Sound of the week

Mid-80s ambient, more or less, with a twelve-tone sequence as its basis (18′7″). Meant to be played at low volume.

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In Numerology2, a sequence of notes (pictured above) generates clusters of repeated notes at intervals of five semitones below and seven semitones above the original. The sequence is transposed up and down a minor third at irregular places as it’s repeated. Each repetition is one position longer (in the first half) or shorter (in the second half) than the preceding, so at the start and end the sequence has two slots (the ones labelled ‘15’ and ‘16’), while at the middle of the piece it has all sixteen slots. You can hear it sliding up (as 1 & 2 are played) or down (at 3 & 4) a half-step; other intervals occur elsewhere.
The sounds are generated by two copies of “Chip32”, a basic wavetable synth (pictured below), and a sampled koto.