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Tuning Keyboard

DRecordZ - 12-6-2007 at 10:21 AM

Hi guys its my first post , didnt find any introduction foru so ill tell something about me & then ask my question

My name is Dersim , im 21 , playing a piano for 2-3 years & saz a little , im intrested in middle-eastern music styles , i live in belgium

ok here is my question , im looking like for a month info about microtuning ...

My problem is , i wanna play arabic scales/makamat on my keyboard (to play strings,oud,saz,..) ... but i dont have any vst patches that microtunes the instrument ...

so i decied to make my own but i cant find any technical info about the maqams on the internet or in the library here ...

so i need technical info about frequencies/cents this that lol

to make my patches for keyboard .

can anyone give me adive how to do it or a tutorial or recommend a book about this ... ?

thanks in advance

Brian Prunka - 12-6-2007 at 01:20 PM

I'm not very skilled with midi, but as far as the tuning goes, you have a few options:

if you want to keep the notes in equal temperament, then the microtones would be equal-tempered quarter tones.

if you want to retune every note, you can consult al-farabi or turkish theoreticians regarding the comma system and derive your calculations from there.

or, if you have recording/sampling capability, you could find a patient musician who would let you sample every note on their instrument, and you would map that onto the keyboard. time-consuming, but I know someone who did this and got good results.

perhaps there is a sample library out there like this for purchase, i don't know.

DRecordZ - 12-6-2007 at 04:08 PM

First of all thanks for your reply ...

Well i can pitch bend the notes but , its easier to have it mapped on the keyboard

and about your advices

i think equal tempted quarter notes will sound not "real" i mean it will sound "computerized" and i red about the microtonality of maqams on the maqamworld.com that the values of microtones depends ion the maqam which they are used ...

"Even notes depicted as semitones sometimes include microtonal subtleties depending on the maqam in which they are used. "

about the second part , i talk turkish , i know ppl but they are busy all the time

concerts ,work,... and i dont live in turkey so i cant just go to library and pick a book & btw i dont know what exactly im looking for i mean i know generally but not in detail , dont know the exact terms

im looking like for a month info about microtonality of maqams but still not a good source

and about the third part in your post , no i dont have sampling capability , my idea was , patch the original patches & have my own ... there are some presets in East West Quantum Rare instruments but i think you cant just use them i think they are protected but im not sure & i dont have money to buy it right now ...

so if any of you guys have quarter-note values for each maqam i will be happy

thanks in advance ,

ps if i find anything about this & if im lucky to make these patches , im sure there are many ppl who want this kind things , ill post it here ...

Multi Kulti - 12-6-2007 at 04:29 PM

Have you seen this video by the way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shnKqUONTXQ

stringmanca - 12-6-2007 at 04:40 PM

This may be helpful:

http://www.myriad-online.com/resources/docs/manual/english/microton...

Towards the bottom of the page, it discusses calculating the pitch values.

Brian Prunka - 12-6-2007 at 07:08 PM

my point regarding equal temperament was that unless you plan to retune all of the notes, then you can't really get the "quarter-tones" right. They will sound out-of-tune since the "non-quarter-tone" notes are not tuned to the true scale pitches.

Greg - 12-6-2007 at 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Multi Kulti
Have you seen this video by the way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shnKqUONTXQ

That is fabulous. I have never seen a breath control used on a keyboard before.

Regards,

Greg

Sazi - 12-7-2007 at 02:00 AM

This is a pretty cool Turkish VSTi, with programmable Quartertones
http://www.kv331audio.com/synthmaster.aspx
have fun

Oh , if you really check this site out you will find some other quarter tone vsti's such as Kanun, Oud, Ney etc, they don't sound all that convincing on their own, but add a bit of reverb and in a mix they can sit nicely. Also you will find from Toby Bear some midi tools to tune etc., the best thing of all is that it's all free!