Klarinet Archive - Posting 000251.txt from 2005/04

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: MIDI and microtones (was The Sibelius playback solution)
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 08:00:27 -0400

Mark Charette wrote:

> MIDI has nothing to do with the actual _sounds_ being produced; it is
> a protocol only (note on, note off, channel selection, aftertouch, etc.).

Techy question: how are microtones implemented in MIDI? My impression
(it may be wrong) has been that MIDI defines a discrete set of pitches
which can then be continuously "bent", e.g. with a pitchwheel, up to an
octave either way.

It's an ongoing frustration of mine that truly effective and intuitive
microtonal notation and playback is not well-supported by current
notation programmes. It *ought* to be possible to define "custom"
accidentals as desired, define the pitch change associated with them,
and for everything to work fine.

Actually achieving microtonal notation in Finale is easy, if a little
finnicky, since the simplest way involves replacing the "real"
accidental (i.e. the normal accidental that determines pitch) with an
arbitrarily-chosen symbol. You can then achieve some playback effect by
adding pitchwheel commands that bend the notes by a chosen microtonal
interval. However, to work fully this requires each line of music to
use a different MIDI channel, which means large-scale works are out of
the question.

(If notation only is what is required, there is an alternative
method---"microtonal key signatures"---that is easier for quick entry of
notes.)

The value of programs like Finale and Sibelius is that they achieve not
only high-quality WYSIWYG musical notation but that they can be valuable
compositional tools, enabling one to test out musical ideas and sketch
possibilities in a way that would have been unthinkable not so long
ago. I imagine that for certain procedural compositional techniques it
would be relatively easy to program macros to effectively generate and
process material which the composer can then work with. Microtones are
such a standard (and expressive) part of the composer's toolbox now that
it seems a shame they are not better supported.

-- Joe

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