MIDI sequencing and patch editing tools

It's time to update my website - The Microtonal Synthesis Web Site -
http://home.att.net/~microtonal . I will be adding a microtonal software
page. Now, I can handle the obvious things like Scala and Justonic Pitch
Palette, but where I need some input is on more generic software tools that
may have microtonal capability. An example would be SoundQuest's MIDIQuest.
This is a universal patch editor/librarian that has many editors for
microtonal scales in MIDI synthesizers. I'd expect the other universal
patch editors have similar features, but don't have any first hand
experience with them. Another example would be any sequencing program that
allows programming of pitch bends per note on a global basis, so microtonal
compositions can be created on non-microtonal synthesizers. Algorithmic
composition tools with similar capabilities could be a third example.
Bascally anything that is designed or can be manipulated to help in the
creation of microtonal music would be of interest.

John Loffink
microtonal@...

John,

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., "Microtonal" <microtonal@w...> wrote:
> Bascally anything that is designed or can be manipulated to help in
> the creation of microtonal music would be of interest.

This was my idea as well for the "bookmarks" section of this site.
One way to go about it is to let you put together the page, and then
just put a link to *that* from this forum. That way net surfers find
your page as well, and we can just point to yours (and highlight any
we feel real good about). You just have to promise to keep the
page 'fresh'... <g>

Let me know how you are doing and when you have something up. Don't
forget Robert's Fractal Tune Smithy and Graham Breed's software.

Cheers,
Jon

Hi John

Here are some of my favorite tools for making microtonal music.
Symbolic Composer is a LISP based algorithymic compositional tool for
Mac that lets you do almost anything you can think of and incorporte
any tuning you might like, and its not too hard to learn either. I
use it a lot and I don't forsee outgrowing it for a long time
http://symcom.hypermart.net/

SuperCollider also for Mac only is an audio language that also gives
you lots of possibilities, but I find it harder to use, and its a
program I hope to grow into someday(or find someone who can program
it for me:_)).

I see you already have MetaSynth which also allows you to do anything
you want tuning wise. Pluggos are plugins for VST sequencers made
from Cycling 74 MSP and they allow you to specify hz with .001
precision. They are great.

On the PC side a new algorithmic midi program that also has extensive
tuning capabilites is the Algorithmic Arts, which is modular based,
like Reaktor, only for midi. Lots of interesting possibilites but I
haven't spent much time with it because Robert's FTS rocks and is
very easy /intuitive compared to most of the other programs I mention.

AutoTune 3 for TDM also lets you input any tuning as a midi scale,
and it will do its magic pitch correction for you. Its very easy to
use in ProTools. I tried it in Logic as a VST plugin and had no
success, making me as usual, appreciate the simplicity of ProTools
over all its competition (I hate Logic).

If you can't easily find any of these links let me know and I will
get them.

Mary A

Thanks for the useful information.

Supercollider has been mentioned to me several times, but no one yet has
supplied information on how microtonality is accomplished with it, what the
resolution is, how many scales are possible, etc.

For the Pluggos, exactly what can be specified to .001 hertz? Are these
self contained VST generators/oscillators, or are they operating on MIDI
notes and pitch bends to retune external synthesizers?

John Loffink
microtonal@...
The Microtonal Synthesis Web Site
http://home.att.net/~microtonal

> Here are some of my favorite tools for making microtonal music.
> Symbolic Composer is a LISP based algorithymic compositional tool for
> Mac that lets you do almost anything you can think of and incorporte
> any tuning you might like, and its not too hard to learn either. I
> use it a lot and I don't forsee outgrowing it for a long time
> http://symcom.hypermart.net/
>
> SuperCollider also for Mac only is an audio language that also gives
> you lots of possibilities, but I find it harder to use, and its a
> program I hope to grow into someday(or find someone who can program
> it for me:_)).
>
> I see you already have MetaSynth which also allows you to do anything
> you want tuning wise. Pluggos are plugins for VST sequencers made
> from Cycling 74 MSP and they allow you to specify hz with .001
> precision. They are great.
>
> On the PC side a new algorithmic midi program that also has extensive
> tuning capabilites is the Algorithmic Arts, which is modular based,
> like Reaktor, only for midi. Lots of interesting possibilites but I
> haven't spent much time with it because Robert's FTS rocks and is
> very easy /intuitive compared to most of the other programs I mention.
>
> AutoTune 3 for TDM also lets you input any tuning as a midi scale,
> and it will do its magic pitch correction for you. Its very easy to
> use in ProTools. I tried it in Logic as a VST plugin and had no
> success, making me as usual, appreciate the simplicity of ProTools
> over all its competition (I hate Logic).
>
> If you can't easily find any of these links let me know and I will
> get them.
>
> Mary A
>

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., "Microtonal" <microtonal@w...> wrote:
> Thanks for the useful information.
>
> Supercollider has been mentioned to me several times, but no one
yet has
> supplied information on how microtonality is accomplished with it

That is probably because none of us really know how to :-) The
author, James McCarthy is writing his own language for audio. I have
used an example he wrote several years ago for 72TET, and modified it
for any other TET I desire. That is about as far as I have gotten
and there are easier ways for me to do it so I don't bother with it
much. I am planning on getting a Titanium powerbook for live
performance and will probably use supercollider a lot more with it as
a sound generator. Hopefully it will be in a less developmental stage
then. I'm not sure what the resolution is but I think you can
probably write values at least .1hz.

> For the Pluggos, exactly what can be specified to .001 hertz? Are
these
> self contained VST generators/oscillators.

They work directly with audio using MSP as VST plugins in any VST Mac
host program. There are probably more than 80 plugins at this point
and they are fairly weird. I use layered comb filters to approximate
modes of whatever scale I might be working with - getting the values
of course from scala. I'm sure there are other ways to work with it
microtonally using a little imagination.

If you actually want to make a melody with a scale (Can you immagine
that!) I think midi is the best way to go - using Symbolic composer
or Algorithmic Arts.

Mary