MSP microtuner thingee

Hi Folks
found this in msp land

thought you might be interested
For Mac OS X and Mac OS 9
(C) Victor Cerullo, 2003 - All Rights Reserved
Release 1.0 - May 2003

Max Magic Microtuner allows Max/MSP and Pluggo users to
generate their own alternate tunings external objects by
converting specially formatted text files into Max/MSP MIDI-to-
frequency externals. These tuning text files contain the intonation
table data and can be created and edited with Max Magic
Microtuner itself or with any other text editor: the program will
import data from both plain text files and "mttx" native format
files.

Basic Microtuner functions and related tuning text files syntax
rules

1. all lines end with a carriage return;

2. comment lines start with a double slash ("//"); if you are editing
a tuning file with Max Magic Microtuner, the double slash symbol
is added automatically to each line typed in the user comments
text box when saving the file;

3. the first numeric line starting with "@" will be interpreted as
the lowest MIDI note number to which all the frequencies listed
below will be referred (60 = middle C);

4. if you want Max Magic Microtuner to "expand" a scale
automatically over the full MIDI note range (0 -127) when
opening a tuning text file, then activate the "Expand scale at load"
flag in the main Microtuner window;

5. the expansion mode depends on the flag "Consider intervals",
whose value is saved as a special line statement in the tuning
text file (":absolute" when the flag is not active and ":intervals"
when it is active); when opening a tuning file containing this
statement, the value of the "Consider intervals" flag will be
overridden accordingly ; the expansion mode statement is
automatically included in a tuning text file created with Max Magic
Microtuner; if you create a tuning file with a different editor and
forget to include this statement, Max Magic Microtuner will alert
you about that once the file has been loaded;

6. in order to define an n-tone octave-wise scale, where
frequencies are doubled octave after octave, you can simply list
the n tones (frequencies) of one octave (ANY octave of the
scale); if you are editing the scale with Max Magic Microtuner
then DO NOT activate the "Consider intervals" flag in the main
Microtuner window when saving the tuning file in this case; if you
are editing the scale with a different editor then do not forget to
include the starting MIDI note and the ":absolute" statement;

7. if you want to define a non-octave scale based on intervals
between frequencies then, in order for the program to determine
the n frequency ratios between adjacent tones of the scale, you
will have to list n+1 frequencies. The program will then use the
ratios repeatedly to extend the scale over the full MIDI note
range. Be sure to activate the "Consider intervals" flag in this
case before saving the tuning file if you are editing the scale with
Max Magic Microtuner; if you are editing the scale with a different
editor then do not forget to include the starting MIDI note and the
":intervals" statement. As a particular case, this option is also
useful for octave-wise scales based on an equal division of the
octave, where the frequency ratio between two adjacent tones is
constant (like in the 12 tone Equal Tempered scale).

Example 1: 12 tone Equal Tempered scale (expansion mode =
absolute)

// This is an example showing the text file format
// used by Max Magic Microtuner.
//
// This text file will be converted into a 12 tone
// Equal Tempered scale Max/MSP external object
// that is quite similar to the native "mtof" (MIDI
// to frequency) external.

@60

:absolute

261.62558
277.182617
293.664764
311.126984
329.627563
349.228241
369.994415
391.995422
415.304688
440
466.163757
493.883301

Example 2: 12 tone Equal Tempered scale (expansion mode =
intervals)

// Tuning file for Max Magic Microtuner
// 12 tone Equal Tempered scale
//
// This is the shortest way to obtain a 12 tone ET
// scale with Max Magic Microtuner:
//
// A4 (MIDI note #69) = ref. frequency = f1
// f2 = f1 * pow(2, 1/12)

@69

:intervals

440.
466.16376151809

Additional info

/16tone (Max Magic Microtuner
support page and mailing list)
http://www.cycling74.com (Max/MSP website)

> Max Magic Microtuner allows Max/MSP and Pluggo users to
> generate their own alternate tunings external objects by
> converting specially formatted text files into Max/MSP MIDI-to-
> frequency externals.

...and it would be so lovely if Scala could export tuning files in a
Microtuner-compatible text format; this should be an easy feature
to implement in Scala, since Microtuner can read plain text input
files whose format is quite simple in terms of the required syntax
rules, while adding a "Scala import" feature to Max Magic
Microtuner is definitely a more complex task. This would
represent a sort of cross-platform "bridge" between the currently
available Scala tuning libraries (PC) and Max/MSP (Mac).

Kind Regards,
Victor Cerullo

Sure I can do that, if you explain the Microtuner format
to me.

Manuel

> Sure I can do that, if you explain the Microtuner format
> to me.
> Manuel

Hi Manuel,
nice to meet you. The Microtuner text format is quite simple since
the program is based on a MIDI intonation table containing each
frequency value corresponding to a specific MIDI note of the
scale. The values are expressed in Hertz, not cents. The
program will allow a user to expand the scale over the full MIDI
note range (0-127) using either an "absolute" mode or an
"intervals" mode, depending on a checkbox flag. This results in a
special statement appearing inside the text file right before the
frequency list, that can be ":absolute" or ":intervals", once the
tuning file is saved. Here below you'll find an explanation of the
text file format together with two examples (taken from the Max
Magic Microtuner "readme" file); just let me know if you need any
additional information.

Cheers,
Victor Cerullo

PS:

Basic Microtuner functions and related tuning text files syntax
rules

1. all lines end with a carriage return;

2. comment lines start with a double slash ("//"); if you are editing
a tuning file with Max Magic Microtuner, the double slash symbol
is added automatically to each line typed in the user comments
text box when saving the file;

3. the first numeric line starting with "@" will be interpreted as
the
lowest MIDI note number to which all the frequencies listed
below will be referred (60 = middle C);

4. if you want Max Magic Microtuner to "expand" a scale
automatically over the full MIDI note range (0 -127) when opening
a tuning text file, then activate the "Expand scale at load" flag in
the main Microtuner window;

5. the expansion mode depends on the flag "Consider intervals",
whose value is saved as a special line statement in the tuning
text file (":absolute" when the flag is not active and ":intervals"
when it is active); when opening a tuning file containing this
statement, the value of the "Consider intervals" flag will be
overridden accordingly ; the expansion mode statement is
automatically included in a tuning text file created with Max Magic
Microtuner; if you create a tuning file with a different editor and
forget to include this statement, Max Magic Microtuner will alert
you about that once the file has been loaded;

6. in order to define an n-tone octave-wise scale, where
frequencies are doubled octave after octave, you can simply list
the n tones (frequencies) of one octave (ANY octave of the scale);
if you are editing the scale with Max Magic Microtuner then DO
NOT activate the "Consider intervals" flag in the main Microtuner
window when saving the tuning file in this case; if you are editing
the scale with a different editor then do not forget to include the
starting MIDI note and the ":absolute" statement;

7. if you want to define a non-octave scale based on intervals
between frequencies then, in order for the program to determine
the n frequency ratios between adjacent tones of the scale, you
will have to list n+1 frequencies. The program will then use the
ratios repeatedly to extend the scale over the full MIDI note range.
Be sure to activate the "Consider intervals" flag in this case
before saving the tuning file if you are editing the scale with Max
Magic Microtuner; if you are editing the scale with a different
editor then do not forget to include the starting MIDI note and the
":intervals" statement. As a particular case, this option is also
useful for octave-wise scales based on an equal division of the
octave, where the frequency ratio between two adjacent tones is
constant (like in the 12 tone Equal Tempered scale).

Example 1: 12 tone Equal Tempered scale (expansion mode =
absolute)

// This is an example showing the text file format
// used by Max Magic Microtuner.
//
// This text file will be converted into a 12 tone
// Equal Tempered scale Max/MSP external object
// that is quite similar to the native "mtof" (MIDI
// to frequency) external.

@60

:absolute

261.62558
277.182617
293.664764
311.126984
329.627563
349.228241
369.994415
391.995422
415.304688
440
466.163757
493.883301

Example 2: 12 tone Equal Tempered scale (expansion mode =
intervals)

// Tuning file for Max Magic Microtuner
// 12 tone Equal Tempered scale
//
// This is the shortest way to obtain a 12 tone ET
// scale with Max Magic Microtuner:
//
// A4 (MIDI note #69) = ref. frequency = f1
// f2 = f1 * pow(2, 1/12)

@69

:intervals

440.
466.16376151809