Composition laboratory

Bartók Triad Pair Drone

Build and hear Bartók-style triad-pair drones from two three-note chords or scales, with selectable intervals, inversions, and registers.

Quick guide

Shape two cells into one harmonic field

Choose a lower and upper three-note cell, separate their registers, then hear how inversion and motion transform the combined color.

  • Two independent cells
  • Live tone-set matching
  • Morphing journeys
  • MIDI and MusicXML export
Current sonority

Two cells, one color field

Root axis m2 Six-note pair
Dissonance
45/100
Tense
minor 2nd tritone
6/6 voices
01 Lower structure

C Major · first inversion

E2 – G2 – C3
Bass anchor
02 Upper structure

Db Major · second inversion

Ab3 – Db4 – F4
Higher color
Click a tone to remove it from the drone
Combined pitch-class field
C Db E F G Ab
Live field Muted tones disappear
Live notation

Bartók journey score

OSMD renders the combined lower and upper cells and updates with every pair.

OSMD
Rendering the journey score…
Resulting vibration

Spectrum + interference waveform

Live engine waveform and FFT, overlaid with pitch-aware modeled harmonic partials.

RMS 0.000 Beat 0.00 Hz Centroid 0 Hz
Real-time harmonic spectrum Live FFT
Pick a peak to inspect its source tone, harmonic, frequency, and nearest pitch.
Extracted resultant vibration
Tone-set matcher

Scales and chords with the same MIDI tones

Searching JolyMusic with the active pitch classes…

Selected pair

Chord matches

Finding chord objects…

Scale matches

Finding scale objects…

What to listen for

Hear the low inversion as the ground. Then notice how the higher cell avoids functional resolution and turns both chords or scales into one chromatic atmosphere.

Why this creates a Bartók-like color

The default C and D♭ major cells have no common pitch classes. Their adjacent roots create semitone pressure, while the opposed inversions and register separation keep the result suspended rather than cadential.

  1. Start with the default drone and identify the lower C cell.
  2. Focus next on the higher D♭ cell without changing the bass.
  3. Change one interval at a time and compare strict six-note pairs with shared-tone pairs.
Shared musical timeline

Generated journey events

Tempo, meter, sections, and triad-pair harmony are stored on the same global-event and harmony lanes used by Instrument Show.

Bottom transport is the timing master. Click a triad-pair zone to select its Studio station. Timing, loops, and playhead remain transport-controlled.
01 · Timing

Global events

Generated
02 · Harmonic travel

Triad-pair harmony

Select events here
Score delivery

Export the complete triad-pair journey

The current Harmony lane becomes a two-part score with Bartók Low and Bartók High voices, global tempo, meter, mutes, and every return event.

A plan is required. Upgrade to download exports or save generated files in your media library.

Editable Bartók Travel

Save every pair, inversion, mute, route, motion, engine choice, and bar-relative timing so the journey can be reopened and changed.

Creates a private Media work that opens back into this Studio.

Compressed MusicXML (.mxl)

A compact notation package ready for MuseScore, Dorico, Finale, and compatible score editors.

Standard MIDI (.mid)

Two MIDI tracks preserving the lower and upper voices, duration, tempo, and event timing.

MusicXML (.musicxml)

An editable open score document with the full harmonic journey represented as sustained notation.

Bar:Beat 1:1
B:B:S 1:1:1
Loop
Learning guide

Hear, shape, and move a triad-pair color

Build and hear Bartók-style triad-pair drones from two three-note chords or scales, with selectable intervals, inversions, and registers.

Start with the six-note field

The default C and D-flat major cells share no pitch classes. Hear each cell separately before treating their union as one suspended sonority.

Control tension with voicing

Change one inversion, register, or interval at a time. Small voicing changes reveal whether the color feels open, dense, stable, or ready to move.

Turn the sonority into a journey

Add pair stations and use entrance, hold, crossfade, and motion controls to compose a closed harmonic route that returns to Pair 01.

Practice a focused comparison

  1. Play the default pair and sing the lower cell.
  2. Mute and restore notes to identify the six-note field.
  3. Change one upper-cell interval, then compare the matcher results.
  4. Add a second station and listen through the return to Pair 01.

Save a useful version only after you can describe what changed in the color.

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