RE: Microtuning software

This is a crossposting from the Algocomp list:

You wrote:

>Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 15:13 +0100
>From: COUL@ezh.nl (Manuel Op de Coul)
>To: algo-comp@serial.music.uiowa.edu
>Subject: Microtuning software
>
>A new microtuning program, Scala, enables microtonal scales, just
>intonation scales, equal and unequal temperaments to be created and
>manipulated in many different ways.
>
>It is an editor, librarian and analysis tool in one, which can also
>save tuning dumps for various synthesizers in Standard Midi Files.
>The documentation explains how the program is used but not all
>theoretical concepts.
>
>It runs on DOS (386+), VAX/VMS and Unix computers.

Any plans to port the software to MacOS?

90% of the MIDI studios in the U.S. are Macintosh based so it would seem to
be more widely applicable if yur program was available on the Mac OS.

- Kent

Kent Devereaux
Evanston, Illinois, USA
kentd@mcs.com

-----------------------------------

I'm afraid there are no plans to port the software to MacOS. Scala is
written in Ada, which makes the program very easily portable, but sad
enough there is no decent Ada compiler for the Macintosh, at least not
at the moment. So, the more people tell to Apple to fund and support
development of an Ada compiler, like it funded porting of Linux, the
better.
On the other hand, there is a joint venture currently underway to port
the GNAT Ada95 compiler to the Macintosh (running Machten UNIX).
Delivery of both 68k and PowerPC versions is expected in the third
quarter of 1996. The GNAT compilers are for free. More details via
email at: gnat-mac@lists.csn.net .
When the compiler is available someone else is welcome to do the port,
since I don't own a Mac myself, but I'm willing to support the effort.
However I don't know if any MIDI studios use Machten UNIX.

It's possible to run Scala on a PC, and still use the files on a Mac.
The scale files are just ASCII files, and the tuning dumps are
standard MIDI files with system exclusive messages. Keyboard mappings
(scale degrees to MIDI note numbers) are also ASCII files.
JICalc's scale model is less flexible than Scala's but with a text
editor or a program it should be possible to change most Scala files
with just intonation scales into files readable by JICalc. A difference
is that JICalc has the keyboard mapping as a header inside the scale
files, and Scala has them as separate files.

If someone is interested in some of the algorithms in the program,
they can contact me for (well readable) source code.

This is an overview of the help items:

ADD APPEND APPROXIMATE CALCULATE CATALOGUE CD
CLEAR CLOSE COMPARE CONVERGENTS COPY CPS
DELETE DIFFERENCE DIRECTORY DIVIDE DOUBLE ECHO EGALIZE
EQUALTEMP EUCLID EULERFOKKER EXCHANGE EXIT FAREY
FILE FIT FLIP HARMONIC HELP INPUT INSERT
INTERSECT INVERT ITERATE KEY LATTICE LIMIT LOAD
MERGE MODE MOS MOVE MULTIPLY PAUSE PERMUTE
PIPEDUM POLYNOMIAL POP PRODUCT PROJECT PUSH PYTHAGOREAN
QUANTIZE RATIO REDUCE REMOVE REPLACE REVERSE SAMPLE
SAVE SEED SELECT SEND SET SHOW SORT
SPAWN SQUARE STRETCH SUBTRACT SWAP SYMMETRIZE TEMPERAMENT
UNIQUE VARY @ $ % ! ?
About... Commands Interruption Pitches Qualifiers Screen
Startup Storage_Error

Manuel Op de Coul coul@ezh.nl

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