Re: [MMM] Re: counterpoint and microtonality

jacky_ligon@... wrote:
> Many times I'll start out by creating an outline
> of the timbres I'll be using in a composition to
> begin with. Sometimes the timbres come before the
> scale, depending upon what I'm trying to achieve. If
> I wish to create a scale based on the spectra of a
> set of the chosen timbres, I may do an FFT analysis
> to try to discover what may be a good pitch set for
> the timbres.

Interesting (about whether you choose the scales or
timbres first). Some undoubtedly stupid questions, if
you would oblige:
1 - What do you mean by the spectrum of a timbre? Are
you referring to the overtones present? Or wre you
referring to something more?
2 - I'm not sure what you mean about the FFT. From my
understanding of it, if you designed the timbre,
wouldn't you already know everything the FFT would
give you? Are you making timbres out of samples or
something?

> The above piano example is an important one. What
> may sound good, or bad on one single timbre, may
> sound like gold, or horrible when transposed onto a
> mixed set of timbres. Things get really interesting
> when one begins to combine harmonic and inharmonic
> timbres.

(little light bulb turns on). That makes a whole lot
of sense. Thanks for pointing it out...

> while abstract analysis of tunings may reveal some
> things of interest, it is when we play them, and
> transpose them onto complex musical situations,
> where spatial, timbral and rhythmic interplay
> considerations come into play, that we find out what
> attributes any given tuning may have to offer.

Basing this solely on my view of the way I would like
the world to be, and nothing more, I agree
wholeheartedly ;-) Anyway thanks for the tips, and by
the way, I just checked out your website, and you,
sir, kick a whole lot of ass.

> Good luck to you, and I hope you'll be sharing
> your music with us here.

Just as soon as I've implemented non-sine wave timbres
that don't sound like crap in the program I'm using to
play around with this stuff, and my new keyboard comes
in, I will ;-)

Cheers,
Brian

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