Re: Sequencer and Notation Programs

Hi Chris,

If no-one has mentioned it yet, you should also check out
the method of assigning any tuning you like to the
midi notes - so e.g. you can enter C, C#, D, etc
in the notation program, but play them as C, C/, C#, D\, D etc
or whatever you want - I call this scordatura keyboard
for want of a better name, but it is a commonly used
technique.

Idea is e.g.

Notated:
c c# d eb e f f#
Played:
c c/ c# d\ d d/ eb

So you put an e on the score, but it actually plays an d.
and the f plays a d/ etc. Here you can use any assignement you
like of midi notes to the pitches you want to be able to play
in your tuning. For instance, you could use three octaves of the
score to represent a single octave of your tunign system if
it needs that many notes to an octave.

Advantage is that anyone can play your score on a conventional
midi keyboard using the usual hand eye coordination- they
read it just as they read any piano score - but
the pitches they hear aren't as expected.

Also very easy to do - you can save tthe result as a conventional
midi file and retune it in FTS or SCALA. No need to calculate
any pitch bends, just select the scale you want to use.

Or you could retune your synth and then play the scordatura twelve equal
score on your synth, if your synth permits arbitrary pitch assignement
to any midi note.

In Windows anyway you can also use Midi Yoke
which is a very useful little program that adds
midi out devices to your notation program
and midi in devices to FTS / SCALA, and if you
do that then you can play the notes in your
notation program and hear them immediately retuned
as you desire, so you can hear your piece
appropriately tuned while you are working on it too.

The disadvantage is that the scores you make
are of no use to players of acoustic instruments
unless they can learn to read them.

Also there is no automatiac way to convert it into
such either, which must be the main reason
composers for acoustic instruments don't use it
so much (apart from just not knowing about it of
course).

I think a fully featured microtonalist's
sequencer / notation program should feature
both these types of score - the scordatura keyboard
as it is far the most convenient for keyboard
players using a midi keyboard, and the
notation + accidentals approach that is needed
for users of acoustic instruments - and it should
be able to automatically convert one to the other
and back again with just a click of a button.

However, no such program exists yet.
I'd love to write one myself - but it is
so much work I can't possibly contemplate
it at present unfortunately.

If your score uses twelve notes to an octave
but tuned in some other system then probably
best is to simply put the notation marks
into the score but not bother with the pitch
bends there, and then retune the resulting midi file
or midi output using this method.

You can see some pieces I did using this
technique here:

http://musicandvirtualflowers.co.uk/tunes/tunes.htm

Robert