Microtonal tracker software?

Hey all,

I started experimenting with a (Amiga MOD style) tracker called 'Aldrin'
last night. I think trackers are promising compositional tools, at least in
a somewhat limited electro/trance or video-game-music aesthetic domain, if
not beyond.

My question is...I think it would be a relatively easy task to implement a
microtonal tracker--instead of entering a note name and octave, one might
for instance input a JI fraction (in two fields or perhaps two bytes as a
word to index a Partch-diamond ratio) and an octave.

'Aldrin' is modelled after 'Buzztracker', which was said to have been a
legendary DOS/Windows-based application.

I think it would be exciting to see an app called 'Diamond Tracker'. What do
y'all think? Anyone know C++ enough to dig into some coding with me? Maybe
we could slowly come up with a spec? I'm imagining a GUI with a diamond that
allows one to quickly point-and-click enter some diamond ratios, and
everything else would be the same--a sequence window or tab, and a
'machine/synth' tab.

The goal: a killer app in the spirit of Abelton, etc., for
live-performance-in-a-club microtonality! Since the code for Aldrin is
already out there, and it already has great sonics, it would be a good place
to start. My main hurdle is getting up to speed on C++; I'm more a Python
guy, and always find C/C++ code harder to grok. Especially thinking aboutthe
more arcane uses of memory pointers.

Carl, this thread could also be added to the mix over at 'microtools' group
at Google Groups....

Best,
--

Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Aaron,

I just wanted to mention that there is a Tracker soundObject in blue
that allows for using Scala scales:

http://www.csounds.com/stevenyi/blue/usermanual/html/tracker.html

The way it is implemented in blue's tracker is that using "blue PCH",
which is like Csound's PCH format of using "octave.scaleDegree". Like
other trackers, you can use the qwerty keyboard like a piano keyboard,
though with scales greater than 12 notes per octave, it will only map
the first 12 keys to the first 12 scale degrees of that scale. You
can still use shortcuts to raise/lower by scale degree or type in
directly, so entering data is still pretty quick.

You may want to give it a try to see what you like and don't like
about the implementation if you go and embark on implementing the
Microtonal Tracker you have in mind.

Cheers!
steven

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron Johnson" <aaron@...> wrote:
>
> Hey all,
>
> I started experimenting with a (Amiga MOD style) tracker called 'Aldrin'
> last night. I think trackers are promising compositional tools, at
least in
> a somewhat limited electro/trance or video-game-music aesthetic
domain, if
> not beyond.
>
> My question is...I think it would be a relatively easy task to
implement a
> microtonal tracker--instead of entering a note name and octave, one
might
> for instance input a JI fraction (in two fields or perhaps two bytes
as a
> word to index a Partch-diamond ratio) and an octave.
>
> 'Aldrin' is modelled after 'Buzztracker', which was said to have been a
> legendary DOS/Windows-based application.
>
> I think it would be exciting to see an app called 'Diamond Tracker'.
What do
> y'all think? Anyone know C++ enough to dig into some coding with me?
Maybe
> we could slowly come up with a spec? I'm imagining a GUI with a
diamond that
> allows one to quickly point-and-click enter some diamond ratios, and
> everything else would be the same--a sequence window or tab, and a
> 'machine/synth' tab.
>
> The goal: a killer app in the spirit of Abelton, etc., for
> live-performance-in-a-club microtonality! Since the code for Aldrin is
> already out there, and it already has great sonics, it would be a
good place
> to start. My main hurdle is getting up to speed on C++; I'm more a
Python
> guy, and always find C/C++ code harder to grok. Especially thinking
aboutthe
> more arcane uses of memory pointers.
>
> Carl, this thread could also be added to the mix over at
'microtools' group
> at Google Groups....
>
> Best,
> --
>
> Aaron Krister Johnson
> http://www.akjmusic.com
> http://www.untwelve.org
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>