Gamelan via MIDI

Hi all, I'm new to this list, so I dont' know if this has been
covered.

I'm hoping to compose gamelan with an electronic flavor, doing this
via midi. Can anyone tell me what a good tuning for gamelan would be
in frequencies? I know that every gamelan is differnt, but one or
two sets would be nice.

Furthermore, does anybody, by chance have the corresponding pitch
bend messages do get these frequencies, or know a reference chart to
approxamte these? That would be fantastic.

Thanks all.

-Jesse Farmer

Yes, every gamelan is different, but there are semi-standardized scales
called "pelog" and "slendro". See William Sethares' "Tuning Timbre Spectrum
Scale" and quite a few other books. Sethares also gives the harmonic
structure of some of the instruments in the gamelan.

--
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
znmeb@teleport.com
http://www.borasky-research.com/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Prophet [mailto:prophet666@juno.com]
> Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2000 11:01 PM
> To: tuning@egroups.com
> Subject: [tuning] Gamelan via MIDI
>
>
>
> Hi all, I'm new to this list, so I dont' know if this has been
> covered.
>
> I'm hoping to compose gamelan with an electronic flavor, doing this
> via midi. Can anyone tell me what a good tuning for gamelan would be
> in frequencies? I know that every gamelan is differnt, but one or
> two sets would be nice.
>
> Furthermore, does anybody, by chance have the corresponding pitch
> bend messages do get these frequencies, or know a reference chart to
> approxamte these? That would be fantastic.
>
> Thanks all.
>
> -Jesse Farmer
>
>
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>Hi all, I'm new to this list, so I dont' know if this has been
>covered.
>
>I'm hoping to compose gamelan with an electronic flavor, doing this
>via midi. Can anyone tell me what a good tuning for gamelan would be
>in frequencies? I know that every gamelan is differnt, but one or
>two sets would be nice.
>
>Furthermore, does anybody, by chance have the corresponding pitch
>bend messages do get these frequencies, or know a reference chart to
>approxamte these? That would be fantastic.
>
See

Mantle Hood. "Slendro and Pelog Redefined," Selected Reports I/1 (1966):28.

and

Wasisto Surjodiningrat, P. J. Sudarjana, and Adhi Susanto. Tone
Measurements of Outstanding Javanese Gamelans in Yogyakarta and Surakarta.
Second Edition. Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Gadjah Mada University Press, 1993.
English translation by the authors of Penjelidikan dalam pengukuran nada
gamelan-gamelan djawa terkemuka di Jogjakarta dan Surakarta, 1972.

They have extensive measurements of select gamelan. Jaap Kunst's Music in
Java has some measurements, but just of the central octave. (Javanese and
Balinese gamelan have stretched and compressed octaves. See
http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/laras.html.)

Bill

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