A Scala wish list

I tried my harmonic sequence in 171-et, and it worked fine, descending by one 171-et step for each iteration of the sequence. This prompts me to give the following Scala wish list, which I am hoping Manuel sees:

(1) Push Scala .seq file rendering to the edge of what midi can accomodate. If 171 works, why shouldn't 612? If my second "JI" version works, why not the real JI version?

(2) Allow Scala operations (such as rendering a sequence to midi) without first loading a scale and then not using it for anything.

(3) Fix the menu windows so that they don't slide away when you try to click on an item in the top part of a long list.

(4) Allow rendering of .seq files with note values in cents; it seems kind of silly to convert these to rational numbers, which is what I do.

(5) Allow for more kinds of "find chord" operations; in particular, finding all n-limit chords to various limits.

(6) Fixing the clavier so it doesn't make funny percussion sounds instead of notes sometimes.

Ach, I wished you asked earlier instead of trying so hard...

>(1) Push Scala .seq file rendering to the edge of what midi can
accomodate. If 171 works, why >shouldn't 612? If my second "JI" version
works, why not the real JI version?

The default maximum scale size is 600. You can make it as large as you
wish
by editing the file params.par. For the rest, the limitations are in midi,
not Scala.

>(2) Allow Scala operations (such as rendering a sequence to midi) without
first loading a scale and >then not using it for anything.

I don't know of other operations that don't. But you can also put the
scale loading statement in the .seq file.

>(3) Fix the menu windows so that they don't slide away when you try to
click on an item in the top >part of a long list.

This is a problem in the Windows port of Gtk. I hope the next version of
Gtk will solve this. It's not something I want to be involved in.

>(4) Allow rendering of .seq files with note values in cents; it seems
kind of silly to convert these >to rational numbers, which is what I do.

It is :) You can use cents! I also noticed very large rationals in your
file,
but the numerator and denominator can't be bigger than 2^31-1.

>(5) Allow for more kinds of "find chord" operations; in particular,
finding all n-limit chords to >various limits.

Yes that's a useful wish.

>(6) Fixing the clavier so it doesn't make funny percussion sounds instead
of notes sometimes.

That's because you haven't told it to not use the percussion channel 10.
If you put the line "set exclude 10" in startup.cmd this won't happen.

Manuel

--- In tuning@y..., manuel.op.de.coul@e... wrote:

> Ach, I wished you asked earlier instead of trying so hard...

I deeply appeciate Scala and so was a bit reluctent to pick nits.

> >(4) Allow rendering of .seq files with note values in cents; it seems
> kind of silly to convert these >to rational numbers, which is what I do.
>
> It is :) You can use cents!

How do you make that work?

> >(6) Fixing the clavier so it doesn't make funny percussion sounds instead
> of notes sometimes.
>
> That's because you haven't told it to not use the percussion channel 10.
> If you put the line "set exclude 10" in startup.cmd this won't happen.

"set exclude 10" seems to be the default, and hence has been in my startup file all along, but even so 10 does not seem to be exluded.

>How do you make that work?

If there's a period in the number, it's read as cents, so
like this

0 note (116.6) 100

You're aware that using literal values in a .seq file
makes it harder to change the tuning, so using scale
degree numbers or note names instead is recommended.

>"set exclude 10" seems to be the default, and hence has been in my
startup file all along, but even so >10 does not seem to be exluded.

Do you have a Soundblaster card? Then it is 16 instead of 10,
but 10 is the General Midi standard.

Manuel