Timbre and intervals (another reason for poly aftertouch)

Noticed something very strongly just now- more complex ("extended
JI" or whatever you call it) rational intervals seem to want more
upper partials to make sense.

Using Csound, I'm making extremely accurate samples (cps = reference
pitch * ratio) and mapping them to individual keys in my Ensoniq
EPS. This way they loop exactly and are tuned with extreme fineness,
and there is no need to rely on the good, but not wonderful, tuning
accuracy of the EPS. The simpler ratios do "those things", something
we all know from acoustic vocal and "fretless" music- the blooming
sensation, the time-stands-still sensation, etc. Nice. :-)

Anyway, refining my pet 17-tone tuning, I found that my habitual
practice of modulating filter cutoff with aftertouch is downright
necessary. Because Ensoniq had polyphonic aftertouch, it is possible
to press differently on different keys in a chord and modulate them
individually.

For example, by pressing harder on the upper tone in a "tritone"
diad, thereby opening the LPF a little on just that note, the true
nature of the interval is revealed- when both tones had equally
muted timbres, it sounded sickly and flat and my heart sank. When
the upper tone is a little brighter, it's as if it sharpens into the
bold interval it is supposed to be. (There is no pitch modulation
anywhere at the moment in this patch).

This means, for me at least, that tuning is also performance
dependant, even with synthesizers.

BTW hi everbody. There are tons of great information archived here,
thanks!

-Cameron Bobro

Can you post sound samples?

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "misterbobro"
<misterbobro@...> wrote:
>
> Noticed something very strongly just now- more complex ("extended
> JI" or whatever you call it) rational intervals seem to want more
> upper partials to make sense.
>
> Using Csound, I'm making extremely accurate samples (cps =
reference
> pitch * ratio) and mapping them to individual keys in my Ensoniq
> EPS. This way they loop exactly and are tuned with extreme
fineness,
> and there is no need to rely on the good, but not wonderful, tuning
> accuracy of the EPS. The simpler ratios do "those things",
something
> we all know from acoustic vocal and "fretless" music- the blooming
> sensation, the time-stands-still sensation, etc. Nice. :-)
>
> Anyway, refining my pet 17-tone tuning, I found that my habitual
> practice of modulating filter cutoff with aftertouch is downright
> necessary. Because Ensoniq had polyphonic aftertouch, it is
possible
> to press differently on different keys in a chord and modulate them
> individually.
>
> For example, by pressing harder on the upper tone in a "tritone"
> diad, thereby opening the LPF a little on just that note, the true
> nature of the interval is revealed- when both tones had equally
> muted timbres, it sounded sickly and flat and my heart sank. When
> the upper tone is a little brighter, it's as if it sharpens into
the
> bold interval it is supposed to be. (There is no pitch modulation
> anywhere at the moment in this patch).
>
> This means, for me at least, that tuning is also performance
> dependant, even with synthesizers.
>
> BTW hi everbody. There are tons of great information archived here,
> thanks!
>
> -Cameron Bobro
>

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Joe" <tamahome02000@...> wrote:
>
> Can you post sound samples?
>

Don't have a website at the moment but I'll be happy to post some
somehow once I've hammered on it a bit more.