Leimma and Apotome - free softwares making it easier to make music of African, Asian, or Latin American origin

Popular digital audio workstations like Ableton, FL Studio, Logic, and Cubase were built primarily to facilitate music-making in a Western mode, according to the principles of European classical music. Recently, Khyam Allami, an Iraqi born in Syria and living in London, introduced Leimma and Apotome, two pieces of free software that aim to offer possibilities outside the Europan music canon. Leimma allows users to explore tuning systems from around the world or create their own, while Apotome offers generative music creation using these diverse tuning systems. They intend to give musicians a blank musical slate, rather than nudging them towards any specific musical tradition. Pitchfork presents both.

Leimma Tutorial by Khyam Allami from CTM Festival on Vimeo.