David B. Doty (born 1950) is a primarily selftaught composer, theorist, and synthesist. He is a leading authority on Just Intonation, having composed exclusively in just tunings for over twenty years, and is the author of The Just Intonation Primer (1993, 1994, 2002). He began building instruments and composing in 1970, inspired, in part, by the work of the late Harry Partch. Prior to this recording, he has been know primarily for his work with Other Music, the San Francisco–based experimental music ensemble he cofounded in 1975 with Henry S. Rosenthal and Dale S. Soules, and as a founder of the Just Intonation Network and the editor of the network's journal, 1/1.
During the late 1970's and early 1980's, Other Music built and performed on its American Gamelan—an ensemble of mostly aluminum percussion instruments tuned to a fourteen-tone just scale designed by Doty and Soules. Doty composed extensively for these instruments, and his compositions were featured at performances by Other Music throughout northern California. Some of his compositions from this period can be heard on Other Music's L.P.s Prime Numbers (1980) and Incidents Out of Context (1983). Since the demise of Other Music as a performing ensemble, in 1983, Doty has devoted his attention to composing for MIDI-controlled instruments in Just Intonation, exploring a variety of tunings, historical and novel, and creating works in diverse styles, a selection of which are offered on this CD.
In his other lives, David Doty has been a technical writer and editor, an author of computer books, and an environmental activist.