source file: m1390.txt Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 12:32:43 -0500 Subject: RE: delurking (synthesizer tuning capabilities) From: "jloffink" > From: mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison) > > >You're forgetting the 4 pitch table selection limit. > > There are ways around that of course. Somebody suggested using what > might be called "instantaneous crossfades" between layers with the > mod-wheel. > But crossfading between 2 layers will halve the already limited polyphony of the Ensoniq samplers, because even if the layer is silent it will still rob one note of polyphony. So it is theoretically possible, but not very practical. Velocity switching would not have this problem, but control is an issue. There just is not an easy solution. Believe me, I spent years trying to workaround the limitations of the Ensoniq sampler architecture before I finally moved on. > > > >Matching octave boundaries for > >scales over 12 notes would make things easier, in my opinion. > > I'll tell you sir, I'm with you on this one. But I think you'll find > that - mind-bogglingly if you ask me - we're pretty darned near alone. > Among the people who map(ped) tunings linearly, mismatching octave > boundaries in the tuning with octave boundaries on the keyboard, are, > Easley Blackwood, Ivor Darreg, Jonathan Glasier, Harry Partch (on the > Chromelodeon), Brian McLaren, Bill Sethares, and my K2500-playing friend > Bill Meadows. And speaking of whom... > If they can do it, all the power to them. > > > >(K2500): nTET and nCET scales can be > >created at the program level by adjusting a few parameters, and are > >unlimited in step size. Resolution is 1 cent or better if done correctly > > Perhaps you can provide some insight for Bill Meadows here: He wants to > map 19TET linearly across the keyboard, which means that you have to set > the step size between keys to about 63.1579 cents. Keymaps are > 12-tone-per-octave-based, so you can't use them. The other available > tuning facility was to state a step size between keys, consistent across > all of the keyboard, but the resolution of the step-size between keys was 2 > cents. Obviously then setting that to 64 would make the octave sharp by > about 16 cents. > > He and one of the techies at Kurzweil concluded initially that the K2500 > had no means of doing that, except by assigning a single (I don't know the > Kurzweil terminology, but the Ensoniq-equivalent term would be > "wavesample") to each individual key and setting its root pitch so that it > works out right. He says that he later heard of something I think he > called a "function" that conceptually should make it possible. > > Obviously though a general, arbitrary pitch table would be a lot easier. > Do you know of an easier way to do that? > Achieving nTET and nCET scales of any degree on K2000/K2500s is explained in detail at my web site: http://freeweb.pdq.net/jloffink/ All that's required is to edit 3-6 parameters per program layer. Editing at the sample roots or keymap level is not necessary. > > > > >The Yamaha TX802 has been out of production for quite > >some time > > Does it by chance allow resonant filters to manipulate FM-generated sounds? > No filters at all, just FM. Yamaha did not implement resonant filters with FM until the SY77 and SY99, which are limited to 2 keyboard scales. John Loffink jloffink@pdq.net