Well-tempered PC soundcards

A lurker sends warm greetings to all you tuning addicts.

Some practical questions on setting up a well-tempered PC sound system...

Please can anyone tell me which if any PC soundcards provide MIDI tuning
parameters? And which soundcards you prefer.... I'm finding it very difficult
to get any sense out of manufacturers. If you can ever get through to
tech-support, then the phone-guys don't even have access to the full specs -
and don't have any interest in passing me through to a "real" engineer....
Urrgh!

Anyway, I need to get a PC sound-system tuned up properly - and relatively
cheaply. What are the options? Any general advice is welcome.

Also, is there any software utility that can calculate a fairly accurate
frequency of a straight single note going through a sound-port (say within 1
cent)? Surely there must be something out there...

Also, is there anyone else out there in tuning-world who is playing with PC
sound-cards rather than dedicated synth-samplers? Any advice is welcome.

Also, has anyone tried just intonation with software synths yet? Any info is
welcome.

Also, has anyone found CSound useful for actually playing music? It seems very
comprehensive, but I'm slightly phased by the complexity at present.

Who am I? Trained as a choirboy at Westminster - where just intonation was
mandatory. Further musical education in central London clubs during the early
hippy years (mid-1960's) - fuzz-box feedback, Hendrix, or just blowing
harmonics on the strings of a Strat like an Aeolian harp, etc. Thence hung
around with various contemporary musicians - sort of "teamaker to the stars".
Later travels led through Pythagoras through harmony of the spheres to various
fields of astrology. Developing my own astrology software led me to a mid-life
career in real-time computing - actually not half as boring as it sounds. Now
my life seems to be gravitating back to music again....at long last...

Giles Prescott giles@netgates.co.uk
Learn to love to live... (or any combination thereof)

On Mon, 19 Jul 1999 23:36:19 +0100, "Giles Prescott" <giles@netgates.co.uk>
wrote:

>Also, is there anyone else out there in tuning-world who is playing with PC
>sound-cards rather than dedicated synth-samplers? Any advice is welcome.

I use a Sound Blaster AWE32, but I didn't get it specifically for its
tuning capabilities. With the Vienna sound font editor you can create
voices that have a fixed number of cents less than 100 between each note (I
don't know how accurate this is). For other scales, I use MIDI pitch bends
or my DX7II.

--
see my music page ---> +--<http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/music.html>--
Thryomanes /"If all Printers were determin'd not to print any
(Herman Miller) / thing till they were sure it would offend no body,
moc.oi @ rellimh <-/ there would be very little printed." -Ben Franklin

Jay Williams here,
I'm sure that the Roland SC1 sound card and its offshoots will respond to
the controller commands that will change intonation. I'm guessing that
Yamaha cards will either do the same or already have different tunings built
in. That list contained in the blurb for Pitch Palate on
http://www.justonic.com may be a good clue as to which sound cards to
investigate.
At 11:36 PM 7/19/99 +0100, you wrote:
>From: "Giles Prescott" <giles@netgates.co.uk>
>
>A lurker sends warm greetings to all you tuning addicts.
>
>Some practical questions on setting up a well-tempered PC sound system...
>
>Please can anyone tell me which if any PC soundcards provide MIDI tuning
>parameters? And which soundcards you prefer.... I'm finding it very difficult
>to get any sense out of manufacturers. If you can ever get through to
>tech-support, then the phone-guys don't even have access to the full specs -
>and don't have any interest in passing me through to a "real" engineer....
>Urrgh!
>
>Anyway, I need to get a PC sound-system tuned up properly - and relatively
>cheaply. What are the options? Any general advice is welcome.
>
>Also, is there any software utility that can calculate a fairly accurate
>frequency of a straight single note going through a sound-port (say within 1
>cent)? Surely there must be something out there...
>
>Also, is there anyone else out there in tuning-world who is playing with PC
>sound-cards rather than dedicated synth-samplers? Any advice is welcome.
>
>Also, has anyone tried just intonation with software synths yet? Any info is
>welcome.
>
>Also, has anyone found CSound useful for actually playing music? It seems very
>comprehensive, but I'm slightly phased by the complexity at present.
>
>Who am I? Trained as a choirboy at Westminster - where just intonation was
>mandatory. Further musical education in central London clubs during the early
>hippy years (mid-1960's) - fuzz-box feedback, Hendrix, or just blowing
>harmonics on the strings of a Strat like an Aeolian harp, etc. Thence hung
>around with various contemporary musicians - sort of "teamaker to the stars".
>Later travels led through Pythagoras through harmony of the spheres to various
>fields of astrology. Developing my own astrology software led me to a mid-life
>career in real-time computing - actually not half as boring as it sounds. Now
>my life seems to be gravitating back to music again....at long last...
>
>Giles Prescott giles@netgates.co.uk
>Learn to love to live... (or any combination thereof)
>
>
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>
>

I use the SW60. Infact any of the Yamaha cards or sound modules can be
microtuned. You can pick up a used SW60 or DB50 for less than $100. Make
sure you get one of the editors, so you don't have to deal with those sysEX
commands. Check ebay.

I've been studying balafon, a mallet instrument from Guinea, Mali, Senegal.
7 tones per scale.
Been trying to figure out how to retune the black keys. My teacher is
planning on taking a look into this.

My African musician friends just love being able to develop musical
arrangements using MIDI patches that are in tune with their acoustic
instruments and singers.

I've really enjoyed this list and learn a lot. Much of the mathematical side
of tuning is beyond me. But I do pick up on some interesting things.

-----Original Message-----
From: hmiller@io.com [mailto:hmiller@io.com]
Sent: Monday, July 19, 1999 10:53 PM
To: tuning@onelist.com
Subject: Re: [tuning] Well-tempered PC soundcards

From: hmiller@io.com (Herman Miller)

On Mon, 19 Jul 1999 23:36:19 +0100, "Giles Prescott" <giles@netgates.co.uk>
wrote:

>Also, is there anyone else out there in tuning-world who is playing with PC
>sound-cards rather than dedicated synth-samplers? Any advice is welcome.

I use a Sound Blaster AWE32, but I didn't get it specifically for its
tuning capabilities. With the Vienna sound font editor you can create
voices that have a fixed number of cents less than 100 between each note (I
don't know how accurate this is). For other scales, I use MIDI pitch bends
or my DX7II.

--
see my music page ---> +--<http://www.io.com/~hmiller/music/music.html>--
Thryomanes /"If all Printers were determin'd not to print any
(Herman Miller) / thing till they were sure it would offend no body,
moc.oi @ rellimh <-/ there would be very little printed." -Ben Franklin

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Message written at 20 Jul 1999 22:36:20 +0100

>>>>> "Giles" == Giles Prescott <giles@netgates.co.uk> writes:

Giles> Also, is there any software utility that can calculate a fairly accurate
Giles> frequency of a straight single note going through a sound-port (say within 1
Giles> cent)? Surely there must be something out there...

Do you mean a pitch detecter? Csound has one in the pitch opcode, and
my student has a rather nice wavelet one in test.

Giles> Also, has anyone tried just intonation with software synths yet? Any info is
Giles> welcome.

Sure; not me but Lydia Ayers used to use Csound in JT format, and I
know others do.

Giles> Also, has anyone found CSound useful for actually playing music? It seems very
Giles> comprehensive, but I'm slightly phased by the complexity at present.

Yes; do you mean there is another way of playing music? I use it for
everything, as it is the only way to get to hear teh sounds.

Giles> Who am I? Trained as a choirboy at Westminster - where just intonation was
Giles> mandatory. Further musical education in central London clubs during the early
Giles> hippy years (mid-1960's) - fuzz-box feedback, Hendrix, or just blowing
Giles> harmonics on the strings of a Strat like an Aeolian harp, etc. Thence hung
Giles> around with various contemporary musicians - sort of "teamaker to the stars".
Giles> Later travels led through Pythagoras through harmony of the spheres to various
Giles> fields of astrology. Developing my own astrology software led me to a mid-life
Giles> career in real-time computing - actually not half as boring as it sounds. Now
Giles> my life seems to be gravitating back to music again....at long last...

Makes my Cv sound really dull.... returns to geek mode

==John ffitch

From: jpff@maths.bath.ac.uk

Message written at 20 Jul 1999 22:36:20 +0100

>>>>> "Giles" == Giles Prescott <giles@netgates.co.uk> writes:

Giles> Also, is there any software utility that can calculate a fairly
accurate
Giles> frequency of a straight single note going through a sound-port (say
within 1
Giles> cent)? Surely there must be something out there...

Do you mean a pitch detecter? Csound has one in the pitch opcode, and
my student has a rather nice wavelet one in test.

Giles> Also, has anyone tried just intonation with software synths yet?
Any info is
Giles> welcome.

Sure; not me but Lydia Ayers used to use Csound in JT format, and I
know others do.

Giles> Also, has anyone found CSound useful for actually playing music? It
seems very
Giles> comprehensive, but I'm slightly phased by the complexity at present.

Yes; do you mean there is another way of playing music? I use it for
everything, as it is the only way to get to hear teh sounds.

Giles> Who am I? Trained as a choirboy at Westminster - where just
intonation was
Giles> mandatory. Further musical education in central London clubs during
the early
Giles> hippy years (mid-1960's) - fuzz-box feedback, Hendrix, or just blowing
Giles> harmonics on the strings of a Strat like an Aeolian harp, etc.
Thence hung
Giles> around with various contemporary musicians - sort of "teamaker to
the stars".
Giles> Later travels led through Pythagoras through harmony of the spheres
to various
Giles> fields of astrology. Developing my own astrology software led me to
a mid-life
Giles> career in real-time computing - actually not half as boring as it
sounds. Now
Giles> my life seems to be gravitating back to music again....at long last...

Makes my Cv sound really dull.... returns to geek mode

==John ffitch

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Hi!
I am interested in the same subject - tuning sound cards or other midi tuning
device so if you find anything out please let me know.
Elodie Lauten