Illuminations [weird keyboards]

From TD 553:7

Carl Lumma:

>>If the keyboards are very different from 12 notes per octave, doesn't
that
>>jeopardize the frequency of performances... or am I getting this all
wrong
>>(??)
>
>Could you clarify your question?

I was just wondering if it *really* was practical to perform 31t-ET or
circulating 1/4 comma meantone taken out to 31 on a keyboard, and how
different those keyboards would be from our "standard" (boring) 12 per
octave keyboards. Paul Erlich assures me the keyboards are negotiable, and
I'm all in favor of innovation, so I obviously need to do more research on
this. [I believe the *majority* of people at traditional conservatories
and music schools-- aside from a handful of composers and early music
aficionados -- would think playing on "altered states" keyboards nuts...
(?? I think)]

By the way, I would like to mention the fine works on the Tuning Punks
sites by both Carl Lumma and Paul Erlich, among many others here... The
variety is astonishing... There is a whole "new culture" here, and my
personal feeling is that it is going to intersect "mainstream" culture in a
way that our SERIAL combinatorialed 12-tET never could!!!
_______________ _________ _____ ____ ___ __ _
Joseph Pehrson

Joseph!
See the Bosanquet Keyboards found as part of the Wilson Archive
(xenharmonikon1-3 . here is xen 2 for example showing both 19 and 31 tone
keyboards. http://www.anaphoria.com/xen2.html

Joseph Pehrson wrote:

>
>
> I was just wondering if it *really* was practical to perform 31t-ET or
> circulating 1/4 comma meantone taken out to 31 on a keyboard, and how
> different those keyboards would be from our "standard" (boring) 12 per
> octave keyboards. Paul Erlich assures me the keyboards are negotiable, and
> I'm all in favor of innovation, so I obviously need to do more research on
> this. [I believe the *majority* of people at traditional conservatories
> and music schools-- aside from a handful of composers and early music
> aficionados -- would think playing on "altered states" keyboards nuts...
> (?? I think)]
> Joseph Pehrson
>

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
www.anaphoria.com

Does anyone know of a softsynth that can be retuned microtonally?

how about the SB Live card - w/soundfonts

im a newbie

please bear with me

Matt

spliffrd@inch.com

On
Mon, 28 Feb 2000, Kraig Grady wrote:

> Joseph!
> See the Bosanquet Keyboards found as part of the Wilson Archive
> (xenharmonikon1-3 . here is xen 2 for example showing both 19 and 31 tone
> keyboards. http://www.anaphoria.com/xen2.html
>
>
> Joseph Pehrson wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > I was just wondering if it *really* was practical to perform 31t-ET or
> > circulating 1/4 comma meantone taken out to 31 on a keyboard, and how
> > different those keyboards would be from our "standard" (boring) 12 per
> > octave keyboards. Paul Erlich assures me the keyboards are negotiable, and
> > I'm all in favor of innovation, so I obviously need to do more research on
> > this. [I believe the *majority* of people at traditional conservatories
> > and music schools-- aside from a handful of composers and early music
> > aficionados -- would think playing on "altered states" keyboards nuts...
> > (?? I think)]
> > Joseph Pehrson
> >
>
> -- Kraig Grady
> North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
> www.anaphoria.com
>

At 08:04 PM 2/28/00 -0800, you wrote:
> From: <>
>
> Joseph!
> http://www.anaphoria.com/xen2.html

The illustrations on this page look just like the keyboard I saw Harvey
Starr working on the last time I visited him at Starrlabs. Then again, it
was Erv Wilson himself who placed the order for the custom keyboard.
Harvey let me glance at the documents that Wilson sent him which contained
the detailed keyboard design. We kind of scratched our heads and
speculated as to how somebody would play this instrument, especially with
the hexagonal keys not being straight but slanted.
It was definitely a novel experience fooling around with the keyboard.

Paolo

At 11:11 PM 2/28/00 -0500, you wrote:
>From: Ricardo Sheets <spliffrd@inch.com>
>
>Does anyone know of a softsynth that can be retuned microtonally?
>
>how about the SB Live card - w/soundfonts

I too have just begun my research into this kind of thing. What I have
found so far is that Native Instruments Reaktor/Generator will do what you
ask and it does support the SB Live card.

The other software synths I have heard of that will also do microtonal
scales to a high degree of precision are for the Mac. Don't know if they
would be of interest to you.

Paolo

>I was just wondering if it *really* was practical to perform 31t-ET or
>circulating 1/4 comma meantone taken out to 31 on a keyboard, and how
>different those keyboards would be from our "standard" (boring) 12 per
>octave keyboards.

Well, much depends on the particular design of the keyboard (this is an
intersting topic in itself). But my general feeling is: Never
underestimate human ingenuity!

I was watching an "underground" video of some rollerbladers the other day
at the camping store where I work. It was just these city kids on
rollerblades, doing the most _amazing_ stuff. Totally nuts. But, like,
easily olympic-quality stuff, as far as my un-trained eye could tell.

This past July, my friend got some videos of these break-dancing (correct
terminology is apparently "B-boying") "battles" out of LA. Some amazing
stuff, like this kid spinning on his head while removing everything but his
underwear and tossing it into the crowd. Totally out of character for my
friend, I asked why he got them. I forgot he had been studying gymnastics.
Half the moves are straight out of a pommel horse routine.

Did this have to do with keyboards? Oh yeah. It's amazing what people can
do. At least, it is to me. No, these keyboards will not be _easier_ to
play. But they should be playable. Here are some of the most important
references:

<1.>
_An Elementary Treatise on Musical Intervals and Temperament_
R.H.M. Bosanquet, London, 1876.
Edited by Rudolph Rasch, The Diapason Press, Utrecht, 1987.

<2.>
50-jaar Stichting Huygens Fokker (compact disc)
http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/english/cd.html

<3.>
Douglas Keislar, "History and Principles of Microtonal Keyboards,"
_Computer Music Joural_, Spring 1987, pp. 18-28.

<4.>
Wendy Carlos, "Tuning: at the crossroads,"
_Computer Music Journal_, Spring 1987, pp. 29-43.

<5.>
Erv Wilson...

-"Bosanquet -- A Bridge -- A Doorway to Dialog,"
Xenharmonikon 2, http://www.anaphoria.com/xen2.html

-"On Linear Notations and the Bosanquet Keyboard,"
Xenharmonikon 3, http://www.anaphoria.com/xen3.html

-"On the Development of Intonational Systems by Extended Linear Mapping,"
Xenharmonikon 3, http://www.anaphoria.com/xen3b.html

-"D'Allesandro, Like a Hurricane,"
Xenharmonikon 12, http://www.anaphoria.com/dal01.html

-"Keyboard Schemata from the Scale Tree,"
The Wilson Archive, http://www.anaphoria.com/key.html

-Carl