Microtonal Sequencer?

Hello all!

I tried to find a Microtonal Sequencer in the web. I know about Scala and FTS, but is there a software that supports scale editing ~while~ composing - via a sequencer? I miss things like "free scale making", out of notes I can sing in via microphone, and also a tool structuring one scale into chord or arpeggio sections to make the overview easier, what notes of a larger scale i want to use together.
Considering all the people busy with microtonal music, why did noone invent such a thing? Do you think it is useful at all? Or are you happy and satisfied working with the tuning tables of your instruments (assuming we talk about midified instruments)?
Such a sequencer could also built in Keyboard retuning and an audiofile pitch section. With the solutions I have now, I have to multitask between little tools, interconnecting what could be organized in the hands of one program with much more effort.

Does anyone at least ~plan~ the development of this kind of tool, or is there a real silence in the need for and creation of a microtonal sequencer? What kind of Sequencers are best for working microtonally?

Thank you :)

Clemens

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

Clemens,

I'll try to add some information to your questions, but there is a bit of unclarity in the situation as you present it.

{you wrote...}
>I tried to find a Microtonal Sequencer in the web. I know about Scala and >FTS, but is there a software that supports scale editing ~while~ composing >- via a sequencer?

Not that I am aware of. But a sequencer, as we are dealing with in this era, is a MIDI sequencer - it sends note on, note off (and other) information based on 128 assigned notes. It doesn't know anything about pitch, just "note 27 on", etc. So right now the only was a sequencer "is microtonal" is in one of two ways:

1. the output device (either hardware or software synthesizer) is capable of being tuned to non-12et, and *has* been retuned;

2. the sequencer is relaying pitch bend information on a track by track basis (on virtually all, if not all for sure, synths this would mean monophonic tracks, since applying pitch bend while more than one note was playing would bend all notes.

These are the only real-time sequencer scenarios I am aware of that would be considered 'microtonal'.

>I miss things like "free scale making", out of notes I can sing in via >microphone

I have never heard of this - do you actually have a way of doing this? Of course, using a microphone is an audio, as opposed to midi, way of working. And I'm not aware of any gadgets, hard or soft, that can accurately track microtonal audio inflections and reproduce or replicate them. If they exist, it sure would be nice to know!

>and also a tool structuring one scale into chord or arpeggio sections to >make the overview easier, what notes of a larger scale i want to use together.

This sounds like something for Scala, though the description is a little unclear.

>Considering all the people busy with microtonal music, why did noone >invent such a thing?

There are many reasons for that, but part of it is that your description is a little vague - is it midi, audio, or a combination of both? Is it *really* a sequencer, or some kind of interactive-analysis program?

>Do you think it is useful at all?

I suppose so.

>Or are you happy and satisfied working with the tuning tables of your >instruments (assuming we talk about midified instruments)?

No. We are trying to advance the ability to work microtonally. It is a slow and difficult job, because there aren't that many people trying to do microtonal music, and there is so little good microtonal music that you could demonstrate for a developer Just How Great is would be to support non-12et.

>Such a sequencer could also built in Keyboard retuning and an audiofile >pitch section.

Again, two different areas - you'll need a good developer to handle both keyboard and audio data.

>With the solutions I have now, I have to multitask between little tools, >interconnecting what could be organized in the hands of one program with >much more effort.

Yes, that is pretty much the case with everyone. And believe me, I've seen quite a few different ways that people are putting together those parts!

>Does anyone at least ~plan~ the development of this kind of tool, or is >there a real silence in the need for and creation of a microtonal sequencer?

There isn't *silence*, but if you can't do it yourself, I'd just ask: how would *you* approach a developer and try to convince them that this would be a worthy project to spend lots of hours and money trying to build?

>What kind of Sequencers are best for working microtonally?

Depends on the kind of microtonal music you are making.

Cheers,
Jon

> I tried to find a Microtonal Sequencer in the web. I know about Scala and FTS,
> but is there a software that supports scale editing ~while~ composing - via
> a sequencer?

If you want to hack notation, you could do that with Coda's "Finale".
Finale supports sending of very specific pitch-bend messages based on
articulations applied to the written notes. But it would be time-consuming
to actually do such things for anything large scale. You have to make up
the articulations and the particular messages, then apply them to the notes
you want. A very detailed process, but one which would work with any synth
that supports standard pitch-bend.

> Considering all the people busy with microtonal music, why did noone
> invent such a thing? Do you think it is useful at all?

For my purposes, it doesn't seem very useful unless it's really
well-integrated with the notation package.Finale can do it, yeah, but it's
not easy enough to do, nor well-integrated enough. You can't just define a
set of frequencies easily in the score, and a set of notations to go with
them, and have it play the right frequencies at the right time. It's much
more complicated than that.

> Or are you happy and satisfied working with the tuning tables of your
> instruments (assuming we talk about midified instruments)?

Pretty happy with them, yes. (Speaking of Rhino, VAZ, and Midicode.) I
would like the ability to easily change tuning tables on-the-fly by using
MIDI messages. That would be particularly useful with "family" tunings,
such as Carlos' Harmonic scale where you may want to modulate between
related scales.

Rick

hello Clemens,

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Clemens" <ontheway1@g...>
wrote:
> Hello all!
>
> I tried to find a Microtonal Sequencer in the web. I know
> about Scala and FTS, but is there a software that supports
> scale editing ~while~ composing - via a sequencer? I miss
> things like "free scale making", out of notes I can sing in
> via microphone, and also a tool structuring one scale into
> chord or arpeggio sections to make the overview easier,
> what notes of a larger scale i want to use together.
> Considering all the people busy with microtonal music,
> why did noone invent such a thing? Do you think it is
> useful at all? Or are you happy and satisfied working with
> the tuning tables of your instruments (assuming we talk
> about midified instruments)?
> Such a sequencer could also built in Keyboard retuning and
> an audiofile pitch section. With the solutions I have now,
> I have to multitask between little tools, interconnecting
> what could be organized in the hands of one program with
> much more effort.
>
> Does anyone at least ~plan~ the development of this kind of
> tool, or is there a real silence in the need for and creation
> of a microtonal sequencer? What kind of Sequencers are best
> for working microtonally?
>
> Thank you :)
>
> Clemens

i was more-or-less (mostly less) working on this project
from 1984 until last year. but since this past February
development has been seriously under way. the projected
release date for version 1.0 is February 2004. the tuning
part is essentially complete now, and the next step is
to incorporate the sequencer stuff.

-monz