I built an Android app for exploring complete scale-class spaces beyond 12-TET

[u/Scale_Atlas]

Hi r/microtonal,

Most scale tools start with a list of named scales. I wanted to go the other way: choose an equal division of the octave and explore the complete space of scale classes it allows.

That idea became Scale Atlas, an app for exploring, analyzing and manipulating scale structures beyond 12-TET.

You can choose an equal division such as 17, 19, 21, 24 or 31 EDO, generate its distinct transposition classes.

Once I find an interesting scale, the app lets me:

- inspect it directly in cents

- analyze its harmonic/structural behaviour

- look at recurrence and related structures

- suggest useful note additions or movements

- compare it with another scale

- map it onto guitar fretboard

- save and revisit scale pairs

I also recently added a way to generate microtonal test sounds. This is deliberately not the main point of the app. It generates short music directly from the cent values of the current scale so that I can get a rough intuitive impression of its sound without first forcing it back into 12-TET.

For me the interesting part is the transition from

scale space -> mathematical structure -> instrument -> sound.

I originally came to microtonality because I was looking for musical material that genuinely surprised me rather than another variation on familiar harmonic vocabulary. Eventually I even got a microtonal guitar so I could play with some of these structures instead of only calculating them.

I'd be genuinely interested in feedback from people here who work with EDOs outside the usual 12/19/31 territory - especially on the scale-space approach itself. I'm also curious whether there are existing tools doing something very similar that I may have missed.

[u/Crazy_Satisfaction13]

What's the app's name