Compressed 17 (Microtonal)

9

NerdPenguin2836 2026-03-24 08:00

This short piece of music uses a compressed 17-EDO scale (the name is self-explanatory). This program is basically a microtonal music player; I've made a few things with this. If I make another piece for it, I'll add the documentation in the code comments so y'all can make some stuff with it.

This is my first time uploading a program to the LowResNX community. I've been using this language for over a year now, so good it taught me how to code in BASIC. Honestly LowResNX is currently my preferred programming language, basically my Python. I plan on making games with this language in the future.

I couldn't make a thumbnail because Ctrl S is giving me a screenshot error and Copilot doesn't know how to fix it (I'm using 1.2.0.24 for anyone wants to attempt resolving this problem).

Compressed 17.nx | Open in app
2026-03-24 08:00

NerdPenguin2836 2026-03-24 08:01

Had to use my iPad to get the thumbnail

Timo 2026-03-24 12:28

I think the Windows version has a problem now with the permission to save to the desktop. Don't know if there is a workaround, I'm a Mac user.

SP4CEBAR 2026-03-25 13:37 (Edited)

Sounds cool!
By the way how did you manage to get microtonal sounds using NX's PLAY command, isn't it quantized to twelve notes in each octave?

You may also be interested in the subprogram below which is like NX's play but supports floating point values as notes, it also has more range. (demo)

SUB PLAY_(V,N)
  A=$FF40+12*V
  POKEW A,16*16.35*2^((N-1)/12)
  POKE A+2,PEEK(A+2) OR %11000000
END SUB

qwaffe 2026-03-25 15:25

Did not know that PLAY actually supported decimals from the start, you can really hear the difference:

DO
  PLAY 0,46,100
  PLAY 1,50,100
  PLAY 2,53,100
  PLAY 3,56,100
  WAIT 120
  PLAY 0,46,     100
  PLAY 1,50-0.14,100
  PLAY 2,53+0.02,100
  PLAY 3,56-0.31,100
  WAIT 120
LOOP

SP4CEBAR 2026-03-26 17:03 (Edited)

@qwaffle, oh you're right, it does! the code below does not sound quantized at all

touchscreen
do
  play 0,50+touch.x/160
  wait vbl
loop

also, what is that second sound in your code, it sounds like a BSOD lol

qwaffe 2026-03-27 05:34 (Edited)

@SP4CEBAR NX theremin unlocked..

The second sound is the same chord as the first but tuned so the frequencies are closer to a 4:5:6:7 ratio & it sounds more "resonant" and louder; im sure @NerdPenguin2836 knows more about this than me (:

NerdPenguin2836 2026-03-27 22:01

I am planning to make more of these (:<

NerdPenguin2836 2026-03-28 22:49

Also how do you insert hyperlinks into a message

SP4CEBAR 2026-04-03 12:39 (Edited)

enable this use markdown formatting

then type something like [my link](https://example.com)

Check out my guide for more NX markdown tricks

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