A Broad Question

My parents are ready to buy me a microtunable synthesizer/keyboard of my
choice. Which one is best?

Assume I know nothing about electronics, but everything I need to on tuning.

Please help,
Keenan P.

>My parents are ready to buy me a microtunable synthesizer/keyboard of my
>choice. Which one is best?

I'm far from knowledgable on this subject, but I always seem to be the
one who replies.

~~

One of my favorite synths right now is the Korg Triton w/MOSS card. It
happens to be microtunable, according to the Microtonal Synthesis index...

http://home.att.net/~microtonal/

...specifically, it lets you set up 16 different twelve-note scales, and
assign each patch to one of them. The old key-change trick: fill 12 of
the tuning banks with the transpositions of a single 12-note scale, make
12 copies of the same patch and assign each copy to a different tuning,
then change patches to change keys. This eats up a lot of patch memory,
unfortunately, and multi-timbral performance is sketchy.

The Korg also allows you to set up one 128-note tuning that affects every
patch. Useful for stretched-octave tunings, or mapping, say, 19-tet to
the keyboard.

~~

Perhaps the most flexible microtuning synth out there is the Kurzweil
K2K series, with 255 global 12-tone tunings, and a function that lets
you change tonics with MIDI input. They also sound great. The 2500+'s
are rather pricey, but the K2000VP can be had at a good price.

~~

The truely budget-minded can go for the wonderful Emu Proteus 2000, if
they don't need a keyboard (the Proteus is rackmount-only). For around
$800, you can get a neato synth with 12 global 12-note tunings. The Emu
has a great advantage over the Korg, in that it allows tuning changes
from MIDI. If you have $3700, you can get a Korg keyboard, MOSS card,
_and_ a Proteus rack, and have an awesome rig.

-Carl

I would recommend the E-Mu Proteus 2000 or Xtreme Lead-1 modules combined
with an inexpensive MIDI keyboard. The E-Mu modules support full range
microtunings (any number of notes per octave) and easy microtonal
modulations. They also have excellent sound quality, quantity and variety.
Budget $650 to $800 for the modules and $100 for the keyboard. Get the MIDI
keyboard through a computer source, not a music store, you'll pay less.

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

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Message: 12
Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 18:04:07 -0400
From: "Keenan Pepper" <mtpepper@prodigy.net>
Subject: A Broad Question

My parents are ready to buy me a microtunable synthesizer/keyboard of my
choice. Which one is best?

Assume I know nothing about electronics, but everything I need to on tuning.

Please help,
Keenan P.

[I wrote:]
>For around $800, you can get a neato synth with 12 global 12-note
>tunings ...

[John Link wrote...]
>I would recommend the E-Mu Proteus 2000 or Xtreme Lead-1 modules
>combined with an inexpensive MIDI keyboard. The E-Mu modules support
>full range microtunings (any number of notes per octave) ...

Whoops -- looks like I was reading out of the wrong column -- the
Proteus 2K has 12 full-keyboard tunings!

[Darren Burgess wrote...]
>Well that would depend on what kind of tuning system you are after.
>Carl Lumma suggested a few synths that only use 12 tone based tunings.

Actually, aside from my mistake, both of the other synths I recommended
allow full-keyboard retuning.

-Carl

OK, I do all my performing with acoustic instruments and I'm poor. I've
been reading this with fascination, but I can't come close to affording
most of what you guys are talking about, and I don't need 64 voices or a
million effects. I do however do arranging for my groups at the computer,
I'd like to be able to use tunings while doing it. and I'd like my desk to
have room for a pile of necessary papers in addition to all the gadgets.
SO what I would like is a microtunable soundcard, internal variety. Or at
least a small plug-in box, like an external modem, that doesn't take up
desk space. I know there are supposed to be software programs, but I
haven't found they work with my cheap 49-note keyboard which is all I can
fit into the office which doubles as a bedroom.

Is 'wavetable synthesis' possibly a codeword for microtunability?

Judith Conrad, Clavichord Player (jconrad@tiac.net)
Music Minister, Calvary Baptist Church, Providence, RI
Director of Fall River Fipple Fluters
Piano and Harpsichord Tuner-Technician

[Judith Conrad wrote...]

>OK, I do all my performing with acoustic instruments and I'm poor. I've
>been reading this with fascination, but I can't come close to affording
>most of what you guys are talking about, and I don't need 64 voices or a
>million effects. I do however do arranging for my groups at the computer,
>I'd like to be able to use tunings while doing it. and I'd like my desk to
>have room for a pile of necessary papers in addition to all the gadgets.

Soundcard? Unfortunately, there aren't any that are very flexible
for microtonality. Go for the E-mu Proteus 2000. $880 at Sam Ash.
It's external, but only a half-height rack. You can stick it under
your monitor, or take it with you if you like. :)

Wavetable synthesis is a codeword for "mediocre synthesis". 99% of
synths on the market use it. Has nothing to do with microtonality.

-Carl

Check out http://www.polyhedric.com/software/index.html

There is at least one person here (I believe it is Daniel Wolf) who uses the
software therein for his microtonal work. As these programs happen to be
shareware, they are relatively inexpensive. The site even claims in several
places that you don't even need a wavetable soundcard to run their software -
any ol' 16-bit soundcard that supports the Windows DirectSound API will do.

Paolo

----- Original Message -----
From: "Judith Conrad" <jconrad@shell1.tiac.net>
To: <tuning@egroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: [tuning] Re: A Broad Question

> OK, I do all my performing with acoustic instruments and I'm poor. I've
> been reading this with fascination, but I can't come close to affording
> most of what you guys are talking about, and I don't need 64 voices or a
> million effects. I do however do arranging for my groups at the computer,
> I'd like to be able to use tunings while doing it. and I'd like my desk to
> have room for a pile of necessary papers in addition to all the gadgets.
> SO what I would like is a microtunable soundcard, internal variety. Or at
> least a small plug-in box, like an external modem, that doesn't take up
> desk space. I know there are supposed to be software programs, but I
> haven't found they work with my cheap 49-note keyboard which is all I can
> fit into the office which doubles as a bedroom.
>
> Is 'wavetable synthesis' possibly a codeword for microtunability?
>
> Judith Conrad, Clavichord Player (jconrad@tiac.net)
> Music Minister, Calvary Baptist Church, Providence, RI
> Director of Fall River Fipple Fluters
> Piano and Harpsichord Tuner-Technician
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Judith Conrad wrote:
>
> OK, I do all my performing with acoustic instruments and I'm poor. I've
> been reading this with fascination, but I can't come close to affording
> most of what you guys are talking about, and I don't need 64 voices or a
> million effects. I do however do arranging for my groups at the computer,
> I'd like to be able to use tunings while doing it. and I'd like my desk to
> have room for a pile of necessary papers in addition to all the gadgets.
> SO what I would like is a microtunable soundcard, internal variety. Or at
> least a small plug-in box, like an external modem, that doesn't take up
> desk space. I know there are supposed to be software programs, but I
> haven't found they work with my cheap 49-note keyboard which is all I can
> fit into the office which doubles as a bedroom.

I recomend the old Korg O5R/W. I started my explorations
in microtonality 7 years ago with this machine.

There's one for auction at ebay. Bidding is currently $91.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=337428729

You could probably find one used locally for around $200-300
or less.

Keep an eye out for the Korg X5(DR), a more
recent model with more voices and patches.

> Is 'wavetable synthesis' possibly a codeword for microtunability?

No. It describes the type of synthesis. Samples.

--
* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
* xouoxno@virtulink.com
*
* 49/32 R a d i o "all microtonal, all the time"
* M E L A v i r t u a l d r e a m house monitor
*
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm

>>Soundcard? Unfortunately, there aren't any that are very flexible
>>for microtonality.
>
>I don't know what kind of flexibility Judith needs, but I don't think
>it's beyond the capabilities of the Yamaha DS-XG soundcard (which has made
>John deLaubenfels MIDI files, and all others, sound just great to my ears).

Keep in mind that JdL's midi files are tuned by internal pitch bends, and
so should work on any MIDI instrument, microtonal or not.

I don't know much about Judith's needs either, nor do I have much knowledge
of XG's MTS support. Can it switch between tuning tables in realtime with
MIDI commands?

-Carl