Exercises

Exercises

Full index: rebraining.org/practice/music/kaiku

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Phase I — Timbre (Solo)

One pitch class at a time. One voice. Whole notes, whole rests. The rest is the test — listen for the reverb tail, the release, the 1.008× beat. Each register presents differently. Do not skip contrabass.

#	Title	Range	MIDI	What it tests
E01	Soprano — F# Phrygian, sustained	F#4–F#5	E01-solo	Timbre and beat in the soprano register
E02	High Tenor — F# Phrygian, sustained	F#3–F#4 (upper)	E02-solo	Timbre in high tenor
E03	Low Tenor — F# Phrygian, sustained	F#3–F#4 (lower)	E03-solo	Timbre in low tenor
E04	Contrabass — F# Phrygian, sustained	F#1–F#2	E04-solo	Timbre and beat in the bass register. Beat period ~2.7s at F#1
E05	The b2 — G♮, all registers	G2–G5	E05-solo	The Phrygian blade. G♮ isolated across four octaves. If this fails, everything downstream is wrong
E06	Piano — full range, reference	B1–B5	E06-solo	Full piano compass as reference. Checks range consistency across all 17 scale pitches

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Phase II — Motion (Two Voices)

Soprano against piano reference. Whole notes throughout. Two things are tested simultaneously: FM formant interaction between voices (Stacks A and B can stack unpredictably at some intervals), and the REAPER ensemble render path.

#	Title	Motion	MIDI	What it tests
E07	Similar motion	Both voices move in the same direction	E07-ensemble	Formant stacking in parallel ascent/descent
E08	Contrary motion	Voices move in opposite directions	E08-ensemble	Formant separation when voices cross
E09	Parallel thirds	Fixed interval of a third throughout	E09-ensemble	Stack A+B interaction at a third — characteristic FM beating territory
E10	Parallel fourths	Fixed interval of a fourth	E10-ensemble	Stack A+B at a fourth
E11	Parallel fifths	Fixed interval of a fifth	E11-ensemble	Stack A+B at a fifth — often the cleanest parallel interval for FM

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Phase III — Ensemble (Full Texture)

All parts. The question is blend, mask, and alias — not timbre. Does the nasal partial (Stack B) disappear in full texture or dominate? Does the wheel carrier create beating artifacts between parts at close intervals?

#	Title	Parts	MIDI	What it tests
E12	Full texture — sustained	All 5 parts, whole notes	E12-ensemble	Blend, mask, level consistency across the full ensemble
E13	Full texture — mixed motion	All 5 parts, varied motion	E13-solo, E13-ensemble	Alias and artifact under real part-writing conditions

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Phase IV — Envelope and Dynamics

Attack, sustain, release, tail. Velocity response. Voice stealing. The Hiljaisuus LFO completes one full cycle at ♩=40.

#	Title	MIDI	What it tests
E14	Staccato — pp through ff	E14-solo	Click artifacts, release behavior, velocity response at five dynamic levels
E15	Crescendo — sustained	E15-solo	Sustain stability; whether FM character shifts with amplitude
E16	LFO cycle — ♩=40, slow tempo	E16-solo	The Hiljaisuus LFO completing one visible cycle. Should appear as slow amplitude periodicity in the spectrogram
E17	Re-trigger — same pitch, rapid	E17-solo	16-voice allocator behavior: phase cancellation, amplitude doubling, pop on re-attack