Re: [tuning] A "Mode Room" online?

Hi, Bill,

Thanks for the email. I have already posted a short description
of the project, and hope to lure some students. I based my
description on what you previously posted. Here it is:

Title: Musical Mode Room in Java

Description:
Create a Java interface to play musical modes using several kinds of
musical instrument sounds (such as wind, percussion and plucked
string instruments). Put several items in a drawer for each mode: a
musical instrument to play it, its tuning (which may have
variations), a historical/cultural discussion of the mode with a
bibliography, links to similar modes, a discography and example
pieces or excerpts. Include a link to the Java Just Intonation
Calculator, an FYP project created this year which already plays
sound using Java.

-----

The conference sounds great, please keep me posted on how it
develops. I hope I will be able to come (classes
will be over, but I sometimes have to give a final exam in the
last week of May).

Best,

Lydia

Hi everyone,

We are the students who will work on this project this year. We will
try our best to write a program that can perform the functions
similar to the ideas.

Initially, the program will allow different musical modes to be
stored and grouped into categories. Their information can be
displayed in our program. Hopefully, the program will also allow
users to choose an musical instrument and it can play examples of
the modes using the selected instrument.

Any suggestions, ideas or assistance from you all are welcomed.

Yours,

Simon Sum

--- In tuning@egroups.com, Lydia Ayers <LAYERS@C...> wrote:
> Hi, Bill,
>
> Thanks for the email. I have already posted a short description
> of the project, and hope to lure some students. I based my
> description on what you previously posted. Here it is:
>
> Title: Musical Mode Room in Java
>
> Description:
> Create a Java interface to play musical modes using several kinds
of

> musical instrument sounds (such as wind, percussion and plucked
> string instruments). Put several items in a drawer for each mode:
a
> musical instrument to play it, its tuning (which may have
> variations), a historical/cultural discussion of the mode with a
> bibliography, links to similar modes, a discography and example
> pieces or excerpts. Include a link to the Java Just Intonation
> Calculator, an FYP project created this year which already plays
> sound using Java.
>
> -----
>
> The conference sounds great, please keep me posted on how it
> develops. I hope I will be able to come (classes
> will be over, but I sometimes have to give a final exam in the
> last week of May).
>
> Best,
>
> Lydia

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "Simon Sum" <cwingsum@c...> wrote:
> Initially, the program will allow different musical modes to be
> stored and grouped into categories.

I have written a Java program to classify SCALA scale files into
categories using an unsupervised Kohonen neural network. The results
are interesting, the network differenciated major/minor,
enharmonic/chromatic. There is also a distinction between
the "diatonic" (CDEFGAB) and alterations (c# d# f#...) in the 20-note
scales. Right now I am re-writing the whole program to make it more
efficient.

It would be really nice if you had an option in your program to read
the categories from files of java-serialized arrays/list of scala
file names, or something similar.

-Kami

>We are the students who will work on this project this year. We will
>try our best to write a program that can perform the functions
>similar to the ideas.

My Fractal Tune Smithy program already does a lot of the things you have in
mind to build too. (It's for Win 95/98.)

It can be used to play fractal tunes in any of the modes from the SCALA
modes list.

You can also play / improvise in the modes using the p.c. keyboard enabled
for sound, or from a MIDI keyboard with white keys mapped to the mode, or
black keys, or all, or custom mapping, and play accidentals for any of the
modes as well (accidentals are a new addition in current beta of FTS).

Depending on how you organise the html, I could add an option to FTS to show
the html page for whatever scale and mode one is playing.

Here is a suggestion:

An easy way to do it would be if the web site had a look up table. A
visiting program could then look up the scale and the mode in the table to
find the html file + bookmark for the mode.

So anyone who was interested in a particular scale could get things going by
contributing the introduction and cultural / historical info for it. At that
point one would add the scale to the look up table.

Then whenever anyone wanted to add something to that section, one would just
need to add bookmarks for each new mode to the relevant section of the look
up table.

The program one used for trying out the modes could indicate whether there
is help available for the scale, and for the mode. In FTS, one could show a
blue ? icon under the scales drop list if there is info on the scale, and a
blue ? icon under the modes drop list if there is info on the mode as well.

Clicking on the ? icon takes one to the html for the scale or mode one is
playing in.

Then the other way round, from the html help, one could click on a link
which would open drop lists of scales and modes in FTS. Maybe one could
integrate this with the Java by using a couple of links, one to show the
drop lists in the java applet, and one for FTS.

So when the author of the html is discussing particular tunings, or other
related modes, one would just need to click on a link to download a drop
list of scales, or modes, and try them out on the spot.

Then one could navigate the site by whatever method is used to organise the
html.

Having got to a scale and mode one is interested in, one can go to the Java
applet, or FTS, and try it out, then maybe change to another mode or scale,
skip from there back to the relevant section of the html via the look up
table, and so on.

I.e. essentially one has two ways of navigating it, via the html, or via any
modes and scales drop lists one encounters + the look up table.

All this is just a suggestion, use whatever seems of value in it, if
anything.

The beta page for current version of FTS is
http://www.robertwalker.f9.co.uk/fts_beta/fts_beta_download.htm
It's freeware / shareware. One can use it as much as one wants in freeware
mode.

I've uploaded a suggestion for the format of LOOK_UP.DAT with a few more
details and examples to
http://www.robertwalker.f9.co.uk/fts_beta/look_up.htm

Project sounds a lot of fun and I wish it well and look forward to seeing
how it turns out,

Robert Walker

Robert
i am very intersted in the FTS
btw FTS also is an abbrev for Faster than Sound a la Ircam Jmax
FYI :-)
I would suggest that you enable an export to .Wav function
that would make it the Cats Pjs

Pat Pagano, Director
South East Just Intonation Society
http://www.virtulink.com/immp/video/
http://www.screwmusicforever.com/SHREESWIFT/
----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Walker <robert_walker@rcwalker.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <tuning@egroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2000 8:39 PM
Subject: [tuning] Re: A "Mode Room" online?

>
> >We are the students who will work on this project this year. We will
> >try our best to write a program that can perform the functions
> >similar to the ideas.
>
> My Fractal Tune Smithy program already does a lot of the things you have
in
> mind to build too. (It's for Win 95/98.)
>
> It can be used to play fractal tunes in any of the modes from the SCALA
> modes list.
>
> You can also play / improvise in the modes using the p.c. keyboard enabled
> for sound, or from a MIDI keyboard with white keys mapped to the mode, or
> black keys, or all, or custom mapping, and play accidentals for any of the
> modes as well (accidentals are a new addition in current beta of FTS).
>
> Depending on how you organise the html, I could add an option to FTS to
show
> the html page for whatever scale and mode one is playing.
>
> Here is a suggestion:
>
> An easy way to do it would be if the web site had a look up table. A
> visiting program could then look up the scale and the mode in the table to
> find the html file + bookmark for the mode.
>
> So anyone who was interested in a particular scale could get things going
by
> contributing the introduction and cultural / historical info for it. At
that
> point one would add the scale to the look up table.
>
> Then whenever anyone wanted to add something to that section, one would
just
> need to add bookmarks for each new mode to the relevant section of the
look
> up table.
>
> The program one used for trying out the modes could indicate whether there
> is help available for the scale, and for the mode. In FTS, one could show
a
> blue ? icon under the scales drop list if there is info on the scale, and
a
> blue ? icon under the modes drop list if there is info on the mode as
well.
>
> Clicking on the ? icon takes one to the html for the scale or mode one is
> playing in.
>
> Then the other way round, from the html help, one could click on a link
> which would open drop lists of scales and modes in FTS. Maybe one could
> integrate this with the Java by using a couple of links, one to show the
> drop lists in the java applet, and one for FTS.
>
> So when the author of the html is discussing particular tunings, or other
> related modes, one would just need to click on a link to download a drop
> list of scales, or modes, and try them out on the spot.
>
> Then one could navigate the site by whatever method is used to organise
the
> html.
>
> Having got to a scale and mode one is interested in, one can go to the
Java
> applet, or FTS, and try it out, then maybe change to another mode or
scale,
> skip from there back to the relevant section of the html via the look up
> table, and so on.
>
> I.e. essentially one has two ways of navigating it, via the html, or via
any
> modes and scales drop lists one encounters + the look up table.
>
> All this is just a suggestion, use whatever seems of value in it, if
> anything.
>
> The beta page for current version of FTS is
> http://www.robertwalker.f9.co.uk/fts_beta/fts_beta_download.htm
> It's freeware / shareware. One can use it as much as one wants in freeware
> mode.
>
> I've uploaded a suggestion for the format of LOOK_UP.DAT with a few more
> details and examples to
> http://www.robertwalker.f9.co.uk/fts_beta/look_up.htm
>
> Project sounds a lot of fun and I wish it well and look forward to seeing
> how it turns out,
>
> Robert Walker
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> You do not need web access to participate. You may subscribe through
> email. Send an empty email to one of these addresses:
> tuning-subscribe@egroups.com - join the tuning group.
> tuning-unsubscribe@egroups.com - unsubscribe from the tuning group.
> tuning-nomail@egroups.com - put your email message delivery on hold for
the tuning group.
> tuning-digest@egroups.com - change your subscription to daily digest
mode.
> tuning-normal@egroups.com - change your subscription to individual
emails.
>
>
>

Pat,

>I would suggest that you enable an export to .Wav function

What I do at the moment for the web page sound samples is to play the sound
in FTS, and then use Goldwave to record it.

See FTS Help | User guide | FTS MIDI Gallery button

At present I can't think of any way of programming it in FTS except to
follow the example of how Goldwave does it, and record the sound output
after it has been processed by the MIDI synth, recording in real time as it
is played. Could perhaps do that some day, or maybe it is better just to
leave it for a dedicated sound recorder program to do, as one can then go on
to use it to do things like maximising the volume, fade outs, changing the
file format, or whatever from the same place.

Perhaps another idea would be to use a MIDI to WAV batch converter, save as
MIDI files in FTS, and then convert the files to WAV. Tried out that idea
today using a shareware demo with one of the FTS MIDI files. Worked fine,
but it needed it's own sound samples, and the demo didn't come with very
many. Good thing about that is that it doesn't need to be done in real time,
so you will get the exact timings for the notes no matter what.

Any other suggestions of how to do it welcome!

Thanks, and glad you like the program

Robert

----- Original Message -----
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 22:03:17 -0400
From: "shreeswifty" <ppagano@bellsouth.net>

That is what i have been doing as well
recording with a full duplex card
i was thinking that it might be intersting to just have it inside the
program a la Koan.
diiging the program
cheers
Pat Pagano, Director
South East Just Intonation Society
http://www.virtulink.com/immp/video/
http://www.screwmusicforever.com/SHREESWIFT/
----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Walker <robert_walker@rcwalker.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <tuning@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2000 1:03 PM
Subject: [tuning] Re: A "Mode Room" online?

>
> Pat,
>
> >I would suggest that you enable an export to .Wav function
>
> What I do at the moment for the web page sound samples is to play the
sound
> in FTS, and then use Goldwave to record it.
>
> See FTS Help | User guide | FTS MIDI Gallery button
>
> At present I can't think of any way of programming it in FTS except to
> follow the example of how Goldwave does it, and record the sound output
> after it has been processed by the MIDI synth, recording in real time as
it
> is played. Could perhaps do that some day, or maybe it is better just to
> leave it for a dedicated sound recorder program to do, as one can then go
on
> to use it to do things like maximising the volume, fade outs, changing the
> file format, or whatever from the same place.
>
> Perhaps another idea would be to use a MIDI to WAV batch converter, save
as
> MIDI files in FTS, and then convert the files to WAV. Tried out that idea
> today using a shareware demo with one of the FTS MIDI files. Worked fine,
> but it needed it's own sound samples, and the demo didn't come with very
> many. Good thing about that is that it doesn't need to be done in real
time,
> so you will get the exact timings for the notes no matter what.
>
> Any other suggestions of how to do it welcome!
>
> Thanks, and glad you like the program
>
> Robert
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 22:03:17 -0400
> From: "shreeswifty" <ppagano@bellsouth.net>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> You do not need web access to participate. You may subscribe through
> email. Send an empty email to one of these addresses:
> tuning-subscribe@egroups.com - join the tuning group.
> tuning-unsubscribe@egroups.com - unsubscribe from the tuning group.
> tuning-nomail@egroups.com - put your email message delivery on hold for
the tuning group.
> tuning-digest@egroups.com - change your subscription to daily digest
mode.
> tuning-normal@egroups.com - change your subscription to individual
emails.
>
>
>

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "Robert Walker" <robert_walker@r...> wrote:

http://www.egroups.com/message/tuning/13328

> > Thanks, and glad you like the program
>

I just wanted to mention that I have *ALSO* been enjoying "Fractal
Tune Smithy." The "easy and immediate" access to Scala files is a
great benefit. Of course, for "serious" use, the files really have
to tune the synth...

Best,

_______ ___ __ __ _
Joseph Pehrson

Ok, would be nice if I happen on a way to do it. I'll keep it in mind.

I've found out that it is really easy to save to Wav as you play along,
provided sound card supports it so I'll add that. (Much easier than I
thought).

I've just done a test .wav file and it worked!

Thanks,

Robert
______________________________________________________________________
>
>Message: 12
> Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 13:47:56 -0400
> From: "shreeswifty" <ppagano@bellsouth.net>
>Subject: Re: Re: A "Mode Room" online?
>
>That is what i have been doing as well
>recording with a full duplex card
>i was thinking that it might be intersting to just have it inside the
>program a la Koan.
>diiging the program
>cheers
>Pat Pagano, Director
>South East Just Intonation Society
>http://www.virtulink.com/immp/video/
>http://www.screwmusicforever.com/SHREESWIFT/

--- Of course, for "serious" use, the files really have
> to tune the synth...

Could you elaborate on that statement a bit more. Are you
referring to the limitations of midi and pitchbend, or to having to
know the synth specific amount of pitchbend a synthesizer is
using.

I've been enjoying Fractal Smithy immensely and have thought it
was fairly accurate
on my K2500.

Regards,
Mary Ackerley

>
> Best,
>
> _______ ___ __ __ _
> Joseph Pehrson

--- In tuning@egroups.com, "mark " <lucid@h...> wrote:

http://www.egroups.com/message/tuning/13361

> --- Of course, for "serious" use, the files really have
> > to tune the synth...
>
> Could you elaborate on that statement a bit more. Are you
> referring to the limitations of midi and pitchbend,

Yes, I am. I prefer "tuning up" the Synth via the internal tuning
tables... which Scala can do with the TX81Z, for example...

>or to having to know the synth specific amount of pitchbend a
synthesizer is using.
>

I suppose that would be useful... but actually my concern is,
frankly, *MUCH* more general than that. I have been able to use
FRACTAL TUNE SMITHY going through my internal sound card... Awe 32,
just great.

However, every time I try to direct the output to the synthesizer, my
system *crashes*... so I have never been able to experience it that
way...
__________ ___ __ _ _
Joseph Pehrson