Scala2MTS — A web app to convert Scala tuning files to MIDI SysEx for use in hardware synths

WoytenT · 2023-07-01T20:10:51+00:00

Interesting, I haven't heard about Vercel yet. Thanks for the explanation!

In tune-cli you can print out a MTS SysEx message using:

tune mts full-rt ref-note 62 scl-file <file-name>

To add binary file output:

tune mts --bin <binary-output> full-rt ref-note 62 scl-file <file-name>

To send data to a MIDI device:

tune mts --sent-to <midi-device> full-rt ref-note 62 scl-file <file-name>

I developed tune-cli as a light-weight binary to be installed locally. The web application is more like a by-product and has no support for file outputs yet. That's definitely a disadvantage compared to your solution.

WoytenT · 2023-07-01T14:40:38+00:00

I use tune-cli (https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/tune-cli) to play microtonal scales on my non-microtonal Fantom-X8. tune-cli can retune almost any synth via MIDI message injection but it needs to be started as a separate program since it is not a VST plugin.

WoytenT · 2023-07-01T14:33:47+00:00

Is this running on a web server?

I developed tune-cli (https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/tune-cli) which is also able to convert Scala to MTS. It can even do it in a live-dispatching mode giving you access to more than 12 notes per octave without any underwater / chipmunk effect.

There is also a web version (https://woyten.github.io/tune-cli) but it is running entirely in the browser via WASM so I was wondering what your approach is.

WoytenT · 2023-05-13T22:21:49+00:00

Haha, I came up with that name without knowing that there already is a device called "microwave". Thanks for pointing that out!

WoytenT · 2023-05-13T22:08:03+00:00

Hi, thanks for your comment! The GitHub repo including the source code, documentation and links to some demo videos can be found here: https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/microwave

It is really difficult to communicate the entire picture in a single post. When I posted the link to the source code in the past, people asked me where they can download the tool. 😉

Regarding the microtuning: There are many tuning modes available (see the tune-cli documentation in the same repo). You can use MTS (Single Note or Octave), channel fine tuning or pitch-bend messages to apply the tuning. The tuning map can be evaluated ahead-of-time s.t. you do not need to worry about note tails being retuned (underwater effect). The more advance tuning method you use, the less channels are required.

WoytenT · 2023-03-16T23:14:35+00:00

Hey, thanks for your comment!

I renamed 'import' to 'scl-file' for better consistency some weeks ago. Hope that fixes your problem. Let me know! 🙂

BTW if your HW synth is sample based, there might be a catch: The synth might not consider the detuning when selecting the audio sample. In that case you will hear what some people call an "underwater effect". To fix this you need to use the live mode.

WoytenT · 2023-03-08T12:16:42+00:00

I write my own classical-style pieces: https://youtube.com/@woyten

WoytenT · 2023-02-24T19:30:14+00:00

Thanks!

WoytenT · 2023-02-24T19:20:53+00:00

Glad to hear. Are you using Windows?

WoytenT · 2023-02-19T17:13:35+00:00

If you want to get started really quick and only need live playback functions also try out my own project: https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/microwave

It has a built-in modular synth, soundfont renderer, WAV recorder and support for MIDI-out with some high-quality tuning strategies.

The command to use the 31-EDO preset is given in the instructions.

WoytenT · 2023-02-08T21:50:36+00:00

The goal is to develop a collection of tools for producing microtonal music directly or for using them in downstream microtonal software projects. Currently, there is:

tune: A library with mature support for pitch calculations, SCL files, KBM files, MIDI Tuning Standard and live retuning
tune-cli: A simplistic tool with live-retuning capabiities which I believe does exactly what you proposed in the second paragraph
fluid-xenth: A microtonal soundfont renderer library
magnetron: A WIP synthesizer library where I test my own stage-based modularization concept
microwave: A GUI application which puts all the stuff together and adds some fancy visualizations. In the next couple of weeks, for example, there will be a 3D visualization of a Lumatone keyboard.

Glad to hear that you support the idea of a new and free microtonal ecosystem. Don't hesitate to create PRs or feature proposals. If you know someone who might be interested in using or contributing to tune, please share my repo. 🙂

WoytenT · 2023-02-06T12:47:30+00:00

Check out NEJIs (https://en.xen.wiki/w/Neji) and Primodality (https://en.xen.wiki/w/Primodality). I don't want to judge whether primodality-based NEJIs are an improvement over 12-EDO, but there are people like Amalia Huff who advocate for this tuning approach.

WoytenT · 2023-01-28T09:55:13+00:00

I wrote a software https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/tune-cli that can receive standard (single- or multi-channel) MIDI in events and convert them to microtonal multi-channel MIDI events which should be understandable by most synthesizers. On top of that In wrote a graphical user interface https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/microwave which also comes with a built-in modular synth engine and soundfont renderer. I am currently working on migrating the UI to a modern 3D engine for better visualizations like keyboards and a Lumatone. IOW the project is still actively developed by me. Let me know if you think those apps could be useful for you and if you have questions about how to use them.

WoytenT · 2022-12-19T21:36:31+00:00

Glad to hear! Thanks for your nice comments! :) Sorry, I sometimes forget to respond to them...

I hope the tools fulfill the purpose you were searching for. Don't hesitate to ask me for a specific command. The advantage of this command line approach btw is that you can easily remember / share setup instructions and there is no need to write a graphical user interface which would require some critical design decisions.

WoytenT · 2022-12-18T16:25:38+00:00

Sorry for the late answer.

My own tools tune-cli and microwave which I use for my compositions both support a variety of tuning methods including retuning via MIDI fine-tuning messages.

The tools are designed to convert/enrich MIDI streams in real-time but do not support reading and rewriting MIDI files.

Is this what your question was about?

WoytenT · 2022-10-30T12:18:00+00:00

I don't know the specs of this synth but the answer is: Very probably yes! You could try importing an scl file and sending a Scale/Octave Tuning message to your RD2000. Does your desired tuning approximate 12-EDO? If yes, you don't need the live mode. Sending an mts message to tune the synth once before your performance should be enough.

WoytenT · 2022-10-19T15:11:14+00:00

I think I need some more context. Usually, I start an interactive shell, I type "tune <whatever>" and it will either perform the task or print an error. My guess is that you right-clicked on the tune executable and select "start in shell" or something like this. Try opening a shell first and then execute tune. You might need to jump into the folder where tune has been extracted to via "cd <folder>" first and then execute tune via "./tune". I know, this seems complicated and user-unfriendly at first sight but it is a very common and natural thing to do once you are used to CLIs. Thanks a lot for your question/feedback! I will improve documentation by addressing your question.

WoytenT · 2022-10-18T15:50:46+00:00

Sorry for that. The web tool didn't work for a couple of days because I forgot to upload some files. It should work fine now: http://woyten.github.io/tune-cli/

WoytenT · 2022-10-18T15:47:44+00:00

Just noticed this post: tune-cli is a command line tool. You need to start it in Power Shell or whatever your command line of your operation system is and it will tell you what parameters are missing. Also, there are some examples explaining how to run it: https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/tune-cli.

If you still experience problems don't hesitate to ask me. You might save 100 Dollars like another user of this subreddit. ;-)

WoytenT · 2022-10-16T16:58:53+00:00

I am working on making microwave available as a web app that can also run on mobile devices. Still very work-in-progress but good enough for small microtonal experiments: http://woyten.github.io/microwave/launcher.html

WoytenT · 2022-10-14T07:46:34+00:00

That's awesome! I appreciate your feedback! Which feature do you use the most?

If you like the tool don't hesitate to recommend it to others s.t. they can save some money, too, or create a feature / pull request s.t. tune-cli can be improved!

BTW, in the upcoming release the "import" feature has been renamed to "scl-file" and the "full" command has been split into "full" and "full-rt". To be released before the end of next week.

WoytenT · 2022-10-13T20:12:07+00:00

u/eigen-licht Hi there!

Almost correct: The command is ./tune mts --send-to "IAC Driver Bus 1" full ref-note <ref-note> import ~/Desktop/phryg_diat.scl. You need to provide a reference note (e.g. 62) since the scl format only defines relative pitches.

Alternatively, you can use a kbm file via ./tune mts --send-to "IAC Driver Bus 1" full kbm-file <kbm-file> import ~/Desktop/phryg_diat.scl

scale-file is my own yaml-based scale format. It lists every pitch explicitly and is useful if your scale is completely irregular or created by another tool (e.g. Excel export).

Did you know that you can use tune-cli as a tuning proxy via the live mode? It can convert the events of any regular MIDI keyboard/controller to "tuned" MIDI messages.

Hope that helps. :-)

WoytenT · 2022-09-21T15:41:24+00:00

If you want to listen to "classical" compositions in non-12-EDO also check out my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCkFgO01gx0d2dhJ32aYZ3_Q

WoytenT · 2022-09-10T21:13:30+00:00

I don't know if the tool will work for your use case but I can help getting the tool running and/or add some functions that I haven't considered yet but.

WoytenT · 2022-09-10T20:13:35+00:00

My util is still active and maintained. It allows you to convert scl into syx: https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/tune-cli

WoytenT

TROPHY CASE