I'm game

Hi Guys,

I'll switch from JI to 72tet if Julia Werntz will tell me how to play a
72-pitch scale on my 61-key keyboard.

Kyle Gann

--- In tuning@y..., "orangedoor190" <orangedoor190@y...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_38640.html#38640

> Hi Guys,
>
> I'll switch from JI to 72tet if Julia Werntz will tell me how to
play a 72-pitch scale on my 61-key keyboard.
>
> Kyle Gann

***Hey Kyle!

Nice to see you on here again.

Actually, you can use your *regular* 12-equal keyboard, if you so
desire, since I know you are a user of Sibelius!

All you need to do is to enter in *pitch bends* above the notes, and
Sibelius will do all the rest for you in making 72-tET, so the basic
pitches are your 12-equal pitches.

Using the following convention:

^ = 12th tone high (17 cents)
v = 12th tone low

> = 6th tone high (33 cents)
< = 6th tone low

] = quarter tone high
[ = quarter tone low

...we can use the following pitch bend commands in Sibelius:

~B0,64 normal, use that after *any* pitch bends to get pitches back
~B56,69 12th tone high = ^
~B71,74 6th tone high = >
~B0,80 quartertone high = ]

~B72,58 12th tone low = v
~B57,53 6th tone low = <
~B0,48 quartertone low = [

That will produce the correct 72-tET pitches. It works great in
Sibelius.

And, to use *symbols* before your pitches, it's easy to add them in
Sibelius. I would suggest using Ted Mook's special font, which he
has designed for this purpose. It's a PostScript font and works just
great in Sibelius:

https://www.mindeartheart.org/micro.html

Don't forget, if you're using an IBM to install "Adobe Type Manager
Light" in order to get the PostScript font to work:

http://www.adobe.com/products/atmlight/main.html

The font works for the Mac, too. I don't know the exact procedure,
but it can't be difficult.

best,

Joe Pehrson

> ***Hey Kyle!
>
> Nice to see you on here again.
>
> Actually, you can use your *regular* 12-equal keyboard, if you so
> desire, since I know you are a user of Sibelius!
> All you need to do is to enter in *pitch bends* above the notes, and
> Sibelius will do all the rest for you in making 72-tET, so the basic
> pitches are your 12-equal pitches.

Thanks, Joe, I'll try it. I'm writing an opera in Sibelius now and it
would be nice to hear approximations of the eventual pitches - though
ultimately I'm using a 28-pitch JI scale. But I appreciate the
information.

Yours,

Kyle

--- In tuning@y..., "orangedoor190" <orangedoor190@y...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_38640.html#38648

> > ***Hey Kyle!
> >
> > Nice to see you on here again.
> >
> > Actually, you can use your *regular* 12-equal keyboard, if you so
> > desire, since I know you are a user of Sibelius!
> > All you need to do is to enter in *pitch bends* above the notes,
and
> > Sibelius will do all the rest for you in making 72-tET, so the
basic
> > pitches are your 12-equal pitches.
>
> Thanks, Joe, I'll try it. I'm writing an opera in Sibelius now and
it
> would be nice to hear approximations of the eventual pitches -
though
> ultimately I'm using a 28-pitch JI scale. But I appreciate the
> information.
>
> Yours,
>
> Kyle

***Hi Kyle!

That certainly sounds like an ambitious project. Frank Oteri of the
American Music Center is *also* tring to input a microtonal opera
into Sibelius!...

The bend range for each 12-tET pitch in Sibelus is 400 cents, 2
semitones in each direction.

The finest resolution of the MIDI spec is 128x128. The first number
of the bend command is the "fine" resolution from 1-128 and the
second number (furthest to the right) is the "coarse" definition 1-
128. So the definition is 16384 bend units per 400 cents.

That comes out to .0244 cents resolution.

Although some on this particular list claim they can hear that, it
exceeds my *own* abilities...

[That was a joke]

The pitch bends, as I mentioned, can be entered directly above the
notes in Sibelius -- I, personally, feel that's the easiest way to
keep track of things -- but some people have tried to "streamline"
this procedure.

A fellow by the name of Pete Walton has created a
microtonal "temperaments plug-in" for Sibelius. Basically, it
automatically assigns pitch bends to various "default" accidentals in
Sibelius (sharps, flats, double sharps, double flats, and quartertone
sharps and flats-- there are 9 possibilities in all for each "note
name")

So, a person could simply enter in "regular" accidentals to pitches
and the temperaments plug-in could do all the rest, if you care to go
that route.

One has to keep track of things, to know what symbol means what, but
it could work for some people.

I can give you his address privately via e-mail or on the Sibelius
chat list if you are interested in experimenting with this as well.

Sibelius *does* need more work for a fuller microtonal
implementation, but there *are* some people developing their
own "workarounds..."

best,

Joe