'Ud & Nay

Gene,

Glad you liked "'Ud & Nay". It was just a little experiment in mixed
intonations. I certainly wasn't peeved by anything you wrote (I
can't take myself seriously enough for that); but I very often speak
and write with tongue thrust firmly into cheek, much to the
annoyance of friends and family alike.

I enjoy a little "light" composing as comic relief from all of my
own "serious" tinkering with sound, thus the popular feel to much of
my posted music. I've spent a lot of time and energy composing
electroacoustic sonorities, partial and complete symphonic movements
etc., and it was a relief to clear my sinuses---so to speak. As the
mood strikes me, I may post one of my shorter abstract EA
compositions for consideration. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

Gene, I am and shall always be,

Your Humble Servant,
jlsmith

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "J.Smith" <jsmith9624@...> wrote:

> I've spent a lot of time and energy composing
> electroacoustic sonorities, partial and complete symphonic movements
> etc., and it was a relief to clear my sinuses---so to speak.

The world can always use more xenharmonic symphonic movements, though
my attempts in that direction gave rise to soundfont complaints. Just
how to go about producing a good microtonal symphonic mockup is an
interesting question.

Gene & JLS,

>--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "J.Smith" <jsmith9624@...> wrote:
>
>> I've spent a lot of time and energy composing
>> electroacoustic sonorities, partial and complete symphonic movements
>> etc., and it was a relief to clear my sinuses---so to speak.
>
>Just how to go about producing a good microtonal symphonic mockup is an
>interesting question.

Jon, I urge you to wade around in some of the posts made over the last couple of months by Rick McGowan, as he is onto at least one step forward in realizing classical instrumental ensemble of a microtonal nature. It is still quite a bit of work to make it happen, but one can see at least some light at the end of the tunnel. And one shouldn't discount soundfonts, as they are simply repackaged samples. As raw sound sources, they are neither worse nor better than anything else. It is what you do with them, and how you handle them, that affects the outcome. As with Rick's work with Finale and Garritan Personal Orchestra, there is extra work up-front and during rendition that can significantly enhance the aural appearance of a live ensemble.

BTW, I enjoyed listening to the 3 pieces you pointed out to Gene, and it reminds me how sometimes these lists (or maybe most of the time) get so absorbed in harmony that one (or many) start overlooking just how beautiful differing tunings can render melodic material. I didn't have any problem with the "pop" oriented approach in these. If I might suggest, a little more variety in the drum sounds, and especially I think your pieces would benefit with sounds veering a little more acoustic and tight, as opposed to the techno-based sounds (esp. the snares) with rather longish envelopes. Also, in the ud/ney piece, I'd love to hear you put in some inflections, esp. in the ney part - judicious use of pitch bends and subtle velocity fade ins/outs can do a lot to place the sound more in the world of a breathing instrument as opposed to a flute that is played with some black-and-white keys :)

But take this all with a mound of salt, and that it was enjoyable to hear a new voice in the room! Made me actually sit down last night and start playing with some new VST plugs, and teach myself some new techniques. Man, I hope I can get some music out soon!

Cheers,
Jon

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Jon Szanto wrote,

> Jon, I urge you to wade around in some of the posts made over
> the last couple of months by Rick McGowan

Thanks for the vote of confidence, so to speak... To save J Smith and
others a bit of frustration: my previous posts were in the thread
"Microtuning the Orchestra". All of the sound examples (MP3) that I used in
that thread are long gone, so you needn't bother looking for them.

However, I did post a kind of summary/tutorial page here, which contains
some musical examples:

http://rm-and-jo.laughingsquid.org/FTS-HowTo/MicroOrchestra.html

> It is still quite a bit of work to make it happen, but one
> can see at least some light at the end of the tunnel.

Once you have the right setup with GPO & FTS, it's dead simple to do,
actually. But there's a learning curve with FTS.

Also, for people who have previously followed the above-mentioned thread:
Robert Walker is now getting very close to actually releaseing Fractal Tune
Smithy version 3.0.

Cheers,

Rick