Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup makemicromusic Inexpensive software for microtonal composition

I haven't really used music software for years, and I would like to get back into it. I have Cakewalk Pro and Home Studio, but never liked using them much. I also have Paint Your Microtonal Music (PYMM) but it has a limited set of microtonal scales. I have a TX81Z, a computer, 88 key MIDI keyboard and mixers. I have csound too, but it seems that has a steep learning curve.

I need suggestions for inexpensive, relatively easy to use software (I can't get a hold of more than a couple hundred at this time), preferably something modular and upgradable.

Suggestions?

🔗monz <joemonz@...>

Hi John,

Good to see you surface in these realms again!
(I myself have been scarce around here for a
few years now ...)

My software, Tonescape, was released as a free
public alpha in January 2007. There has been no
new development on it since then -- so IOW it
still has some bugs -- and there is not likely
to be any bug correction or new development
in the near future.

The only available platform is Windows XP or Vista.
And you need fairly modern video hardware to run it.

Give it a try and see if it works.
I use it all the time, and it's my favorite
music software ... and it probably would be
even if i hadn't created it.

-monz
http://tonalsoft.com/tonescape.aspx
Tonescape microtonal music software

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "jdstarrett" <jstarret@...> wrote:
>
> I haven't really used music software for years, and I would like to get back into it. I have Cakewalk Pro and Home Studio, but never liked using them much. I also have Paint Your Microtonal Music (PYMM) but it has a limited set of microtonal scales. I have a TX81Z, a computer, 88 key MIDI keyboard and mixers. I have csound too, but it seems that has a steep learning curve.
>
> I need suggestions for inexpensive, relatively easy to use software (I can't get a hold of more than a couple hundred at this time), preferably something modular and upgradable.
>
> Suggestions?
>

🔗Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>

Open Modplug tracker accepts arbitrary tunings - accepts the .TUN format.

http://lpchip.com/modplug/index.php

You need to work with samples in order to use the microtonal capabilities.

It is the only tracker that does this to my knowledge.

It supports midi - but not directly in a microtonal way.

Chris

On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 10:26 AM, jdstarrett <jstarret@...> wrote:

>
>
> I haven't really used music software for years, and I would like to get
> back into it. I have Cakewalk Pro and Home Studio, but never liked using
> them much. I also have Paint Your Microtonal Music (PYMM) but it has a
> limited set of microtonal scales. I have a TX81Z, a computer, 88 key MIDI
> keyboard and mixers. I have csound too, but it seems that has a steep
> learning curve.
>
> I need suggestions for inexpensive, relatively easy to use software (I
> can't get a hold of more than a couple hundred at this time), preferably
> something modular and upgradable.
>
> Suggestions?
>
>
>

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

🔗Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>

and it is free

that's a nice price in my book :-)

On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 3:44 PM, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>wrote:

> Open Modplug tracker accepts arbitrary tunings - accepts the .TUN format.
>
> http://lpchip.com/modplug/index.php
>
> You need to work with samples in order to use the microtonal capabilities.
>
> It is the only tracker that does this to my knowledge.
>
> It supports midi - but not directly in a microtonal way.
>
> Chris
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 10:26 AM, jdstarrett <jstarret@...> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I haven't really used music software for years, and I would like to get
>> back into it. I have Cakewalk Pro and Home Studio, but never liked using
>> them much. I also have Paint Your Microtonal Music (PYMM) but it has a
>> limited set of microtonal scales. I have a TX81Z, a computer, 88 key MIDI
>> keyboard and mixers. I have csound too, but it seems that has a steep
>> learning curve.
>>
>> I need suggestions for inexpensive, relatively easy to use software (I
>> can't get a hold of more than a couple hundred at this time), preferably
>> something modular and upgradable.
>>
>> Suggestions?
>>
>>
>>
>
>

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

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@...>

jdstarrett wrote:
> I haven't really used music software for years, and I
> would like to get back into it. I have Cakewalk Pro and
> Home Studio, but never liked using them much. I also have
> Paint Your Microtonal Music (PYMM) but it has a limited
> set of microtonal scales. I have a TX81Z, a computer, 88
> key MIDI keyboard and mixers. I have csound too, but it
> seems that has a steep learning curve.

What an opportune time! I spent the evening trying different Linux sequencers (or "DAWs" as some of them now call themselves). My preference is for Rosegarden because it's the only one I can get to work.

That may not help you. But I've also been playing with ZynAddSubFX, which is cross platform. I'm very happy with it. It has a certain learning curve (and lack of documentation) but nowhere near as bad as Csound. It does most of what you could possibly want from a traditional synthsizer -- no sampling or analysis/resynthesis or physical modeling but plenty of waveforms and envelopes.

> I need suggestions for inexpensive, relatively easy to
> use software (I can't get a hold of more than a couple
> hundred at this time), preferably something modular and
> upgradable.

I was happy with Cubasis Audio on Windows. It did everything I needed and probably still does. There's an optional hard disk optimization that may have screwed up my system so be careful about that. But if it's still available it'll either be as old as your Cakewalk or a completely different version.

You could learn to love Cakewalk.

Graham

🔗Graham Breed <gbreed@...>

🔗Carl Lumma <carl@...>

John wrote:

>I haven't really used music software for years, and I would like to
>get back into it. I have Cakewalk Pro and Home Studio, but never liked
>using them much. I also have Paint Your Microtonal Music (PYMM) but it
>has a limited set of microtonal scales. I have a TX81Z, a computer, 88
>key MIDI keyboard and mixers. I have csound too, but it seems that has
>a steep learning curve.
>
>I need suggestions for inexpensive, relatively easy to use software (I
>can't get a hold of more than a couple hundred at this time),
>preferably something modular and upgradable.
>
>Suggestions?

Windows I presume? Here's a suggested software stack:

Wavosaur for a wave editor (free)
REAPER for a DAW ($60 shareware)
Pianoteq for a piano synth ($370)
z3ta+ for a synthy synth ($100)
GPO for an orchestral synth ($150)

-Carl

🔗touchedchuckk <BadMuthaHubbard@...>

IF you're interested in extended JI, my free cross-platform Rationale is designed for it:
http://rationale.sourceforge.net

If not, nevermind, it won't interest you.
It runs output through Csound, OSC, or loaded Soundfonts.
Requires both Python and Csound, in confusing combinations of versions depending on system. :-/ Out of my control...
If you want to try it, drop me a line.

-Chuckk

🔗jdstarrett <jstarret@...>

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "touchedchuckk" <BadMuthaHubbard@...> wrote:
>
> IF you're interested in extended JI, my free cross-platform Rationale is designed for it:
> http://rationale.sourceforge.net
>
> If not, nevermind, it won't interest you.
> It runs output through Csound, OSC, or loaded Soundfonts.
> Requires both Python and Csound, in confusing combinations of versions depending on system. :-/ Out of my control...
> If you want to try it, drop me a line.
>
> -Chuckk

Thanks, Chuck. I'll check it out.