[PD] making scales from frequency values

J bz jbeezez at googlemail.com
Tue Jul 21 19:46:49 CEST 2009


Hey Matt,

Not windy at all:)

My current inclination would be to not use equal temperament.  Though the 19
note scale is appealing creatively.

I guess, if anything, I'm currently thinking that a limited number of ratios
may be the best solution.  Some of the things I have said on a post I sent
about an hour ago that still hasn't popped up yet, describe some of my
current thought. I've also forwarded my piece as it currently stands with my
last post entitled 'Bit Chime (rough draft)'.  Hope it appears soon.

Bests,

Jbz



On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 6:28 PM, Matt Barber <brbrofsvl at gmail.com> wrote:

> > 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.
>
>
> One other question for you that might be a bit unrelated:  are you
> looking for an equal temperament for your chimes?  And if so, should
> the modular interval necessarily be an octave?
>
> For instance, a scale I have liked lately is 19-tones per
> octave+fifth, which is very very close to 12-tones per octave, but you
> can do some interesting additive synthesis to "stretch" the partials
> so they match the equal temperament (that is, every partial number
> that is a power of two is now an octave+fifth higher than the last,
> rather than an octave in "normal" harmonic series... then all the
> other partials are just fit in logarithmically).  Another is 11-tones
> per perfect 5th, which corresponds quite a bit to 19-tones per octave.
>
> Equal temperaments can give you a systematic way of handling pitch
> that in my experience is a bit harder to navigate with just
> intonation/unequal temperament; at least they take a little bit less
> planning and experimentation.
>
> It seems possible you could maybe reverse-engineer a "best-fit" equal
> temperament for your chimes that would not just give you the selection
> of the original partials, but a compositional space you could use with
> some more expression, so that the chimes fit in "organically" if they
> want to, but aren't the only thing going on.  I haven't looked hard at
> your numbers though -- the more you have the harder it will be to find
> a "best-fit."  Remember though, that a great deal of the expression in
> traditional Western classical music comes from some of the partials
> being out of tune with the underlying scale.
>
>
> The "combine 5 partials, each chosen from one of the chimes" problem
> is quite a bit easier to solve, but attack transients and decays for
> each of partials, assuming you really will be using [osc~] will be
> paramount: they are a lot of what makes your chimes sound the way they
> do.
>
> Sorry for the long wind,
>
> Matt
>
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