Re: How do I compose in X tuning

Hi,

I've just been writing some music, and thought method I used could be of interest
- hooked play button of the score writing software (NWC in this case) to Midi In
of FTS, just as I do to change tempering of midi clips.

In fact there is nothing new in it as far as FTS is concerned, just the idea of leaving
the play button hooked up permanently while one is writing the piece, which somehow
I've never thought of till now.

(
In case you haven't had to do this before, method is to use Hubi's software loopback
cable. It is a tiny prog, like a driver, that takes midi output of any prog, and
sends them to midi input of any other prog. Download mdlbk251.zip from
ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/pub/MIDI/PROGRAMS/MSWINDOWS

Run the program Hwmdcabl.exe , and it will add extra ouput and input devices to the In and
Out menus, such as LB1, and LB2. Then you can send the
output of one program to LB1, and choose the same loop back line, LB1, as the input for the other.
)

Then you edit the notes as usual, and when you click the play button, instead of going
directly to soundcard, you hear it through FTS, i.e. in whatever scale / mode you have
selected there.

You can also hear it in whatever voicing you have chosen in the score writing program,
by ticking "Select voice chann. by input chann,.." from the Midi In Options window - a bit of a confusing
name for that tick box, as what it really means, in its effect, is that FTS uses the patches
from the Midi In rather than the ones you have selected in the Channels... window, (and
changes voices selected into chann. if nec.)

For 12 t tunings one would choose the appropriate 12 t scale as the scale, and the diatonic mode as
the arpeggio.

You also need to make sure you have Midi In set up to play
from white notes (black notes being accidentals for the mode selected)
For this, see In | Options | Play notes from

If you want to hear the music in pitch, not transposed, then set the first note of the scale to
middle c from the Pitch... window.

But there is nothing to stop one using the same method, e.g. to compose in a gamelan tuning,

Choose the slendro scale, and follow scale, and successive lines / spaces of the score in the score
writing program will then correspond to successive notes of the Slendro scale.

The middle C will correspond to 1st note of scale.

It's great!

Robert