[PD] making scales from frequency values

J bz jbeezez at googlemail.com
Tue Jul 21 16:40:39 CEST 2009


Hey all,

First off can I say a very big thank you for everyone who's contributed so
far.  Some really excellent input which has helped to clarify my thinking no
end.

Let's clear a few things up first:

It is a ratio problem I believe. The initial problem stems from trying to
shoehorn the original ratios/partials from the analysis of my 5 chimes, into
equal temperament.  There are a couple of reasons for this;  I've been
playing around on the piano after assigning each partial to its nearest
midi/equal temperament note, and was liking the results that ensued whilst
listening to them on the piano. Obviously the tones generated on the piano
are much richer than individual sines. The original wind chime has been sat
over my desk for the last 18 months,  so I'm also very attuned to the
original sounds. I would also like to have the various partials to be as
modular as possible with the idea that I can 'mix'n'match' the various
frequencies of the chimes to create new sonorities.

When I listen to the results of using equal temperament within my patch my
ears don't like the results in comparison to the original frequencies, which
has led to the current predicament.  As I previously stated my maths is
rubbish (I'm more of a musician/composer background than computing), so when
faced with the logarithmic aspect of frequency and pitch, my mind went into
meltdown.  But it is much clearer now (I believe).

Perhaps I should state what it is that I wish to do:

I started with the midinote idea as a hopefully simple way to be able to
introduce some controlled randomness into the frequencies of the chimes
whilst preserving the ratios.  What I want to do is be able to assign any
ratio from my analysis into any of the 5 chimes - so say have a chime
consisting of the 1st partial from chime1, 2nd partial from chime2 etc....
and then any possible combination therein.

So my thinking has been to have some sort of central control which would
then send the necessary value to the 5 'osc~' that make up each chime.  I'm
trying to conceptualise/clarify the simplest method.

I think what will make things clearer is if I forward the patch as it
currently stands....

Gonna do that now

Big props peeps,

Jbz
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