You are browsing the Tutorials category
Seems like there are tonnes of Max OS X users who want to get into microtonal music but don’t know how to jump in. Although I’m a Windows-using peasant, I wanted to gather up some ideas to start you off. Let’s dip in…
Logic Pro supports microtonal scales, and can even load Scala files! This can retune all of its built-in instruments and synthesisers (it doesn’t apply to any AUs or VSTs you’re running).
This online help file from Apple shows you how to find the tuning settings in Logic Pro X.
The big drawback—and I mean huge—it only supports 12-note scales, those scales must repeat at the octave, and each note can only deviate from 12-tet from plus or minus 100 cents (1 semitone).
These limitations restrict you to certain kinds of microtonal scales, and while there’s certainly room to explore within these limits, you’ll miss out on whole genres of microtonal scales that will blow your mind. You’ll miss the unimaginable cloud-like non-octave scales like Bohlen-Pierce and Wendy Carlos’ scales. Stretched-octave scales like Indonesian Slendro and Pelog also can’t be tuned faithfully. And large scales such as the 20-note eikosany, Harry Partch style just intonation, or large equal temperaments, are straight out unavailable.
Nevertheless, Logic makes it easy to microtune its high-quality instruments, even if it is crippled, so if you already own Logic then you should definitely check it out.
If you’re using a DAW that supports AU or VST plugins (such as Logic, Ableton Live, and some others) then you can make microtonal music by using certain plugins that support full microtuning. They can usually import a tuning file and that sets everything up for you.
It should come as no surprise that there are less *free* options for microtonal composition on a Mac than there are on Windows or Linux. But you can start with alphacanal Automat and Plogue Sforzando
If you’re willing to spend a little, then have a look through the big list of microtonal software plugins on the Xenharmonic Wiki.
Some people report success running Xen-Arts’ Windows-only VSTs using the free emulator WINE and a free VST host. If you’re of the technical mind to set up WINE, there’s a world of free VST synths for Windows awaiting you!
If you want to design your own tunings and export them for use in other instruments then there’s the Custom Scale Editor (CSE) software from Hπ Instruments. It allows you to tune every MIDI note to whatever pitch you want, exports tunings in a variety of popular formats and can retune the output of sequencers and notation programs. Thanks to Juhani Nuorvala for reminding me to mention it!
I heard that the now discontinued Lil’ Miss Scale Oven was the way to go. Really, I’ve heard wonderful things and wish I could have a little play with it myself.
It’s also possible to install Scala on OS X for free. I’ve never been through this process, but I’ve heard that it’s one of the most challenging things you can attempt to do.
Follow the instructions on the Scala website, and go slowly and carefully. You will be confused. You will have to install other things to get it to work. You will want to cry. But it IS possible…
Max/MSP, Pure Data and CSound are audio programming languages that can let you make sounds from the ground up. If you’re the tinkering type then try these!
Microtonal equal temperaments on a Max/MSP synth using expr
How to play microtonal scales on a Max/MSP synth
If you have any other methods of making microtonal music in OS X then get in touch so I can update this post!
Over time I’ve noticed that I get asked this question more and more:
How do I start writing microtonal music?
This always comes from musicians who have enjoyed listening to microtonal music, and are comfortable composing in their own twelveness, but haven’t found the courage or motivation to start experimenting for themselves.
My answer is always the same.
First you gotta get set up with the right tools for the job. In a few hours or less you can set up some free microtonal synths.
The real thing to do, is get ANY microtonal scale up on your instrument, and then play. It’s fine to choose the scale at random. Keep playing until you find something you like about it. Start building up layers over this. This helps you to find how parts of the scale connect with other parts.
After you become a little comfortable with the scale, just try out a different scale and you may find something even better than before. Then over some days or weeks try another and another. Just experiment.
Your composition skills (or lack thereof) shouldn’t hold you back during this time. This is because when you write microtonally you’ll have to discard a lot of the ‘rules’ you already know. Old habits become unable to reinforce themselves. That’s kinda the point of going to all this effort.
Nobody can guide you through microtonal music the same way that they guide you through playing an instrument or learning music theory. There is no established method, instead you get a bazillion competing schools of thought about how to organise and play from the infinite number of scales that are possible. A well-trodden path simply doesn’t exist for you – you make your own path or you don’t enter this forest at all. But if you do make it inside, you’ll find the sweetest fruits. So it’s totally up to you to start trying.
After going through many creative cycles you get to learn about what scales work for you. If you’re the studious type you may be able to read tuning theory concepts and slowly start to grasps small aspects of it.
For me, it was a lot of listening, and a lot of loading randomly-selected scales into my synth to see what I liked and didn’t. A whole lot of failed experiments, and a few that worked. Reading about microtonal tuning theory is overrated, but it can be a starting point for finding interesting scales. If you have nothing more than a good ear, perhaps it’s you who will excel the most in this unknown territory.
And that’s how to start writing microtonal music. It didn’t take anything more than getting your toes wet with a few randomly-selected microtonal scales.
The mtof object can take a MIDI note number and output the frequency of that note in standard 12-tone equal temperament tuning (aka 12-EDO). But what if you want to get away from this musical dogma? How about we start to explore say 13-EDO, 7-EDO, 24-EDO, or 41-EDO with Max/MSP?
Equal temperament on Wikipedia
Equal temperament on the Xenharmonic Wiki
Some years ago I wrote an expression that could quickly be dropped into any Max/MSP synth and then play microtonal equal temperaments. It’s a more generalised version of mtof and I want to share that with you today. It’s an mtof-killer!
First let’s take a quick look inside the mtof object and see how it works. Really, mtof just performs one simple expression.
The mtof object on the left always gives the exact same result as the expr on the right. Got it?
Here is my mtof-killer expression in all its beasthood:
Nasty, right?
Copy and paste this code into Max/MSP and continue along with this tutorial.
----------begin_max5_patcher---------- 882.3ocyXE0aaBCD94To9evh0GZlxRwfwD1aapaR8gsIsWampHfSp6.Cy3zl 1p0e6yXGRnYg.AkRSdvN9riuu6ymu6bd53i5YLNYNIy.7Qvkfd8dRJomRVtj dEB5YD6OOHxOSsPCF49jw2ZLXwbBxbgRtfSedozjYhHhP7PJQu4FYzoL+HCv uJVwjDlf4Gql23SbpbxhongJgRs7AK7RorYwTlbSUnvtPZpuH3FJa50bRfPq KanyPyA.aSq7NDNu0xbn4JcK2JM.U6ErLjxnOpfDT9iUh+6wGk2K6FzXJZpO kUOWL.XPYhRTRY6FsY61pA1sMJuCpGYgp1vKsYb4Igfvulv7GGovY6sdxig9 AOuwSSq1aUiTmiHmh1pLp1i6IQIxsp5iM479h7Ssw9ro6tmLby1Nrda2xEl2 4XVmm71OP26t4RkOlvqlvx8t+e5RZ6zXIOuNjpmBg0QgRzUr0PK2sPrXOUrA 3H6WShckbdruRynCTmSuc22zAiGZK+3hd04wCTRyc2IMDxbHV9wBujzrcOvH semEQCav05Wl6JkSxHLguflvJYvJOBScZIU.bG6xFZI1zo0oFbvUt+cR9tfj 3XRNmrdEQ+jLgvIr.B3aWb9EfumHHua4phnLRPxLl3EHaBe5XEZFtkXifOmD EtIOR6Z7HyQ1syxDzIz.0IUc9qXWOUbRzn7N8.6sTQw92arAj6W4j+LS9sGd U4Vq8M253fVE.8.jf+x4+vX+PcsnxGjq6tGnrCImN5B8nQsnnQKUfPnKZnir T42.WppdgHYdJGb5ISrAmARStGbpt05pqFHKv8rSlX0W90Snn98Aueqq.1u5 zSaMOdkLMthXmnFTdNTUdts2avKMS8YjUEmLdZPRTBe8TuEMdlPO7FS9Bwsv OyT+NS88RDVwEPSul+zL85TWbV++fPou7IVy3yRlwCJNoKdnLnjFCIxPvrkA fub0COKupanggD1K79CoY4kBDVSs.MFX4NTM.XvNGX6.iA2JvhogoIxp.yJh 6nB3X6piVKeLPwnR5ZeaK3FYKntmjgMBX3NGXvFALkyqcmBLuFiKqNEWtMFW vNEWNMFWls3VLbQNsRiZ1s3Ewz8SSuivyVfFsUHybcqN4DdfdLkoGqSyXvI2 QK9I5+fWCetLsiPlyYFWmEe9HrgbFkBkM+yHSxvn -----------end_max5_patcher-----------
The ‘EDO’ value sets what equal tempered tuning you want. So a setting of 5 gives you 5-EDO, a setting of 34 gives you 34-EDO.
‘Reference Frequency’ is the standard pitch for the scale. Usually in Western music A = 440 Hz. You can also use 432 Hz if you believe in crystal healing and reptilian world leaders.
‘Reference MIDI Note#’ is the MIDI note to be tuned to the reference frequency (above). This could be MIDI note 69 if you want to tune to middle A, or MIDI note 60 if you want to tune to middle C.
For starters, try 5 for the EDO value, 440 Hz for the reference frequency and 69 for the reference MIDI note number. Have a play on the keyboard. It’s a cool sounding pentatonic scale, right?
If you played with my example patch and got it working, then you don’t need to read this section. Just start using it in your projects and have fun exploring equal temperaments.
But if you absolutely must know how this magic is done, then keep reading! (Warning: I will assume that you already understand how to make expressions with the expr object).
Let’s look back at the original mtof expression, try to understand it, and then try to generalise it.
Output frequency = 8.175797 * pow(1.0594633,$f1)
Note that pow(a,b) is just the expr object’s way of saying a^b.
8.175797 is the frequency (in Hz) for MIDI note 0.
$f1 is the MIDI note number being played.
1.0594633 is the size of the smallest step size in 12-EDO. It is the value of a semitone.
Therefore an mtof object has this general structure:
Output frequency = Frequency of MIDI note 0 * pow(step size,MIDI note number)
Let’s start by swapping the step size of 1.0594633 with the step size from any n-EDO we want. But how do we calculate the step size? For n-EDO, it’s calculated like this:
step size of n-EDO = pow(2,1.0/n)
So let’s bring that into our in-progress generalised mtof:
Output frequency = Frequency of MIDI note 0 * pow( pow(2,1.0/n),MIDI note number )
That’s great, but unless you want MIDI note 0 to always be equal to 8.175797 Hz, how will we go about tuning our scale up to some standard pitch? Well first we need to know what our standard pitch is (aka reference frequency) and we also need to know what MIDI note number to assign that reference frequency to. Once we know these, we work backwards to find the frequency at MIDI note 0.
If our reference MIDI note number is higher than 0, then the frequency at MIDI note 0 will always be lower than the frequency at the reference MIDI note number. In fact:
Frequency at MIDI note 0 = reference frequency / pow(step size,reference MIDI note number)
We can re-use the step size calculation from before and insert it into the above calculation for MIDI note 0 frequency:
Frequency at MIDI note 0 = reference frequency / pow( pow(2,1.0/n),reference MIDI note number )
Above, we’ve just found a way to calculate the frequency at MIDI note 0 for any reference frequency assigned to any MIDI note number for any EDO of size n. That’s the entire left side of the mtof-killer worked out. So let’s bring alllll of this together:
Output frequency = Frequency of MIDI note 0 * pow(step size,MIDI note number)
= (reference frequency / pow( pow(2,1.0/n),reference MIDI note number )) * pow( pow(2,1.0/n),MIDI note number )And finally we replace these English-language variables with integers and floats in expr format, such that:
$i1 = MIDI note number from the keyboard
$f2 = n-EDO
$f3 = reference frequency
$f4 = reference MIDI number
($f3 / pow ( pow (2,1.0/$f2),$i4)) * pow ( pow (2,1.0/$f2),$i1)
Well done if you kept up! I hope that explains how this expression alone can allow you to play microtonal equal tempered tunings in your Max/MSP projects.
UPDATE: Homebrewed methods like my one above are often inefficient. A commenter Toby noted:
This does the same thing in a simpler way:
expr $f3 * pow(2,($f1-$f4)/$f2)
If you need more power than this, for example you wish to create scales with arbitrary and variable step sizes, or you wish to play just intonation scales, then you should read How to play microtonal scales on a Max/MSP synth.
My recent album Rhythm and Xen uses many microtonal tunings. Give it a spin and see how all of this theory can be used to make accessible music with new moods.
Thanks for listening.
Here’s a helpful Scala tutorial for intermediate tunesmiths. Jacky Ligon (xen-arts.net) has explained batch processing and keyboard mapping in Scala. Batch processing is great if you have 4000 Scala tuning files (.scl) and you wish to export them as, say, MIDI tuning dumps or Anamark TUN files, without saving each file manually! You’ll also get a taste for using text commands in Scala, and creating script files from those commands.
http://xen-arts.net/microtuning-virtual-instruments-part-5/
To be fair I learned a thing or two from this article myself, and I’ll be using these tricks next time I get the chance.
John Moriarty, a member of the global xenharmonic/microtonal music movement, has been making videos to explain modern tuning theory concepts. The ideas are presented in a very visual way with narration and musical examples. I would be interested to know how tuning theory newbies get on with these vids. It’s a heavy topic, both wide and deep with details. Anyway, enjoy John’s playlist!
And I’m sure there’s more to come in the future.
Those of you who have built synths in Max/MSP or Max 4 Live will have used the mtof (MIDI-to-frequency) object. This clever little object waits for you to send it a MIDI note number (0-127), then it spits out a frequency (Hz). Perfect if you’re working within the confines of 12-tone equal temperament—or rather limiting if you wish to use all kinds of expressive intonation systems outside of the Western common practice.
There is a very simple way to get microtonal scales out of your Max/MSP synths. We simply replace the mtof object with coll.
Coll can be used to store and edit collections of data. The data is stored in a text file. Each item of data contains an index followed by some content. For example, we could use coll to remember the release years for various killer synths.
Above, the coll object is waiting to receive an index (either YamahaDX7 or Theremin) before it spits out the data we want. I just clicked the “YamahaDX7” button, so “1983” was sent via the first outlet of coll.
To see and edit all the data inside the coll, just double-click on the coll object. It will bring up the data entry window. Here’s what’s inside the above coll object:
OndesMartenot, 1928; RolandTB-303, 1982; Theremin, 1920; YamahaDX7, 1983;
Neat trick. Mind you it’s not very useful for our goal of exploring crazy scales.
Here’s how we can use coll as a replacement for mtof. First we need to understand our data structure. We send a MIDI note number (0-127) to the coll object. We want coll to spit out a frequency in Hz. So we double click coll, and we start inputting data for what frequency corresponds to what MIDI note number.
# Lines that start with a # symbol are comments. # This is a simple scale which starts at 100 Hz on MIDI note 0. 0, 100.0; 1, 200.0; 2, 300.0; 3, 400.0; 4, 500.0; 5, 600.0; 6, 700.0; ... 127, 12800.0;
(Interesting note: This scale is a harmonic series with a fundamental of 100Hz. Kinda trippy if you’ve never heard this kind of scale before, so try it out).
To test this out, let’s send the number 0 to the coll. This is the lowest possible MIDI note number, and according to our data we should receive the float value 100.0 from coll’s first outlet.
A success! It’s pretty simple to get it to work, but the only problem is that the tuning data took us a looooong time to type… 128 lines in total! Luckily coll can read .txt files, and there is a much better way to generate tuning data in this format. For this tutorial, we’ll be using Scala tuning software to create .txt files that coll can read.
First create or load some tuning data into Scala. (For now we’ll just load a file from Scala’s huge database)
Then type the following command into Scala:
set synth 135
Scala will say “Synthesizer 135: Max/MSP coll data, via text file”. You’re doing just great.
Now click File → Export synth tuning as shown below.
This will bring up a familiar save file dialog, and you can save your .txt file anywhere. Once your .txt file is saved somewhere convenient, your can load it into your coll object.
Create a message button which contains the word “read”. Connect this up to the coll object (as shown below). You can click the “read” button to bring up an open file dialog. Use this to load the file you just exported from Scala.
Once you’ve loaded the .txt file into coll, you can check that the data went in correctly by double-clicking the coll object.
# Tuning file for Max/MSP coll objects created by Scala # # Sean "Sevish" Archibald's "Trapped in a Cycle" JI scale 0, 8.1757989; 1, 8.4312926; 2, 9.1977738; 3, 9.5384321; 4, 10.2197486; 5, 10.7307361; 6, 11.2417235; 7, 12.2636984; ...
Congrats, you’ve just replaced the mtof object with your very own, microtunable coll! Enjoy playing microtonal scales in Max/MSP.
Big up to Manuel Op de Coul, the creator of Scala, who added support for Max/MSP coll files on my request. Much appreciation that his project is still being maintained.
Just a quick microtuning tutorial. Are you using a synthesizer instrument which loads the TUN (.tun) tuning file format? Let’s learn how to create one of these .tun files using Scala.
Before you start, make sure you’re using a synthesiser that supports .tun files.
You could load a file from Scala’s huge scale database, or you could generate new pitches by typing a command into the command bar (at the bottom of the window). For example let’s create a 13 note equal scale (13-EDO):
equal 13
Tip: Type “show” to display your the tuning in the main window.
show
Type the following into the command bar:
set synth 112
Scala will output “Synthesizer 112: TUN standard .tun format for many softsynths, via text file”. You’re doing OK.
Go to File > Export synth tuning. Or press Shift+Ctrl+T instead. Choose a new location to save the file. All done!
This is very similar to the process of making a MIDI Tuning Standard (MTS) tuning dump. To make an MTS .mid file, use “set synth 107” instead.
Jam away!