source file: m1531.txt
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 13:04:23 +0530

Subject: MIDI tuning scribblings

From: Drew Skyfyre <steele@bom2.vsnl.net.in>

Hi All,

David wrote:
>For those of us without a frequency meter, old-fashioned beats can be used.

I just downloaded JICalc 4.5b1 from
<ftp://ella.mills.edu/ccm/tuning/software/mac>
(I think that's the order of directories) and was pleasantly surprised
that it no longer
uses QuickTime Musical Instruments to generate sounds, instead
generating it's own
much more accurate triangle, Sawtooth, Sine & Square waves. Very nice
for 
checking the accuracy of MIDI tuning tables on synths. A big thank you
to Carter,
Robert, & Ken for a great tool. 

Incidentally, all this checking with frequency meters & comparing to
sounds 
synthesized to precise pitches in Hz has brought me to the conclusion
that at a 
certain point you have to throw caution to the wind (so to speak) and
ignore the
inaccuracy of MIDI tuning tables. The only way to get the close to
absolute 
accuracy that Xenharmonics really needs is to have a means of obtaining 
sounds tuned to exact pitches in Hz. 2 options I know of : Max with MSP
and generating precise samples using software synthesis and sticking
them 
into your favourite sampler. 

This 2nd option can be done on the cheap in your computer: For PowerMac
get Vsamp from <http://www.kagi.com/smaug/vsamp>.
It's 32-sample per channel, 16-channel, OMS -compatible, $25 shareware.
Until you register, it's fully functional & works for 4-minutes at a
time
after which you need to click on one of the menu items to continue. Try
it.
For the synthesis part, lot's of options around.

BTW, I downloaded an application called "Megalomania" from 
<www.harmonycentral.com> which lets you do a few tricks like split your
keyboard into several parts and send them to different MIDI channels. 
It's Mac only, pretty old, & needs MIDI Manager (no OMS). It's a 68k
app., but works
fine on my G3. 

Cheers,
Drew