the Waynes. (OH and when Bruce is older Danny sits him out in the gardens or on the roofs and shows him how to find constellations)

Danny finds out that the bruce in this world grew up without his parents and starts side-eyeing him HARD bc he wants to be affectionate to this version of His Boy but he doesnt want Bruce to react negatively to it

I'll also tell you a secret: the day Danny and Bruce are transported into the canon universe was the day Danny and Bruce were meant to end up in crime alley :) they were just about to leave the manor.

[puppppppppy]

Anon who asked permission for he cow tattoo

It won't be for a while cause I have to save up but its offially listed in my plans! Thank you very much! And if you are still around when I do get it ill be happy to show you!

Thank you so much! ♡♡♡

hello again!!! thanks so much for letting me know, ill definitely be looking forward to it!! in the meantime, maybe this means i can clean that drawing up a little for tattoo purposes :)

[soratonin]

you look up “demon isagi” on my blog you see me at my most down bad and hornyfying gooning state . the moment i am reminded of him i go haywire he is so sexy and also possibly the worst thing you can imagine

[stuffedsand]

for the violence ask game: 8 common fandom opinion everyone is wrong about. for milgram. i know exactly what you're going to say i just want to see you go off again

Hiii bestie. You do know what I'm about to talk about. Yippee

Disclaimer that this whole essay is like. For fun and how I say things is ramped up to be funny. I don't mind if you disagree w me cuz like that's the nature of things! We disagree but we can get along.

Anyways short answer for people who don't wanna see the essay: organ harvesting theory. This is about shidou.

Idk how prevalent it is rn since not many people even talk about shidou but it was prevalent enough in June when I got into milgram that I believed it for a bit anyways the rest in under the cut cuz I'm insane sorrg

SO the main reason I think the theory is WRONG (hyperbole‼️) is because I just think it's unrealistic. Man works in a hospital in Japan. How would he pull it off. Scuff an operation bad enough to cause braindeath/death and I'm p sure they suspend your medical licence, if he participated in an organ harvesting operation pre-family-accident his case would then be black and white cuz he was doing it in complete sound mind with no regard for human life. Also it wouldn't justify the extreme reaction he's had to realizing, specifically, "what I've been robbing people of" (t1 voice trailer), and he wouldn't have as heavy a focus on the relatives' feelings and reactions. At least story writing wise it'd make less sense since it doesn't allude to anything if that's the end goal? Imo at least. Idk maybe this is because I really like tragedies in media. Also because it'd be a really disproportionately severe crime compared to every other direct murderer???? Like. We have strangled someone, stabbed someone, bludgeoning, bludgeoning, kicked someone to death. Organ harvesting looks cartoony in this context. It's also not a very prevelant issue in Japan iirc.

Also to prove my point further. If we use this theories the murders would be

Strangling, abortion??????, cyber bullying, stabbing, organ harvesting, toxic r/s, telling the truth (lmao), bludgeoning, bludgeoning, bludgeoning (minus weapon). Organ harvesting is goofy cuz it seems so.... Extreme,,,,,,,

ALSSOOOOO funny point. If he's not directly involved in his murder (as in, unintentional and indirect) that makes 5 direct and 5 indirect. Silly.

Also also his murder seems somewhat tied to how he feels about his job itself ("I wanted to contribute to society (about his career choice)/I had thought my work was a contribution to society", use of past tense) and to me it reads like hes disillusioned w his job esp since his reason for getting a highly sought after, high paying and high social ranking job is "I wanted to contribute to society". Doctors with that empathy can be affected by the death around them more severely and I think that's a fun topic to look at

I count this under "common fandom opinion" cuz it was common enough around June (whenyours truesly got into milgram) that I believed it. I mean I introduced shidou to my friend (hello clown) as "maybe Dr malpractice. Organ harvesting dude" and said friend (hello again clown) is also the one who's heard me bash the organ harvesting theory like 6 times at least now so. Yippee.

Take none of this seriously I just got off a plane and am so very eepy. If you like the organ harvesting theory good for you!!!!!!!💥💥💥💥💥 you do you bestie !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I literally do not think less of anyone who believes that theory I just personally dont lmao

[mariocki]

Inspector Morley, Late of Scotland Yard, Investigates: The Case of the Scarlet Letters (1.3, WGN-TV, 1952)

"Mr. Mullins, I have in my possession sixty-eight letters, none of which has begun to outlive its usefulness. I'm quite prepared to admit that blackmail is risky, but then murder has its disadvantages too - that is why I gave up murder."

[raedas]

oh that poll is going to annoy me so bad

[volfoss]

Sincerely as a former user of both Excel and sheets, it is nuts how much easier libre office calc is. Not in the typical way that certain things are easier to access but moreso that the formulas and ways things are set up just work with my brain better. I never really had much need to learn formulas in Excel because there were so many and the layout felt over complicated, and don't even get me started on sheets. But with calc, there's a lot more freedom with the formulas and a lot of the skills you have from either of those other programs carries on here. Not a super big point or anything to this post, just simply very appreciative of what calc can do.

[shoechoe]

Playing vanilla Minecraft for the first time in a while for the new 1.20 update and I know this isn't a new feature, but- holy shit I haven't had this much fun exploring cave systems in vanilla Minecraft since I did it for the first time as a seven year old

[tamaharu]

auggh worried this piece im writing is accidentally turning more into a character study than ship fic. it would definitely be ABOUT the relationship but im also getting a little too into the pov characters head for my liking.

[faerociousbeast]

dudes im tearing up

[aspectpriority]

ahh lads. i am once again facing off against my arch nemesis: figuring out how the fuck to design terrain

[evandore]

and it works out perfectly my genius astounds even me sometimes

[charadriusnivosus]

Octave.

/

PART A: SOUND

'Pitch' in music refers to the highness or lowness of a sound, which is measured in hertz.

Pitches are named in music by using the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

If you arranged all the sound possible within the range of human hearing from low to high, it would be from around 20 to 20,000 Hz, give or take variations per individual.

To give an idea of what part of this range is used for music, see the following examples:

1. The piano has 88 keys which span the frequency range 27.5 Hz (at lowest key A0) to 4186 Hz (to highest key C8).

Pictured below shows every note on the piano within a range of 50 – 400 Hz, giving the associated frequency value for each musical note.

2. Voice. Almost all singing voices fall into one of six categories:

Soprano is the highest vocal type. They typically have a range from C3 (130.81 hz) to C6 (1046.502 Hz/High C), and some can go up to G6 or down to B3.

Mezzo- Soprano. This vocal type is the most common for females. They have a range from A3 (220 hz) to A5 (880 hz). Some mezzo-sopranos can reach as far down as G3 or up to C6.

Alto: Contralto or alto is usually the lowest female vocal type. They most often have a range from F3 (174.61 hz) to F5 (698.46 hz). Some contraltos can reach down to D3 or as high as A5. 

Tenor is usually the highest male vocal type. They most often have a range from C3 (130.81 hz) to C5 (523.25 hz), but some tenors can go as far down as B2 or up to F5. 

Baritone is typically the mid-range for males and their most common male voice classification. They generally range from G2 (98 hz) to G4 (392 hz), but some can dip to F2 or reach C5. 

Bass is the lowest vocal type, ranging from E2 (82.41 hz) to E4 (329.63 hz). Some bass voices can drop to C2 or stretch as far up as G4.

(Here's where you can test your own vocal range and here's where to find the hertz measurement thereof)

3. Violin. The violin's lowest note, G3, is 196 Hz while E7, the highest practical limit of the violin, is 2,637 Hz. A7, the highest actual note, is 3,520 Hz and D8 played using artificial harmonics is 4,698 Hz. The range for string family here slowly expands downwards moving to Viola (130 Hz – 1.8 kHz), Cello (65 Hz – 1.0 kHz), then Double Bass (range: 41 – 392 Hz).

[AUDIO HERE]

4. Erhu. “Full range: d1 to a3; practical range is d1 to d3; best sounding range is d1 to a2; From d#3 and above the instrument is very difficult to intone and has a weak dynamic. Useful only by virtuosi and in very transparent passages.”

5. Setar. “The setar is used mainly to play Persian classical music, called Dastgah. This instrument is played with the tip of the index fingernail, by strumming up and down. Its fingerboard usually has twenty-five adjustable gut frets, which provide the fundamental frequency range of 131 Hz to 831 Hz (two and a half octaves).”

6. Guitar. The range of frequencies across all types of acoustic guitars (small classicals to large-bodied steel strings), runs from roughly 80Hz to 300Hz.

/

Nowadays, the range of potential pitches in which we make music can now be marked out in hertz (of the pitch, skipping over harmonics and overtones which do come into what constitutes a note for some styles of music,) but how we determine what is a playable range of specific pitches as demarcated in modern musical notation is actually determined by the intervals between these pitches within an octave (even if the staff is visually arranged for the diatonic scale, why explained later.) A selection of these pitches are then made into scales, which can be described as the pallet of notes (scales are labelled for both a) the intervals between these notes or b) the number of notes in what would be considered a scale) that we make music for a song from. But before selecting what kind (and then perhaps key, if applicable) specific scale is used for a piece of music, how do we now determine the complete range of pitches a scale can be made from? Nowadays, the most common system used is: Equal Temperament. (Many arguments on the internet revolve around the concept of ET and the insufficient universality of the diatonic scale, which I think is sometimes interesting and sometimes not.) But the first thing to know about ET is that the reason behind why there are 12 semitones in an octave is because of Just Intonation.

/

PART B: JUST INTONATION

Currently- off of memory, (will edit later as I uncover more books from around the house,) our current system of measuring intervals within an octave (12TET) is in fact a system centered around the existence of the interval called the octave, (though not every music tradition uses or groups notes within octaves, it persistently exists as a matter of consonance. Some Greek sources measured a scale in a tetrachord, or to the P4 interval, but an octave is two identical tetrachords with a whole step in between them. Later notation in hexachords were suitable for 11th century monk music but were regularly extended into four chord intervals- which is essentially an octave.) The octave is a “natural phenomenon” even when it wasn’t a notated one. Today an octave is defined conveniently in hertz as: “the distance between one note and another note that’s double its frequency. For instance, the note A4 is the sound of a vibration at 440 Hz. The note A5 is the sound of a vibration at 880 Hz. Going in the other direction, the note A3 is the sound of a vibration at 220Hz.” Logarithmically, the frequency doubles per octave going up. A3 and A4 are different pitches, but considered the same “pitch class,” which would be all possible As whatever octave position. (The term pitch class is a part of music set theory, which is apparently related more to group theory and combinatorics but I need the term.)

The interval of an octave (first two notes):

[AUDIO HERE]

In terms of describing an octave before hertz: Two notes with the interval of an octave between them are two notes that are identical relative to themself - and any interval that is expressed within one octave can transposed to be repeated exactly the same type of interval in another octave.

Just Intonation, which came before hertz, is more or less an enduring ancient practice of tuning according to the ratio of a fundamental pitch within an octave. "Pythagorean tuning," (another type of just intonation dividing notes within an octave by focusing on how fifths and thirds produced resonance,) is based off of stacking notes within an octave according to ratios based exclusively on perfect fifths, (which sounds better to me and does pop up frequently across cultures, but is also taken advantage of as intentional disharmony as the scale cycles up in beatles songs, for example. [AUDIO HERE] (maybe expand this) but both of these styles of arranging notes within an octave result in slightly different and imperfect ratios between certain sets of intervals, but also use same amount of pitches within an octave (which is seven, not including the last note.) (This does not apply to some styles of music but afaik is used as common reference in notation.) (I’ll put in more specific examples later.)

This style of ratio-based intervals based off of fifths and octaves (researchers have determined by measuring ratios of length of strings in harp like instruments) seem more or less referenced across cultures, even if the 7 notes are not exactly in the same exact hertz per interval, or even are considered a range of notes in a scale, or with the same modern usage of key. The matter of the hertz measurement of Equal temperament not being exact for certain songs applies even within scales for any song in western canon, because Equal Temperament is meant to be used as an approximation for various common and shifting just tunings in the same way 365 days is technically an approximation for the exact length of a year.

The exact measurement of this “smallest interval” in Equal Temperament, based off of accommodating this reoccurring pattern with a mathematical compromise, divides the notes within an octave into twelve equally spaced intervals called "semitones," or "half-steps," measured by building up 12 notes from a single ratio, which is then further split by cents, which becomes relevant in more specific analysis of scale for more complicated music.

What this perfect division of 12 semitones within an octave means is that only the octave is "just," and the ratios for any other tuning within are no longer exact for any style of just tuning. (This has a history, I'll post about it later if time allows.) Though ET doesn't guarantee exact tuning, and isn't meant to, it does guarantee that all music can realistically be notated and read on a staff. It also ensures an instrument doesn't have to be completely retuned every time a song in a slightly different key is played.

It’s generally acknowledged that when people sing and/or play string instruments together, they tune to a subtle variation of Just Intonation, where not only strings but chords are unconsciously tuned according to a more pleasing harmony/ratios to eachother- which is just off of ET by a few hertz.

This might be most noticeable in barbershop quartets, where major (primary triad) chords tend to ring more than minor and tuning relies on harmony- which influences common song selection and sound of what you think of barbershop quartets and logically, monk choirs. (may conveniently explain why ionian is usually taught first.) (I should check this before saying it but it is really hard to harmonize songs in certain modes + keys and I don’t think it’s my imagination. Key seems to matter more.)

Between an octave on a piano, all 12 adjacent key (including the black keys) within are divided by the interval of a half step, and playing every half step in an octave is called the chromatic scale.

[AUDIO HERE]

(b is flat, which means down a semitone, and # is sharp, which means up a semitone. What this means is that C# and Db is the same note, which is what is referred to as an enharmonic. The reasons for these overlaps in naming conventions are both historical and sometimes useful (indicator of a type of resolution or sound or technique) but really don’t matter right this second.)

But in either method of measure, an octave is 12 semitones. So what is the interval of a fifth?

/

PART C: RATIO

If there are only 12 semitones (or their approximates) to start on within an octave before the frequency repeats and you are starting on functionally the same 12 semitones by this measure, there are a limited number of "consonant" or (especially when tuned ratio proper "just") pitches within this range. - and harmony is more than presumption, it reoccurs- especially in fifths.

In tonal music, some harmonic intervals are considered to be consonant, whereas others are considered to be dissonant. The terms consonant and dissonant can be defined roughly as meaning pleasing to the ear and not pleasing to the ear, respectively, but these are very dependent on context.... All major and minor thirds and sixths and perfect 5ths and 8ves are consonant. All other harmonic intervals, including all augmented and diminished intervals, are dissonant. An exception is the P4, which is considered dissonant in tonal music only when it occurs above the lowest voice (also called the bass, in both vocal and instrumental music.)

However, for the duration of this post, I am not referring to these definitions in the vertical harmony in a chord, which I’m not sure were visualized as such in cultures that developed scales, including Ancient Greece (famous for emphasizing harmonic intervals,) until Daseian notation, but how people across cultures also construct consistent scales for music that sounds consonant and consistent to them. (It’s more accurate to define "dissonant" as "full of tension," or "less settled," rather than saying "displeasing." historical renaissance definitions aside.) Anyway, for talking about Greek harmony “tradition” in scales, I only care about two intervals: the octave and the fifth; an interval consonant across cultures, that nobody needs a specific music theory background to gravitate to or include in melodic music. Formally, a fifth is 7 semitones up from it's root note (tonic/key is the first note of whatever octave being used, root note is the type of the chord, usually the bass/lowest note in a triad chord).

The interval of a fifth:

[AUDIO HERE]

/

PART D: TONE ROW/SCALE

Once you have 1) the interval of 12 semitones within an octave (even if the size of these “smallest” intervals were originally identified or recreated by ear or the mathematical length of a lyre when used consistently in a culture’s music) into 12 pitch classes, and 2) the interval of a “consonant” fifth- the rest of the “tone row” or “scale” writes itself.

In the history of Western notation, the now most commonly used scale, is the Diatonic scale, the pattern of 7 notes within an octave. But why these 7 pitches at what pattern of intervals chosen out of 12 possible pitches (that it created the intervals within an octave necessary to determine for in the first place?)

Historically, there are a few independent ways that this scale probably developed to it’s current understood state, but here's the most convenient one in terms of measuring pitch and interval. All 7 pitch classes of the diatonic scale can be reached by stacking a chain of six “fifths.” This means- starting from any pitch class- any frequency- moving up 7 semitones six times will land more or less on 7 different pitch classes before looping back to start again on the original starting pitch class and repeating.

For visual example- starting from F: (including the first letter as one count five letters up)

F-C-G-D-A-E-B (then a fifth up would loop back to F)

(you can also try any note the exact division in cents seems arbitrary and has an unclear history to me. In terms of pure ratio, the pythagorean tuning is: C - G - D - A - E - B - F#(Gb) - C#(Db) - G#(Ab) - D#(Eb) - A#(Bb) - F - C with the comment: Well, the top C is a little off, but we can just contract it (by 24 cents, called the Pythagorean comma) and it's pretty much perfect. The only problem with Pythagorean tuning is trying to move to different keys on the one instrument. If you change key without retuning your harpsichord, that Pythagorean comma is going to pop up in a different place of every scale. Not fun.)

Anyway, when simplifying the interval pattern on 12TET, and flattening F and C by a little, and putting the resulting pitch classes are put together within an octave, no matter which note is considered first- this forms what is called a “diatonic scale."

You may have heard the diatonic scale in it’s format presented most basic to kids as the Major scale (which is actually the Ionian mode (which means “interval pattern” of the 7 notes of the diatonic scale)) as Do Re Mi.

The interval pattern of the Ionian mode of the diatonic scale is: (W -W -H - W - W -W -H)

(a whole step/tone is two half steps/semitone intervals put together.)

[AUDIO HERE]

The diatonic scale, ionian mode pictured on a piano here starting on C:

And so- as the “diatonic scale” is a series of intervals between seven notes (a circle of fifths, even,) the “mode” or pattern of intervals on the scale change depending which of the seven positions, or “degrees,” that you start from.

If you use the mode/interval pattern that starts on the first degree- (afaik arbitrarily labelled as such, probably notable because it has the easiest and most likely to “ring” chords (M3 P5 interval from tonic) in harmony if this mode is used as home base for the song,) it is called Ionian mode, also known as the Major Scale.

Starting on the second degree of the pattern: Dorian Mode has the interval pattern (W -H - W - W -W -H -W)

Third Degree: Phrygian (H - W - W -W -H -W-W)

Fourth Degree: Lydian (W - W -W -H -W-W -H)

Fifth Degree: Mixolydian (W -W -H -W-W -H -W)

Sixth Degree: Aeolian (W -H -W-W -H -W -W) (natural minor scale)

Seventh Degree: Locrian (H -W-W -H -W -W -W)

(Note each interval pattern is just the first note of the pattern shifting one degree up) And that’s every diatonic scale. (Even if in practice some of them get fudged into each other and are less commonly used in full truth, likely because of something like tritone resolution to primary triads.) If the interval for any part of this pattern is changed, (such as the harmonic minor scale, which is aeolian with a 7 raised a half step, or melodic minor scale, which is aeolian with the 6 and 7 raised a half step (descent is natural minor)), then the scale is no longer “diatonic.”

This is clearly not how all cultures describe their tone row, even if the emphasis of consonant fifths in ionian and pure force of stylistic habit enforcing minor scale + variations (i'll glance again at jazz theory) means that large portions of scales will likely directly reproduce in any culture with the emphasis on vocal and string instruments, which harmonize among seconds, thirds, fifths, octaves- and various tension/active notes -> triad resolves, of which every part of can't all just be culturally ear trained, basic relations will show up in any music that tries to develop compositions based on sound and mood rather than planned randomness, or so my theory goes.

Koron means down a quarter step.

NEXT: CHORDS, MAQAM and...

Canmom wrote about this more thoughtfully, I also want to explore my own thoughts on various things I have read over the years.