Re: [tuning] Digest Number 1637

Hi Bob,

If you've also got a computer and soundcard and p.c. runs
Win 95/98 then you can use FTS.

Most of it is prob. okay for Win NT / 2000, but not thoroughly
tested in that environment.

Various ways of doing it. One way is to use a sequencer /
score editor.

I use NoteWorthyComposer actually - I find it really fast to enter notes
into it by hand. The keyboard shortcuts and things are very
intelligently worked out and quick to use and you can work up
a short score in next to no time. (Not so good if
one wants to write polyrhythms like 5 against 7 or whatever
though)

Anyway, your favourite score editor, write the piece in 12-tet notation,
and add a note saying which scale you want the notes tuned to.
If scale has more than 12 notes, one option is to use two octaves
of the 12-tet score for one octave of the result.

My tunes page has various examples of pieces composed in this
way in various scales.

http://members.tripod.com/~robertinventor/tunes/tunes.htm

Then, hook midi out of your score editor to the midi in of
FTS using a midi loopback driver, such as Midi Yoke.

Paste the appropriate scale into FTS.

Now whenever you click Play in the score editor you will
hear it retuned accordingly.

I can say that this works very well for me and is a way to
quickly get to hear what a piece sounds like. If this
looks as if it could be of interest, get in touch and
I will help with any questions about how to do it.

You can also hook your midi keyboard into the Midi In (usually
via the joystick of computer, or soundcard midi in) and then
play it retuned to 19-tet in FTS. Actually FTS also has a couple of
19-tet presets for midi relaying. One plays the 19-tet major
scale from the white notes, with the black notes toggling between
sharps or flats depending on whether you have the caps lock on,
or sustain pedal held down (or various other methods available,
including an option to toggle sharps / flats if you play more
than a certain velocity). The other preset plays 19-tet from
alternate white notes, with in between notes playing the
accidentals (with some repeats when two keys play the same
note).

What you describe also sounds as though it might tie in well with
the very new scales for tracks feature in FTS.

Could have several staves and for each one say which scale you
want it played in, then assign Midi channel 1 to play the 1st one,
channel 2 for the 2nd and so on.

Then in FTS, select the appropriate scale into each track.

You use SCALA for working with the scales, making new scales,
can also use it for retuning a 12-tet midi file to some other
tuning. You don't need SCALA to run FTS, or vice versa,
but they complement each other well.

SCALA works for a wider range of platforms than FTS -
FTS is pretty much tied down to Windows type platforms,
or p.c. emulators in other platforms (if you can find
one that supports sound) as it uses native Windows c
subroutines that are specific to the platform.

Robert