Hello, I have recently been exploring different piano temperaments and just today a thought came into my head.
I would like to quantize but not remap MPE data from my Osmose to a Scala file. This would be so I can for example load a 31EDO scala file and still be able to play my normal 12tet scales while making it possible to bend a note (or in case of the osmose just strike two adjecent keys) to access the other notes.
Does such a thing exist?
Thank you,
Kinga
It’s very doable, but also a bit painful to implement.
The trick is that you need to produce a separate transformation matrix for each of your 12 pitch classes.
Also worth considering, those 12TET pitches might not sit evenly in your 31EDO tuning system. So, maybe you need to quantize AND remap them.
Unfortunately the PTE (pitch table editor) does not work with Osmose in DSP 10.52, but does in 10.09. So you can’t create tuning grids for the sound engine in the 2.1.21 release (well you can actually create and load them but there’s a bug so they will not play correctly). You would have to do that with some external program (what “greaterthanzero” suggests). PTE will work again in the next DSP release (but not sure when EE might release that). So in DSP 10.09 firmware for example you could load up a scala file with the PTE into one of the DSP tuning grids - say a quartertone scale and that would play whatever preset you have the sound engine set to (two octaves would become one octave with every semitone on the keyboard a quartertone from the next) - but Osmose port 1 would still be outputting standard Midi you can interpret as 12 EDO from whatever target it plays. For that matter when this works again you could have the sound engine play one non 12 EDO tuning and have your DAW play another tuning you set up on port 1 playing some plugin, etc. Not sure that is what you are really asking though. Osmose Sound Engine and External Midi port 1 output are independent here.
Also MPE per channel Midi note data itself is always “quantized” - it’s just Midi NoteOn/NoteOff using whatever Midi note codes that map to your current octave settings for whatever key you press. That’s always output on both ports (though port 2 is an octave off of port 1). MPE pitch bend offsets are what create the tunings.
Oh okay interesting. I have the newest firmware and couldn’t get the PTE to work quite right, I guess now I know exactly why.
My goal specifically, would be to make a pitch table that would allow me to play just intonation major and minor 3rds using pressure portamento. So I could either play standard 12tet pitches by playing normally, or use two fingers to play the “in between” notes. There would be 36 tones per octave then, but octaves and standard 12tet pitches would still line up as on the keyboard, and you’d need to bend to get the extra 24 pitches.
I was under the impression that you couldn’t do this, and the pitch table editor would just remap the 12 pitches per octave that there are there already, instead of being able to add more pitches to the octave, but now that I look at it with the benefit of hindsight of course you can just add more - the synth engine was designed for continuum which is a continuous pitch instrument
It is a shame it does not work with the current release though - I am not sure if I want to downgrade I have to think this through. I’ve started writing a simple midi processor that would round PB/notes like this, but it would be amazing to not have to rely on external tools for this
No you can’t do that. Also EE never officially supported this or even tested it as a user feature as far as I know as the PTE is as you know totally Continuum centric (I don’t think it’s mentioned in their manual). Plus the PTE itself is a third party tool. It’s just that it happens to work on the Osmose DSP as a Continuum feature though you can’t set it more than 50 cents off an equal temperament pitch (something that needs to be addressed). Pressure portamento is independent from tuning grids. Whatever tuning you have in place, pressure portamento will apply to as a second order bend effect. You would have to have a great ear to be able to apply pressure portamento to do that - not really feasible. You can’t add more pitches to the octave in the way you are suggesting even with PTE. PTE will let you redefine the octave to be less than or greater than 2x frequency of you want though. What you can do is send a midi code to turn use of tuning grids on and off so you can play just tuning and then quickly return to 12 EDO (you’ll need an external midi control device that can send the right codes).
I am going to document the interface here though in case someone wants to rite their own PTE like tool. Right now its not really exposed for the user in that manner. I would open an EE ticket making sure they test PTE for the next release (I wonder if they will say they will officially support it or not). EE really needs to add their own interface here. Many want that.
Ah yeah okay! Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me!
I’m back to writing my script, I’ll post a link here once it’s finished if anyone ever needs it too