Re: MIDI download test -- a "xenharmonic Valentine"

Hello, there, everyone, and it's a great pleasure to invite you to a
"beta test" of my Website arrangements for downloading MIDI files of
neo-Gothic examples and the like.

This test provides a special opportunity to celebrate Bob Valentine's
nonatonic scale of 0-204-249-453-498-702-747-951-996 cents, with two
sample files illustrating neo-Gothic cadences in this tuning.

Please note that although I've proofed an ASCII text translation of
the pitchbend and other MIDI messages, these files have not yet been
tested by actual listeners; I apologize to Bob for any "bugs"
overlooked in my excitement about this scale, and warmly invite
debugging.

http://value.net/~mschulter/bvaci001.mid
http://value.net/~mschulter/bvacr001.mid

Please let me also prudently offer a couple of proven MIDI files of
"metachromatic" progressions discussed in my last post on the e-based
tuning (Part 2), </tuning/topicId_23881.html#23881>:

http://value.net/~mschulter/eb7cr01.mid
http://value.net/~mschulter/eb7ei01.mid

With certain MIDI players or similar devices, one reported problem
with the latter files which could also affect the new ones involves
how unisons between two notes are handled. A "note off" message may
cut off both notes when one is meant to be sustained longer, or two
simultaneous "note on" messages may be taken as a "note on" and "note
off," so that the intended two notes are heard only as a single
momentary staccato sound.

Any reports on such problems would be much appreciated, with e-mail
likely best unless there are ideas for "fixes" that might be usefully
shared here.

This "xenharmonic Valentine" celebration also provides an opportunity
to express my appreciation for the assistance that members of our
tuning community have offered both onlist and offlist, thus making
these files possible.

Manuel Op de Coul has provided the technical means in Scala, which
includes an EXAMPLE command to translate an ASCII text file defining a
MIDI sequence in a current or specified scale into a MIDI file. As the
excellent sample files included with Scala (including an excerpt from
Vicentino) show, this feature can be used to produce MIDI files not
only of short progressions or passages but of complete compositions.

Please let me also very warmly thank John deLaubenfels, David
Finnamore, Robert Walker, and Jacky Ligon for their expertise and most
friendly support in this and related projects -- an illustrative
rather than exhaustive list, I would emphasize. The generosity of our
community is a most moving thing to behold and experience

This year marks the 500th anniversary of Ottaviano dei Petrucci's
landmark publication of the first printed collection of music in 1501,
the _Odhecaton A_. One way to celebrate is to make old and new music
available in as many forms and media as possible, including the forms
made possible by the World Wide Web and related networks.

Bringing together theory and practice, ideal and realization, is a
most timely theme of this year, the first unambiguously within the new
millennium. It is most appropriate that envisioners of new tuning
systems such as Paul Erlich, Dave Keenan, Dan Stearns, Jacky Ligon,
and Bob Valentine should share their creativity in unveiling their
discoveries, whether through tuning tables or through audio-vlsual
presentations. Again, I apologize for a fragmentary and very
incomplete list.

To keep these most modest MIDI examples in perspective, I would also
like to thank Alison Monteith for her reminder that intonation is also
a specialty of groups such as the Hilliards -- and for her most
insightful and enjoyable glimpses of the world of live ensemble
performance, and of xenharmonic life in its sometimes quantifiable and
often most unquantifiable aspects.

Also, I would honor both the theoretical and practical mastery of an
artist such as Judith Conrad, an exponent and transmitter of the
mystery of tuning historical keyboards by hand and by ear, and playing
them so as to make the fruits of this endeavor most concrete, thus
belonging to an elect guild of musicians through the centuries and
inspiring the rest of us to learn what we can from this high art.

There is also the example of the peerless Monz, as educator,
encyclopedist, very pragmatic as well as theoretically brilliant
composer with a certain Aristoxenian touch, and cartographer of
lattices and ratio spaces whose sonorous heraldry is most justly
acclaimed.

May I hope that if my links are accessible, people may enjoy these
quick examples -- with thanks in advance for any feedback or bug
reports, and also for your patience with my enthusiasm about
technologies which I realize are not quite so new to many people on
this list who have shared so many examples and compositions through
these means.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@value.net

Thanks Margo -- as always, it's so nice to be able to hear _actual
music_ . . . the test was successful for me (though the vibrato
seemed a bit heavy) . . . so on with the music!

[Paul E wrote:]
>Thanks Margo -- as always, it's so nice to be able to hear _actual
>music_ . . . the test was successful for me (though the vibrato
>seemed a bit heavy) . . . so on with the music!

There is no vibrato. No aftertouch or control messages (other than
"all controllers off"). Just program (/voice/patch) messages, bend
messages, notes on, notes off. Must be your module.

JdL