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"A central" note layout

Carlo Serafini — 2010-03-11T14:43:17+01:00

This is a follow up to my previous blog entries regarding the note layout of the Chameleon when using Carlos Gamma tuning system (see Gamma Chameleon Notation, Adagio Gamma Revisited, Gamma Elegy and Tetrachordal Gamma). I have been developing the idea to have a single note always representing the “prime unity” of my “Gamma” music (a concept borrowed from JI and Harry Partch and usually not associated with EDONOIs, short for “equal division of non octave intervals”!). Because Gamma Chameleon Notation starts with the letter “A” I decided that “prime unity” would have to sound as an “A” pitch (440 Hz, 220 Hz, 110 Hz or any other one). So, if A0 is “prime unity” and sounds like an “A”, A1 will sounds like an “E” (3/2 above “A” ), A2 as “B” (3/2 above “E” ) and so on! Notes without labels remain outside of the midi notes range. If you compare this layout with that of Tetrachordal Gamma, you will see that I had previously considered the bottom note of both leftmost and rightmost columns as the starting point of the layout (the note now called D#-1). While playing with that layout I came to the conclusion that if there is a starting note it should stay in the middle and not on the sides of the keyboard and so this is how my Chameleon looks now. ...and that’s why I called this layout “A central”. More to follow...

MicroVocoder I

Carlo Serafini — 2010-03-01T11:22:13+01:00

This is a follow-up to The Singing Alchemist For this short video I have again used Tim Kleinert's Spectral Vocoder for the Nord G2 backed by drums (Logic Pro Apple Loops library) and steel guitar (Spectrasonics Omnisphere). The tuning system is Carlos Gamma. Read the above mentioned article to see how I retune the G2 in real time (Omnisphere reads .tun tuning files) The vocal track has been enhanced using compression and reverb. The guitar part has been added later. All parts played with my Opal Chameleon. The original audio track of the video has been replaced with the one created with Logic Pro.

The Singing Alchemist

Carlo Serafini — 2010-02-14T10:57:21+01:00

Listen to The Singing Alchemist This is a song born from a couple of recent updates to my setup: Camel Audio Alchemy BigTone sound library and Spectral Vocoder, a Nord G2 patch by Swiss synthesist Tim Kleinert. Other elements of this song are my constant companions: Carlos Gamma tuning system, LMSO, Logic Pro and Opal Chameleon. All parts are played on the Chameleon, midi notes to be sent to the G2 are remapped by “Disarray”, a small utility by X.J.Scott (see Gamma Elegy for more informations about it) and sent to Logic Pro. From Logic Pro they are sent to the LMSO input to be retuned. LMSO then sends them back to Logic Pro thru IAC (Inter Application Communication protocol) and from there to the G2 ...while singing, shouting and/or whispering on the Shure WH20XLR headset microphone connected to its mic input.

MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues?

Carlo Serafini — 2010-01-23T23:23:40+01:00

(click on the image to enlarge it) I own a MacBook Pro 15-inch model (2.4GHz) with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processors manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008. Yesterday the computer screen started looking like the image above. I panicked!!!!! Fortunately the guy at the store where ,2 years ago, I bought it knew about this kind of problem. He told me to check out this link by Apple. My MBP is one of those mentioned on the article. I am writing on this very MBP because I have found out that it still works if connected to the power supply but I will bring it to the service center as soon as possible! UPDATE: fixed problem at no cost!

East Of The Moon

Carlo Serafini — 2010-01-19T20:48:41+01:00

This is a follow-up to Breath of the Chameleon. As you can see, from the flow chart, I use a similar set-up. Ribbon (Doepfer R2M) and breath (Yamaha BC3) controllers make for a great way of playing a monophonic instrument (like the VL70m): the R2M generates note messages and the BC3 controls dynamics. The scale I am using is a Carlos Gamma tetrachord suggested by John H. ...The closest we get to an octave is 1193 cents (instead of 1200). ...I investigated which note layout to use for both Chameleon and ribbon controller to play it. It was clear from the start that using the same layout previously featured on Gamma Elegy and following pieces did not make sense: using only 7 out of 34 notes of Carlos Gamma’s compressed octave made playing it very awkward: Note names on the example above refer to my Gamma Chameleon Notation but besides that, you can see it is impracticable to play it with one hand. So, for both controllers I chose a “diatonic” note layout: ...

Breath of the Chameleon

Carlo Serafini — 2010-01-12T09:08:32+01:00

I have recently experimented playing my old Yamaha VL70m sound module with the Opal Chameleon. Being a “breath controller freak” I also own a Yamaha BC3 headset and a breath controller processor by Midi Solutions. The idea is to use BC3 and Chameleon to expressively play the VL70m retuned to Carlos Gamma. ...The outputs of both my controllers get merged by a midi interface (the BC3 is connected to the the Midi Solutions device that is programmed to send out continuous controller #2 on channel 1 with value range 00-127, this is done sending a sysex message to it). Midi notes are remapped by “Disarray”, a small utility by X.J.Scott (see Gamma Elegy for more informations about it) and sent to Logic Pro. From Logic Pro they are sent to the LMSO input to be retuned. LMSO then sends them back to Logic Pro thru IAC (Inter Application Communication protocol) ... I recorded my “performance” both as video and midi data. Then, with Logic Pro, I turned the midi track into audio and replaced the original audio of the video recorder’s microphones with Logic Pro’s track.

Chameleon and me - a short video

Carlo Serafini — 2009-12-23T21:04:39+01:00

First attempt at filming myself playing the Opal Chameleon in real time. My compositions usually start this way, as frozen (and edited) improvisations. So this could be considered the first step of an unborn piece. Actually I have used the same guitar sound featured on previous tunes like Glorious Guitars and Glorious 60 (thanks to Spectrasonics Omnisphere). The many articulations you hear are all dependent on midi velocity (no aftertouch or pedals are involved). The note layout is the same I introduced with Gamma Elegy.

Glorious 60

Carlo Serafini — 2009-12-17T20:47:12+01:00

Listen to Glorious 60 (my submission to the 2010 60x60 project) When I read Prent Rodger’s announcement of the 2010 60x60 project (on the MakeMicroMusic list) I decided, on the spur of the moment, I wanted to partecipate. In a matter of 2 hours I downloaded the submission form, filled it in, composed a song and uploaded the zipped file! I play my Opal Chameleon with a Spectrasonics Omnisphere’s guitar sound and a percussion loop provided by Logic Pro. The Chameleon’s note layout I use is the same of my most recent songs (Gamma Monk, Chameleons in the sun etc.) I have noticed that having used the same note layout for a month now I start feeling acquainted with some finger movements that give sonic results I can predict but it is still a far cry from knowing exactly what I am doing!

Gamma Monk and The Semitones

Carlo Serafini — 2009-12-10T10:13:24+01:00

One night I had a dream of myself playing B*** M*** by T********* M*** on my Opal Chameleon tuned to Carlos Gamma with an Omnisphere’s guitar sound. ...It’s an easy one for a jazz buff even though my song does not follow neither the structure nor the mood of the original one. Trying to replicate a chromatic melody written in 12tET on the Chameleon, set to Carlos Gamma, is not easy. The note layout I have used is the same of my previous pieces (Gamma Elegy, Glorious Guitars and Chameleons in the sun). The Gamma note closest to a tempered semitone equals 3 Gamma steps (35.09 * 3 = 105.27 cents) and, as you can see on the following picture, it takes a large leap to play such a small interval either going east (red arrow) or west (blue arrow). Moving horizontally (with this layout) you go plus or minus 2 Gamma steps (each step) and moving northwest or southeast plus or minus 9 Gamma steps (again, each step) so, in order to find the note that is 3 steps away, if you move east you go 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 - 9 = 3 ...Using Carlos Gamma with an Halberstadt keyboard it would be the opposite: the following picture shows the first 4 chords of the theme as they appear with standard notation. See if you can play them on a regular keyboard with your right hand while playing the arpeggio with the left! I played that in real time on my Chameleon: LEFT hand playing chords, RIGHT hand playing the arpeggio! That is possible playing a two-dimensional keyboard where pitches go from low to high moving either way: left/right or up/down.

Chameleons in the sun

Carlo Serafini — 2009-12-01T00:01:00+01:00

(animated gif built with permission by theshapeofmusic.com) Listen to Chameleons in the sun One more song using Carlos Gamma tuning system and employing the same note layout for my Opal Chameleon of my previous two songs (Glorious Guitars and Gamma Elegy). Again I use Omnisphere’s guitar sounds. This time there is also a groovy drum beat and some sound effects. I was listening to what I thought was the finished piece (without sound effects) when I opened the home page of www.theshapeofmusic.com and heard my song plus the sound effects of that page and thought it sounded cool so I started looking for samples and found a couple I liked. I mixed them with my previous tracks adding some slow panning. Headphones recommended!

Tetrachordal Gamma

Carlo Serafini — 2009-11-24T21:37:07+01:00

Gamma stands for Carlos Gamma, the tuning system devised by Wendy Carlos dividing a perfect fifth (ratio 3:2) into 20 equal steps. While studying Carlos Gamma on my Opal Chameleon I noticed patterns of perfect fourths and whole tones that reminded me of tetrachords. Gamma has good approximations of both intervals: 491.36 cents (instead of 498.04) for the perfect fourth and 210.58 cents (instead of 203.91) for the whole tone. ...Keys 42, 84, 126 and 168 appear as blue, but they could also be yellow (those numbers are all multiples of both 6 and 7). Imagine to create tetrachords, as with octave based tuning systems and from two of those create a 7 steps scale: Let’s try this one: 0, 6, 9, 14 (a minor tetrachord) then repeat the same a fifth above (20, 26, 29, 34). ...Since going north (using this note layout) we move up a fifth, the 2 tetrachords share the same 4 columns! ...A major tetrachord could be 0, 6, 11, 14 and the second one 20, 26, 31, 34. ...Gamma divides its framework interval into 20 equal steps, a Chameleon has 21 columns so, after 20 columns we are back to the starting point! ...The answer could be that exploring such tuning systems is not easy and I think it is good to start from something we are familiar with, plus, we could create melodic scales that sound familiar and "eerie" at the same time.

Gamma Elegy

Carlo Serafini — 2009-11-13T00:09:07+01:00

This piece is the second one I have composed using my Opal Chameleon (the first one is Chameleon In The Dark). What’s new is that I have used a completely different note layout for it thanks to an application created by X.J.Scott. ...This is an example of the layout for this piece: from C1 to G#2 there are 20 midi steps, from C1 to B1 11 midi steps and from C1 to A1 9 midi steps. ...The tuning system for this piece is again Carlos Gamma that divides a ratio 3:2 into 20 equal steps. So, with this layout, playing C1 and G#2 I get an interval with ratio 3:2 (a perfect fifth, in traditional terms). ...A step in Carlos Gamma is 35.098 cents, so 11 steps equal 386.078 cents (ratio 5:4 is 386.313) so we can say it equals a major third. ...35.098*9 = 315.882 cents (ratio 6:5 is 315.641) is very close to a minor third. So, the chord C1/B1/G#2 is a major triad and the chord C1/A1/G#2 is a minor chord. ...Direction south/north equals a chain of intervals with ratio 3:2, direction southwest/northeast equals a chain of intervals with ratio 5:4 and direction southeast/northwest equals a chain of intervals with ratio 6:5 (notice that going west/east we get steps of 35.098*2=70.196 cents). ...This piece features Spectrasonics Omnisphere and a mysterious singer adding the necessary “dash of imperfection” to an otherwise very

Adagio Gamma Revisited

Carlo Serafini — 2009-10-21T11:25:03+02:00

I chose my “Adagio Gamma” to see how I could apply this notation to create a score for the Chameleon. The piece was originally played on a standard piano keyboard with a mode of Carlos Gamma (12 out of 20 steps in order to nicely accomodate a 3:2 interval into a piano octave). ...The interval C - Ab is actually a narrow fourth (491.4 cents), Ab - C is a wide step (210.6 cents), C - C is a perfecth fifth! The same 8 bars in full Carlos Gamma tuning system look like this: The first note is a C-2 that Logic Pro shows with a double flat (a bug, I guess). ...Once I had the completed score for Carlos Gamma recorded with Logic Pro I proceeded to create a version for the Chameleon using my “Gamma Chameleon Notation” (again, one note at a time. Actually I used the Logic Pro command “ select all following with same pitch” to move all notes of same pitch at once). ...In order to memorize note positions I attached stickers to the Chameleon following a couple of patterns I had devised a few months ago: ...In the meantime someone MUCH more knowledgeable than me sent me a little application called “Remapper” that will probably revolutionize my approach to isomorphic keyboards. ...The audio is 44.1 kHz, 16 bit, mono and the video is recorded at 10 frames per second to keep the file relatively small (17.6 Mb).

Gamma Chameleon Notation

Carlo Serafini — 2009-10-12T11:09:36+02:00

This is my first attempt at solving the notation problem playing with Carlos Gamma tuning system and Opal Chameleon isomorphic keyboard. The idea is to use the usual staff, treble and bass clefs, note symbols and note names assigning them different meanings. ...I propose calling it “diapente”, the Greek name for this interval (I already discarded other names like “quintave” or “pentave” ) but if others have suggestions let me know. ...I propose to use note names A, B, C, D, E, F and G so that a diapente starts and ends with the same note name. Each note name describes three steps using accidentals (flat, natural and sharp) except A (no Ab). So there are 6 (notes) X 3 (accidentals) =18 + 2 (A and A#) = 20 steps. ...I propose to call A the lowest note of a zone and go up from there. The position of notes on the staff is that of usual treble and bass clefs. ...Note transposition will not affect note placement on the staff, so, if necessary, it will be part of auxiliary informations to the score. ...As far as I know there is no sequencer able to assign different midi meaning to enharmonic notes like A# and Bb (and with this system they are 35.1 cents apart).

Chameleons in the dark

Carlo Serafini — 2009-10-07T11:33:42+02:00

This piece is the first one I have composed playing my Opal Chameleon, arrived only one week ago. ...The Chameleon is an awesome midi controller hand built in the UK by Peter Davies (inventor and responsible for hardware design and construction) and Jim Wills (electronics engineer and software writer). ...All the previous ones using it (Adagio Gamma, Moonlight Gamma serenade, Gammalan, Bix in the sky with Gamma, An Irishman in Guangdong) were played on an Halberstadt keyboard and a mode of this tuning system. ...Probably using it with 12tET would be easier than with Carlos Gamma but the only reason to get it, for me, was to use it for xenharmonic music, so, I will have to deal with it! ...Instead of having the 3 zones replicate exactly the same midi note assignment I decided to transpose zone 2 by +20 and zone 3 by +40 midi notes. ... This piece is based on a single pattern with variations and they would not fit into the span of a single zone if it wasn’t for my transposition trick (the range of midi notes used for this piece is around 90). ...This picture helps me visualising the spatial distribution of notes on the keyboard but, of course, does not tell me much about interval relationships. Fortunately for me LMSO has an invaluable feature called Dyadometer (quote from the manual: “A Dyad is an interval of two notes played at once, just as a triad is a chord containing three notes. The Dyadometer shows you the actual pitch in cents or ratios of what you are hearing and it tracks it as you play” ) so, I can always check out intervals while I am playing! ...Once I saved my performance I “orchestrated” it with Spectrasonics Omnisphere using the same tonal palette previously featured on “Underwater Dreaming”.

Quasiton

Carlo Serafini — 2009-09-26T20:37:28+02:00

This song is part of my personal farewell celebration of the Halberstadt keyboard (see also Will I ever bid farewell to Halberstadt? ...I had recorded a free improvisation on my sequencer that was, afterward, edited up to the smallest detail, in order to give it a “recognizable” structure. You can notice (after a few listen) that there are sections that get repeated throughout the piece, small musical sentences that are being played on different registers for “call and response” effects and other compositional devices. ...I had wanted to do a newer version of this song for a long time and now the time has come. On my website you can find another version of this song I had created, a few years ago, with Propellerhead Reason to partecipate to a contest for which it was required to create a song only with Reason sounds (no audio samples were allowed). Fortunately I still have that version because I can not find the original one anymore (I searched backup CDs and old floppy disks to no avail). ...I chose a long sample that was at 310 bpm, imported it into Apple Loops Utility in order to make it “time-stretchable”. The original file by Peter Erskine has been chopped up to fit the requirements of this piece. ... I increased the tempo to 290 bpm to make the digital artifacts of time stretching less evident and also because it gives an impracticable and fictional character to the piece. ...I have always been proud of this song (only my Muse knows how I could come up with a free improvisation like this one!).

An Irishman in Guangdong

Carlo Serafini — 2009-09-23T15:27:09+02:00

Listen to An Irishman in Guangdong This song features the same gamelan sound and tuning system of my previous piece called “Gammalan”. The patch was created with Spectrasonics Omnisphere and Carlos Gamma tuning system. The title alludes to the hybrid character of the song. The melodic line reminds me of traditional Irish music but played on exotically tuned Asian instruments as if an Irish expatriate was trying to recreate the music of his/her native country with instruments at hand in some far away area of the world. Fortunately, our expatriate had, at least, access to some native percussion instruments, a bodhrán! Being neither Irish nor Chinese, you will excuse me if my recreation of traditional folk music does not sound as you expect! That’s how it sounds in my head. Retrospectively, I can say that the melodic material is mostly pentatonic that could easily recreated using the usual Western tuning system but, of course, without the ethnic flavour available here. ...Only to create an assonance between my title and that of a famous song by Sting (or was it Godley & Creme?): “An Englishman in New York”!

Bix in the sky with Gamma

Carlo Serafini — 2009-09-13T00:04:16+02:00

The 2 melodic instruments are both resynthesized versions of wind instruments (originally a trombone and a soprano sax) processed with Camel Audio Alchemy Partials of both sounds have been inharmonically retuned to comply to the requirements of Carlos Gamma tuning system (see “Spectral Mappings for Carlos Gamma” for more explanations) that is featured throughout this song Everything started with me improvising with my ribbon controller and the trombone sound over a drum loop (that I afterward discarted and substituted with the “cool jazz” one once the song took shape). ...Part of the melody came to me while walking Jerry, my Golden Retriever, at night. So, once back home I had to rapidly turn on my MacBook Pro and Halberstadt keyboard to save it for posterity I am using the same mode of Carlos Gamma devised by X.J.Scott I have used sofar for all my Gamma pieces (Gammalan, Adagio Gamma, Moonlight Gamma Serenade) while waiting for my Opal isomorphic keyboard to arrive The song title has something to do with Bix Beiderbecke (I mangled the soprano sax sample enough to become what, to me, sounds like a cornet that immediately reminded me of him). It also has something to do with a Beatles song for inexplicable reasons This “cornet” sound is the first one I have created with additive synthesis that has struck my fantasy as “potentially” functional ...This tune sounds, to me, like the soundtrack of some TV series of the 50’s (incidentally the first episode of the Perry Mason series was aired only few days after I was born)

MetaSynth5 experiments

Carlo Serafini — 2009-08-30T21:45:03+02:00

I recently upgraded to MetaSynth 5. I had already used MS4 for some projects: ...Brain The Size Of The Universe Summer 2006 in 11 Limit ...For these projects I had used MS4 to create some effects but the pieces were always assembled with my main sequencer: Apple’s Logic. You can read reviews about MS5 all over the internet so I will only add it is true MetaSynth is a "paradigm-smashing composition environment" (suffice it to say it does not have anything to do with MIDI). The 2 examples I include here are experiments trying to create complete compositions only with MS5 ( and the tools provided by MetaEssentials) ...In order to add some vividness to this page I am also posting some pictures I painted as audio filters to use with MS5! MS5 is a world apart from anything else on this planet. I love it!

It's all Wendy Carlos' fault...

Carlo Serafini — 2009-08-21T09:32:36+02:00

What's the reason of my fascination with Carlos Gamma tuning system? I have finally traced the reasons of it and they all lead to the discoverer of this tuning system! Actually there is a single document responsible for it: Wendy Carlos' 1986 article "Tuning: At The Crossroads" (the article originally appeared on Computer Music Journal in 1987 but I found it inside the "Beauty in the Beast" Enhanced CD, plus, it gets being mentioned almost every time someone talks about “exotic” tunings). In that article she wrote a few things that really stuck in my mind: She presents Gamma as: "the essentially perfect (!) Gamma (on the classical just curve)", then says that "Gamma really requires a "Multiphonic" Generalized Keyboard, like most >24 divisions" and finally that "Gamma (9 steps to the minor third - 11 steps to the major third - 20 steps to the perfect fifth) is slightly smoother than Alpha and Beta (two other scales devised by her), having no palpable difference from just tuning in harmonies." Isn't that enough for someone in a xenharmonic state of mind? And so here I am, having already composed 3 pieces using a mode of Carlos Gamma on a regular Halberstadt keyboard (Gammalan, Adagio Gamma and Moonlight Gamma Serenade) and about to get a "multiphonic generalized keyboard" for which I have already started devising some specific keyboard layout for it. Looking forward to write the sequel of this article!!!

Spectral Mappings for CARLOS GAMMA

Carlo Serafini — 2009-08-15T19:42:29+02:00

“Spectral mapping is a transformation from a “source” spectrum to a “destination” spectrum...it can be used to create inharmonic instruments that retain much of the tonal quality of familiar (harmonic) instruments”. ...For example, when working with nonoctave scales, harmonic instruments usually sound more “out-of-spectrum” than “out-of-tune” meaning that “partials of the sound interfere when played at certain intervals”. Carlos Gamma tuning system divides an interval/ratio 3/2 (701.955 cents) into 20 equal steps of 35.09777 cents each and does not repeat at the octave. Wendy Carlos calls it “essentially perfect (on the classical just curve)” meaning that it approximates very well many just intervals, except the octave! So, probably, it’s one of the nonoctave tuning systems that works better with harmonic instruments as I have already demonstrated with my previous experiments (Adagio Gamma and Moonlight Gamma Serenade) nonetheless this process can be tried for it too. ...The following one is one of the many possible spectral mappings for Carlos Gamma. The frequency of the 16 partials were chosen in order to minimize the “perceptual change” of the “destination” spectrum compared to an harmonic “source” spectrum (the frequency of the 2nd partial is close to 2 times the frequency of the fundamental, the 3rd to 3 times it et cetera). ...Another method for devising “in-spectrum” partials and increase the consonance of some desirable interval is to start from such interval, for example Carlos Gamma’s repeat ratio 3/2 (1.02048015365^20=1.5) and find functional powers of it to use as “destination” partials of a sound. ...If this article intrigues you but sounds like Greek the best way to shed some light on this matter is to read “Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale” by Wiliam A. Sethares, “Tuning: At The Crossroads” by Wendy Carlos and start experimenting with LMSO and IntervalCalc by X.J.Scott.

RibboMan And The Maniacs

Carlo Serafini — 2009-07-26T11:00:05+02:00

This is another example of using a ribbon controller to play midi notes. This is a song featuring only hardware synths, actually it involves the use of a single synth: a Nord/Clavia G2. It is the first time I use only one synth for a song but, of course, the G2 has many aces up its sleeve! As you can see from the diagram, the G2 is triggered from both its keyboard and a Doepfer R2M ribbon controller. In both cases midi data are first sent to LMSO, for retuning them and then to the sound engine. The featured tuning system is "Septimal Heaven" by X.J.Scott, the same I used in 2007 for another piece called "Septimal Klezmer". The long solo was recorded in a single take, then cut and interspersed between short refrain sections to add variety to an otherwise static “ribbon extravaganza”. The “voco-bass” plus “voco-choir” accompaniment is doubled at times with a G2 brassy patch to add timbral variety. The “wild” ribbon solo has not been edited to preserve what I think is its fresheness. It’s far from being perfectly tuned and/or rhythmically correct but I like it as it is because it sounds “true”, not “doctored”.

If partials are inharmonic

Carlo Serafini — 2009-07-22T22:00:47+02:00

"Each profile definition requires a pair of files with identical base names and different extensions: the profile corresponding to a knob value of 0% has the extension .csv, while the profile corresponding to a knob value of 100% has the extension .csv2." (csv stands for "comma-separated values"). I created 2 files of this kind (boggling.csv/csv2), as you can see from the picture below: The grayish one on the left simply tells Alchemy to use the usual harmonic relationship among partials, the one on the right is an arbitrary one I chose to make sure that it sounded different from the first one. ...The nature of this offset depends on the setting chosen in the Pitch pop-up menu directly below the knob". ...That's what I have done while playing an arpeggio based on the simplest harmonic progression of Western music: I IV V I. ...Look at the knob on the bottom right side: as the Pitch knob moves from 0% toward 100% the familiar progression gets increasingly out of tune and vice versa. ..."William Sethares (2004) wrote that just intonation and the western equal tempered scale derive from the harmonic spectra/timbre of most western instruments. Similarly the specific inharmonic timbre of Thai metallophones would produce the seven-tone near-equal temperament they do indeed employ. The five-note sometimes near-equal tempered slendro scale provides the most consonance in the combination of the inharmonic spectra of Balinese metallophones". As a researcher of alternative tuning systems (to 12tET) I think the road to follow for their advancement is the creation of new classes of instruments capable of playing them in a consonant way.

Soprano RibbonSax

Carlo Serafini — 2009-07-13T23:16:47+02:00

Listen to Soprano RibbonSax Soprano RibbonSax is another experiment using the Doepfer R2M ribbon controller (see other ones here). The soprano sax (Logic’s EXS24) plays an heptatonic subset of 53EDO (steps 0, 5, 17, 22, 31, 36, 44, 53) based on Maqam Hijaz, an Arabic scale. This song shows 2 slightly different settings of the R2M differing only for the amount of pitch bend allowed by it. First, a narrower amount, then a wider one. Each section (with different settings) lasts a minute. The piano drone is played by the Nord Stage 88 Classic Revision C (with its internal effects) and the talking drum samples are simply audio loops. The setting is similar to the one used for R2M and CC#1: midi data generated by R2M are sent from Logic Pro to LMSO, retuned, and sent back to Logic. The soprano sax is heavily and dynamically effected (see included picture).

R2M and CC#1

Carlo Serafini — 2009-07-09T21:22:44+02:00

How to create timbral variety with CC#1 using a R2M as note generator. This tutorial shows my setup playing a microtonal scale with a Doepfer R2M ribbon controller and Logic's EXS24 sampler. The R2M is connected to port 4 of my midi interface As you can see midi data coming from the R2M (using a generic GM Device 1 name) are sent to LMSO input to retune them. Midi data from LMSO are sent to LMSO IAC1 back to Logic and assigned to play a monophonic instance of EXS24 virtual sampler. The problem of using the R2M to generate midi notes is that it can not transmit midi velocity (it always sends midi velocity 127) limiting its usefulness as an alternate controller but I figured out a way to circumvent this problem. The R2M can send 2 simultaneous midi data. If the position sensor is used for midi notes (with or without pitch bend), the pressure sensor can be assigned to a variety of midi signals. I chose to assign the second one to continuous controller #1 (modulation wheel) and to control filter cutoff frequency of the EXS24 instrument with it. So, pressing on the ribbon controller I open up the filter by a maximum amount of 20 per cent (the value you see is negative but it is inverted).

Studio Pictures

Carlo Serafini — 2009-07-06T21:56:20+02:00

Seraph Sound Studios - July 2009 (click on the thumbnails to see bigger pictures) These are a few pictures taken today to show my home studio. You can see it is very compact and ergonomic! The latest addition is the ribbon controller on top of the NS88. The headset microphone on the G2 is the one I use for the vocoder!

Moonlight Gamma Serenade

Carlo Serafini — 2009-07-01T01:39:11+02:00

This is the third piece I compose using the same mode of Carlos Gamma after Adagio Gamma (see it for explanations about this tuning system and the related mode I use) and Gammalan. This piece is written for strings and uses the same Omnisphere timbre I already used for Adagio Gamma. This time I have added a movie of the scrolling score to show what is going on (the score is simply a working version of it not meant to look nice on paper). The audio of the movie is 44.1 kHz, 16bit, mono and the video is recorded at 10 frames per second to keep the file relatively small (32.9 Mb). The score only makes sense if you think that IT DOES NOT SHOW THE ACTUAL PITCHES BEING PLAYED, so, for example if you look at the first bar of the image below (bottom staff, bass clef), the interval between C1 and C2 is actually a perfect fifth and the interval between C2 and Ab2 is almost a perfect fourth (491.4 cents), so the interval between C1 and Ab2 is almost an octave (1193.3 cents) and I consider it as such. Throughout the piece you hear "octave doublings" that all sound "perfectly flat" for this reason. Carlos Gamma is a non-octave tuning system after all! ...The bridge starting at bar 85 is a fifth above the key of the theme. ...The last repetition of the initial theme, starting at bar 149, has been modified to create a final cadence (V - I). This tuning system is capable of so many poignant and evocative melodic/harmonic relationships that it certainly deserves further studies!

Ribbon Flute

Carlo Serafini — 2009-06-27T00:22:26+02:00

Listen to Ribbon Flute Today I have received a Doepfer R2M ribbon controller I ordered a few days ago. This is the first sample I recorded playing with it. Is'a bit crude but I am just posting it to let you know how much I am enjoying it. The ethnic flavor is enhanced by the microtonal tuning I am using!

Today I received 2 CDs...

Carlo Serafini — 2009-06-25T21:44:29+02:00

Today I found these 2 CDs in the mailbox. Both feature my musical contributions: One is Audiomachie / Logomachie by Vincent Bergeron where I “added some textures on #4 and #6 (like a wind of digital data).” The other one is the un.twelve 2009 compilation where I contributed one piece, thanks to Aaron Krister Johnson who proposed my participation. It’s a pleasure and an honor to get associated with these musical projects!

Will I ever bid farewell to Halberstadt?

Carlo Serafini — 2009-06-20T23:20:17+02:00

This blog entry refers to a previous one called “Goodbye Halberstadt” While waiting to start experimenting with alternative musical user interfaces I keep playing an Halberstadt keyboard. Listen to my piano interpretation of Gershwin’s “Someone to watch over me”. I am presenting this piano arrangement neither because I think it shows a novel approach to a famous song nor because I want to show off my skill as piano player but simply because I think it represents quite clearly who I am. This song and the others included on the “Halberstadt” collection show, in musical terms, one side of me. Hope you enjoy!

Tim's Flutes

Carlo Serafini — 2009-06-11T11:59:56+02:00

Listen to Tim's Flutes (in memory of Tim Conrardy) While auditioning Camel Audio Alchemy's sounds I stumbled upon this nice patch by Tim Conrardy. He recently passed away. I had exchanged a few email messages with him on the KVR forum and on Tim's Atari Midi World. He sounded like a nice guy so I decided to dedicate this little piece to him. It features only 3 instances of his low flute, each with slightly different settings. It also features the same tuning system used for my previous piece "Two At Once" (Wishnegradsky's Chromatic Neutral)

Two At Once

Carlo Serafini — 2009-06-01T16:12:49+02:00

Two At Once is simply a recording of myself at the piano improvising freely on a jazzy modal mood. Listening back to it it sounds as a mix of chromatic harmony and diatonic melody around a tonal center. All the other parts have been extracted from the original piano improvisation. The flute sound and the synthetic pad have then been retuned to a different tuning system. That's why the piece is titled "Two at once". The end result is a 12tET tune with a microtonal twist! You are free to guess which one is the other tuning system I use. ...Hint 2: it's a mode of 48tET!! ...Camel Audio Alchemy (2 instances: flute and synthetic pad) ...Logic's Ultrabeat (2 instances: drums and percussions)

Gammalan

Carlo Serafini — 2009-05-01T13:33:46+02:00

Listen to Gammalan Gammalan, as the title implies, is a composition based on Carlos Gamma tuning system (the same I used for Adagio Gamma) using a gamelan inspired virtual orchestra. The sound sources are Spectrasonics Omnisphere and Logic Pro 8 Ultrabeat. An interesting feature of Omnisphere is its stack mode where it is possible to set up velocity activated layers of sounds adding variety to an otherwise static timbre. A very CPU intensive feature but worth it!

Adagio Gamma

Carlo Serafini — 2009-04-19T11:13:48+02:00

This piece is called Adagio Gamma because it is a slow piece using Carlos Gamma tuning system. Actually this piece is based on a dodecatonic mode of Carlos Gamma devised by X.J.Scott. It means that the piece uses 12 of the available 20 equal divisions of a just perfect fifth following the pattern: 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2. This arrangement looks good on a standard piano keyboard because an octave span equals an interval of a just perfect fifth with steps of 35.098 and 70.196 cents. ...I started out with a single melody that gets repeated a few times transposed by 12 midi steps, that in this case means up or down a just perfect fifth! ..."Gamma is also slightly smoother than Alpha or Beta, having no palpable difference from Just tuning in harmonies, which is saying a lot. You really have to go further, up to 53-step E.T., to find another nearly perfect equal division, yet Gamma is noticeably freer of beats than even that venerable tuning. ... You guessed it, it's not symmetrical about the octave, and so was excluded a priori from everybody's search." Gamma is a nonoctave scale: its repeat ratio is a just perfect fifth, not an octave. ...I plan to compose more music using Gamma once I will get the right tool to play it....

Let's get our hands dirty with JND!

Carlo Serafini — 2009-04-03T23:27:52+02:00

This is the third installment (and last, for the time being) of this series of blog entries relative to tuning systems (the previous two were about Pythagorean commas and wolf intervals). JND stands for Just Noticeable Difference, a concept that can be applied to any kind of measurement. ...I am neither a scientist nor a physiologist so, what I can do is only trying to figure out what is the smallest pitch interval detectable by my ears (and your ears if you are reading this) through some simple experiments. I stated, on the first of these three articles, that “ JND (is) set at around 5 cents, and can be perceived only under very special circumstances as a slow "beating" between the 2 frequencies, depending on many different factors such as timbre, loudness, register and duration”. ...Each example starts with a steady bass note, then we hear a second voice starting 100 cents (a tempered semitone) above it and moving down 5 cents at a time until both voices play the same pitch (unison). On the first example both voices are played by the same “harmonium” sound, on the second one the descending line is played by a “metallophone”. Do the different timbres of the second example make any difference on the pitch discrimination of the intervals? ...The perception of pitch variations does not depend only on the factors stated above but also on the context (melodic, harmonic) where these variations appear. Whatever the results of these simple examples it is important to remember that even very small pitch variations, seemingly not relevant and unnoticeable, can make a big difference (as I stated on the first of these three articles). (I recorded the audio of these 2 short movies as uncompressed 16 bit mono files because any compression would deteriorate the quality of the examples)

Spirals and Wolves

Carlo Serafini — 2009-04-01T09:36:30+02:00

Because doing so we have 3 white notes on each side of the chain before encountering black notes (I refer to the black and white notes of a piano keyboard) ...Traditionally the idea has always been to give tuning priority to keys based on white notes so, starting on [D] we make sure that those fifths close to the starting point will be justly tuned and if we have to make some adjustments, those will appear on seldom used ones (on black keys). We have already seen that if we keep stacking justly tuned perfect fifths and we want to fit them inside one octave, after 11 of them, the 12th will not match the starting point (by one Pythagorean comma): a tempered fifth measures 700 cents, a just one 701.955 cents. If we multiply the difference between the 2 fifths times 12 (as the notes of a chromatic scale) we get: 1.955*12=23.46 (the size of a Pythagorean comma). So the 12th fifth (in order to fit within an octave) will have to be: ...This flat fifth is often called a “wolf fifth” (because it reminds of the howling of a wolf). ...We move along the above mentioned chain of justly tuned perfect fifths (and relative inversions, just perfect fourths, 498.045 cents). ...because it is the inversion of the wolf fifth (521.505 + 678.495 = 1200 cents = 1 octave!) ...Same progression but with double notes (simultaneous justly tuned perfect fourths and fifths except for the wolf fifth G#-Eb, that should be called diminished sixth) ...Same progression but lower inversion, with double notes (simultaneous justly tuned perfect fourths and fifths except for the wolf fourth Eb-G#)

The Spiral of Fifths

Carlo Serafini — 2009-03-27T08:28:41+01:00

I am preparing for an upcoming lecture, at NYU in Florence, about the "Evolution of Tuning Systems", so, I am trying to figure out a way to demonstrate some tuning techniques in a comprehensible and "entertaining" manner. I am convinced nothing beats a good tutorial video and this is an example introducing the Pythagorean tuning system and the, so called, spiral of fifths. If the only way to build intervals is stacking perfect fifths, as in the Pythagorean system, this is what happens: ...This "micro" interval is below what is generally considered the threshold of JND (just noticeable difference) set at around 5 cents, and can be perceived only under very special circumstances as a slow "beating" between the 2 frequencies, depending on many different factors such as timbre, loudness, register and duration. Many would conclude that such a small interval is not relevant and unnoticeable but this experiment shows the opposite because small and "insignificant" differences quickly add up to major ones such as the famous "Pythagorean comma". The circle of fifths, that all music students are required to learn (maybe), is "a geometrical representation of relationships" among the 12 notes of equal temperament system, but what happens when we try the same with "just" fifths? Every consecutive fifth introduces a difference of 1.955 cents and after 12 of them we do not get back to our starting point (as in equal temperament) but to a pitch that is 23.46 cents higher than that (this small interval is called Pythagorean comma) and clearly noticeable! This is why we talk about a spiral of fifths, because, given a starting point (usually called root or fundamental note), pitches populate a ever expanding world of notes that get further and further away from its center (a mind boggling problem that has fascinated music theorists, musicians and instrument builders for thousands of years). ...We start on C and move along the spiral of justly tuned perfect fifths until we get to B#, that in equal temperament is enharmonically the same of C but not here. It is easy to hear the difference between B# and C (B# is 23.46 cents sharper than C).

Apple loops, Logic Pro 8 and MOTU 828MK3

Carlo Serafini — 2009-02-13T20:33:07+01:00

how to preview Apple loops with Logic Pro 8 and a MOTU 828 MK3 As far as I know the preview of Apple loops with Logic Pro 8 and a MOTU 828 MK3 is automatically sent to outputs 1 and 2 of this audio interface. The problem is that its main outputs are seen by Logic as outputs 9 and 10 where I have connected my audio monitors. So, how to preview them? I solved the problem this way: I connected outputs 1 and 2 to an audio patch bay and from there I can send the signals to a couple of free inputs of my audio interface. It is a convoluted solution but it works. If someone knows of a better solution let me know (see forum). UPDATE: I sold it and got an Apogee Ensemble whose integration with Apple computers is much better!

Underwater Dreaming

Carlo Serafini — 2009-02-01T19:11:19+01:00

Listen to Underwater Dreaming Underwater Dreaming started out as an experiment while browsing the new sounds of Spectrasonics Omnisphere 1.0.3 update. I created an 8 patches "multi" following the idea that the title for the upcoming song would be "Wrongdoings in the Dark" (don't ask me why). So I chose some mysterious sound/noise but I ended up with something completely different from what I had originally thought, so the title of the piece changed to "Watery Dreams" and then to the final one. Omnisphere is the only sound source for this piece. It is basically an improvisation in C minor (or sea minor, if you will). I recorded it in sections, switching from one channel to the other, making sure not to use more than 4 sounds simultaneously to avoid choking the CPU. I am amazed my MacBook Pro could handle everything in real time. There is only one instance of the "multi" with recordings divided by midi channel. After assembling the recordings I adjusted their levels and a few notes but basically what you hear is what I did at first.

Neutral Steel

Carlo Serafini — 2009-01-25T17:42:37+01:00

Listen to Neutral Steel Neutral Steel is a song for lap steel guitar and drums. It reminds me of the style of Ry Cooder or Bill Frisell but with a twist: the tuning of the guitar is based on the Wyshnegradsky's scale with neutral thirds (a neutral third is an interval that is half way between a tempered minor third, 300 cents, and tempered major third, 400 cents). Joel Mandelbaum talks extensively about him on his "Multiple Division of the Octave and the Tonal resources of 19-tone Temperament" (page 148 and following ones). I had already used this scale for the "Wyshnegradsky's neutral vocoder" song. Wyshnegradsky's heptatonic scale is based on 24 EDO (the equal division of the octave into 24 steps with steps of 100 and 150 cents). My version is a dodecatonic mode of 48EDO (with steps of 75, 100 and 150 cents). It uses steps number 0, 4, 8, 11, 14, 20, 24, 28, 31, 34, 38, 42 and 48 of the 48 available units (25 cents each).

88 Jingle Bells

Carlo Serafini — 2008-12-20T21:52:19+01:00

Listen to 88 Jingle Bells I have arranged this version of Jingle Bells in 88cET just in time for the Holidays! It uses the same choir sound and tuning of my previous piece '88 Bulgarians' I have also attached the score as a .pdf file. Remember that it makes sense only if you consider that this piece is written in 88cET (equal division of the perfect fifth into 8 equal parts). Happy Xenharmonic Season's Greetings!

Carlos Glass 1

Carlo Serafini — 2008-12-11T10:41:53+01:00

It means live modulation changes during performance transposing the anchor to the pitch and key of a note in the original scale. The scale used for this piece is the so called Carlos Harmonic (1/1, 17/16, 9/8, 19/16, 5/4, 21/16, 11/8, 3/2, 13/8, 27/16, 7/4, 15/8). The scale is some sort of Just Intonation scale so it is not symmetrical and that means that once you start shifting anchor note you get all kinds of unusual intervals. ...Watch the above movie: from bar 2 to bar 14 and from bar 22 to the end, I play the same C major arpeggio but what we hear is something else depending on the selected anchor note that is visible on the lowest staff (the bass notes, played by the left hand, are there simply to accentuate the 'whirling' effect). If I were an organ player maybe I could manage to play everything in real time, using a pedalboard to modulate, but I am not. ... Watch the above movie looking at the scrolling score and LMSO IAC1 box, you will see that (having Dynamic modulation enabled, see below) once a note is played on the selected range, that one is used to modulate the anchor note. Notes are sent to and played by 4 monophonic instances of EXS24 (Logic Pro's sampler). ...I use 'alias' objects to keep the original ones on the 'mixer' page (see below). ...Watch the above movie and see pan position modulated by midi velocity! (this short movie is mono, to hear dynamic panning listen to the .mp3 file)

88 Bulgarians

Carlo Serafini — 2008-12-04T11:20:19+01:00

Listen to 88 Bulgarians While fooling around with Spectrasonics Omnisphere I stumbled on this choir sound that I tweaked a bit. It reminded me of those famous recordings of the 'Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir'. Anyway, I don't really know why I decided to try out 88cET tuning (equal division of the perfect fifth into 8 equal parts) with this sound but all of a sudden I was catapulted on some imaginary Eastern Europe country surrounded by a female choir, a fascinating prospect! So I started composing for it and this is the result. Hope you enjoy! The included scrolling score makes sense only if you consider that it is played by a retuned softsynth. As you can see I did not quantize anything nor I bothered cleaning up the score. I kept the quality of the movie quite low to make a smaller file. Listen to the audio file for better quality.

Goodbye Halberstadt

Carlo Serafini — 2008-11-01T22:32:00+01:00

The reason to present this collection of tunes is to show my skill as piano player and arranger in the environment of 12 tone equal tempered (12tET) tuning system using an "Halberstadt keyboard". ...Sometimes using a bit of quantization (always trying to preserve a human feeling), sometimes playing with a click but without quantization, sometimes playing "rubato", sometimes adding a few notes I had missed or deleting some wrong ones, speeding up or slowing down the tempo and, in general, using all the techniques available to a seasoned MIDI engineer. ...Of course, on this web site it is possible to catch many other facets of my musical personality but I consider this one a very intimate one. ...My performance is far from memorable but excellent for a "nonprofessional" piano player like myself (if someone asks me which instrument I play I reluctantly reply: "the piano" and then add: "...keyboards, computers et cetera"). Nonetheless, being a "Halberstadt keyboard player" is a big part of my own identity, of my self-image (I think I have invested more time in playing/practicing the piano than in any other single activity in my entire life). ...He wasn't classically trained but was a good teacher and I learned a lot (after a few years he asked me to teach him some of those tricky jazz voicings I had learned by myself!). ...I started questioning the use of the Halberstadt music interface many years later, when I began studying tuning systems other than the ubiquitous 12tET. A soon as I started experimenting with less or more than 12 notes per "repeat ratio" (being it an octave or any other interval), the usual layout of 7 white and 5 black keys started looking more as an inconvenience than a help. I am writing all this because I am about to jump to a new musical dimension and before leaving the beaten path I wanted to stop a moment to take a snapshot of my musical being before this technological "leap of faith". I am not saying that this coming endeavor will force me to quit playing the piano but I am trying to detach myself from this image of "piano player" that I created a long time ago, a reassuring but exhausting and incomplete image of myself.

X.J.Scott and CC #90

Carlo Serafini — 2008-09-29T14:28:14+02:00

"The Tuning Latch controller can be set to sustain or other pedal controllers. Tuning latch enables you to tune notes in real time using your ear. This is the same idea as being able to move the frets on an instrument during play, which is a technique used in many ethnic musics. ...When you press and release the pedal chosen (the release point is the point where things happen), the current tuning of all sounding notes that have been changed with pitch bend is latched as the current pitch which is used in the tuning." (from LMSO's user's manual). I was trying it out with my main controller, a Clavia Nord Stage 88. This keyboard has 2 pedal inputs hardwired to continuous controller #64 (sustain) and #90 (usually undefined but assigned to "rotor speed" by the manufacturer). I was wondering if I could use CC #90 for LMSO's Tuning Latch Controller function but it was not supported by LMSO. CC #64 to #69 are the official MIDI pedal controllers and those are the available options supported by LMSO. ...He added CC #90 among the available pedals, on the following update. ...This is the kind of support usually customers can only dream of!

MoonSuite

Carlo Serafini — 2008-10-01T14:53:25+02:00

"Moonsuite" is an experiment using an "empirical" tuning I made up while studying LMSO's new tuning latch function. “Tuning latch enables you to tune notes in real time using your ear. This is the same idea as being able to move the frets on an instrument during play, which is a technique used in many ethnic musics.” (from LMSO's user's manual). I created it going through a circle of fifths by ear without caring much about being close to a 3/2 ratio (the fact that LMSO "octave-reduces" intervals is way cool) . I ended up with 12 pitches within an octave that do not follow any possible theory. ...0., 71.825, 169.67, 293.563, 422.097, 530.203, 572.019, 689.753, 763.106, 857.565, 1021.418, 1096.835 ...71.825, 97.845, 123.893, 128.534, 108.106, 41.816, 117.734, 73.353, 94.459, 163.853, 75.417, 103.165 I think all these irregularities give a more natural and organic sound to electronic instruments. ...All of them have a similar structure: a lead sound, a pad sound and some background noise. ...The 3 pieces have then been chained together crossfading from one to the other.

7EDO Dance

Carlo Serafini — 2008-09-01T15:40:13+02:00

Listen to 7EDO Dance 7EDO Dance is a simple study of "7 steps Equal Division of the Octave" tuning system (each step is 171.429 cents ). After spending some time with 7EDO it started sounding so "normal" that I had to go back to 12tET to make sure it was really different! For the difference between EDO and tET see here. I tried simulating a chord progression "IV V I" and I think it works even if those steps are 514 and 686 cents from the root note (the interval from 1/1 of the just fourth, 4/3, is 498c and of the just fifth, 3/2, is 702c), so they are symmetrically 16 cents away from the just interval (+16c, -16c). Another interesting feature of 7EDO is that an octave (1200c) fits in a fifth (7 keys) of a regular keyboard so octaves are a fifth apart. It may sounds silly but that's how it is. The sound source is Propellerhead Reason using an NN-XT program retuned with LMSO. The sequencing environment is provided by Apple's Logic Pro.

Qablitum

Carlo Serafini — 2008-08-01T19:16:44+02:00

Qablitum is a piece inspired by listening to this lecture of February 1971 by Lou Harrison: The Tuning of the Babylonian Harp, see also this thread at nonoctave.com I chose a scale called "Qablitum" (filed under Ancient Mesopotamian Scales, from LMSO scale library) an heptatonic scale, repeating at the octave, whose interval ratios from the fundamental note are: 1/1,256/243,32/27,4/3,1024/729,128/81,16/9 (a mode of the more common scale: 1/1,9/8,81/64,4/3,3/2,27/16,16/9). Each large step is 9/8 and each small one is 256/243, a pythagorean scale more than 1000 years older than Pythagoras himself!!!. He simply brought the Babylonian knowledge to the Greek world. I set up an 8 note polyphonic instrument (using an harp sound) with Reason and started improvising, recording everything with Logic Pro (thru ReWire). I extracted a melody, from what I had previously played, assigning it to an ethnic violin sound (from MOTU Ethno library). I edited and doubled, it with a Clavia G2 pad sound. ...The picture of the Sumerian tablet, on the top of this page, comes from Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin's "The Discovery of Mesopotamian Music". Lou Harrison mentions her studies as the source of his talk.

Carlo for President

Carlo Serafini — 2008-07-05T16:10:53+02:00

Seriously, I am running for President of the U.S.A. You don't believe me? Watch the movie clicking on the image!

Alphadesert

Carlo Serafini — 2008-07-01T22:21:35+02:00

Alphadesert is again a piece featuring Carlos Alpha, a non-octave scale based on the division of a perfect fifth into 9 equal parts (each step 77.995 cents). As Wendy Carlos says: "If you try to play through a one octave scale of Alpha, you'd find there are 4 steps to the minor third, 5 steps to the major third, and 9 steps to the perfect (no kidding) fifth, but, or course, no octave" ...1) dividing a minor third (315.641 cents) into 4 equal steps each one measures 78.911 cents 2) dividing a major third (386.313 cents) into 5 equal steps each one measures 77.263 cents 3) dividing a perfect fifth (701.955 cents) into 9 equal steps each one measures 77.995 cents. The version I use (3/2 divided by 9) has remarkably good minor thirds (311.98 cents) and major thirds (389.975 cents) but a pseudo-octave of only 1169.925 cents (very far from an octave of 1200 cents). To sum it up I can report what my wife said after listening to it: "it's more listenable than many other pieces you have composed lately. ...X.J.Scott provides one of the infinite number of timbres that could be devised starting from a given tuning. The idea is to load the spectrally matched waveform (saved as an AIFF tuned to A440) into a sampler, adjust the root to A if necessary, and then set up filters and envelopes to make an analog style sound with the waveform. ..."I'll caution that this whole matching timbres and tunings thing is a fairly subtle thing like the difference between 12 and meantone, something most people wouldn't notice.

Alphapanther

Carlo Serafini — 2008-06-01T22:44:21+02:00

Listen to Alphapanther Alphapanther is an electronic rendition of the famous "Pink Panther Theme" by Henry Mancini. It uses a non-octave scale based on the division of a perfect fifth into 9 equal parts (each step 77.995 cents). This scale is usually attributed to Wendy Carlos and named Carlos Alpha. One day I was experimenting with this scale when I played fifths chromatically and it reminded me of the beginning of the Pink Panther Theme. Years ago I had done an arrangement of this theme using Reason, so I thought to recreate it using Carlos Alpha instead of the usual equal temperament. The first time the theme is played using Carlos Alpha only, the second time with Carlos Alpha and 12tET simultaneously (each on one side of the stereo field).

Hijaz the Charmer

Carlo Serafini — 2008-05-01T14:05:06+02:00

Listen to Hijaz the Charmer The picture above shows the 12 steps of the scale (starting on D) used for my piece Hijaz the Charmer. This scale is a mode of 53 EDO using steps 0, 3, 5, 17, 20, 22, 26, 31, 34, 36, 44, 48, 53. It is based on the traditional Arabic mode called Maqam Hijaz. This picture shows Reason set up for microtonal music. The song was played in real time and recorded with Logic Pro 8. Its output sent to LMSO input, retuned and sent to Reason thru LMSO IAC1. Reason is receiving on channels 1 to 8 and each channel assigned to a monophonic instance of NN-XT. The percussion track goes straight from Logic to Reason because it does not need to be retuned. ...This video is also featured on the Propellerhead YouTube channel on the Playlist: Made with Reason.

Switching from iWeb to RapidWeaver

Carlo Serafini — 2008-04-11T22:16:48+02:00

I have been using iWeb for a couple of years to maintain my site and a few others. I had had a web site for a long time maintained by a friend of mine. Maybe someone remembers it (Flash animation etc.) but I was not able to change anything without his help, so, in the summer of 2006, in the process of changing web hosting provider I decided to start from scratch and do everything myself. Thanks to iWeb I succeeded in putting together a web site. A simple but functional one. When, recently, I started thinking about adding a blog to my web site I discovered that a few important functions were not available without publishing to mac.com. It makes sense, in a way, because iWeb and mac.com are both Apple products but it turned me off and decided to rebuild the site once more. I have cut and pasted a lot of contents from one to the other but still, it took me a good amount of time to transfer all the things I decided to keep from the old one. The site you are looking at is a simple one because I do not have the necessary skills to customize RW's themes and because I prefer to spend my time playing and composing music rather than programming, but, nevertheless, it looks "professional" to me. So I am an happy customer and hope you enjoy this site too!

Bohlen-Pierce minus 1

Carlo Serafini — 2008-04-01T11:42:25+02:00

This post refers to my song “Bohl-en Roll”, a piece based on a dodecatonic scale which repeats every 1901.955 cents (3/1 ratio). In order to fit a BP scale into an octave of a standard keyboard I chose to eliminate one of the usual 13 steps of it and I based this decision on the Bohlen-Pierce Scale Research Paper by Elaine Walker (the pattern of my scale is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13). This arrangement makes it possible to play all but one of the “diatonic” modes presented on the above mentioned paper. The missing step is ratio 75/49 (736.93 cents) used only on the “Delta” mode. On my ET version the missing step is 731.521 cents. The top picture shows my pitch assignment arrangement for the octave C3 - C4. An octave span on a regular keyboard equals an octave plus a fifth (a twelfth) pitch-wise. The regular BP pitch assignment, on a standard keyboard, would be the one showed on the bottom picture. A twelfth would span 13 keys from C3 to C#4 making everything, in my opinion, much more difficult. My reasoning is that in 12tET tonal music very seldom all twelve available pitches are used, so that should “equally” apply to BP music.

Retuning Logic Videos

Carlo Serafini — 2008-03-31T10:25:21+02:00

(click on the images to see the movies) The top video shows the environment page of Logic Pro 8 configured for retuning incoming midi data thru LMSO. The data enters Logic’s midi input from port 5 of my midi interface (connected to my master keyboard), it is sent to LMSO input where it is retuned then sent back to Logic from LMSO IAC 1. The retuned data go to the channel splitter that sends data, on midi channels 1 and 2, connected to 2 monophonic instances of EXS24. The second video shows the same thing (I played twice, live, the same music fragment and with my left hand because I broke my right elbow!), but this time with LMSO in the foreground to see what is going on. So you can see the scale being used for this experiment, the same of Bohl-en Roll!

A Snow Airport and a Leopard

Carlo Serafini — 2008-03-30T10:06:55+02:00

I have had this Airport base for a few years and, since upgrading to Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard), the included Airport Utility has never recognize my base. I had tried whatever I could think of to no avail. At last I have tried googling stuff like "airport base Leopard" and finally have found the solution on this Apple forum. This brilliant guy came up with this smart suggestion for installing the old version of Airport Utility called Airport Admin Utility that recognizes my base so that I can administer it from my MacBookPro. As someone else says on that thread: "It's times like these I really love the internet. Thank you, Larry! ... ...on the other hand a snow leopard is a completely different story. UPDATE: I sold it and got an Aiport Extreme.

The positive side of bad things

Carlo Serafini — 2008-03-27T23:03:53+01:00

My accident of few days ago, when I broke my right elbow, reminded me of the teachings of Roberto Assagioli that I have studied for years. See this video: http://www.psychosynthesisresources.com/assagioli_video.html btw, the city showed on the movie is my hometown: Florence, Italy. Not being able to use my right arm (being right-handed) is not necessarily a bad thing, if temporarily. First it makes it easy to appreciate how nice is to have two fully functional arms and, second, forces me to think how things work normally and how I can overcome simple problems like washing my teeth, typing on a computer keyboard etc. more links: Roberto Assagioli Psychosynthesis

The day I broke my elbow

Carlo Serafini — 2008-03-12T22:48:05+01:00

Today I have fallen down some stairs hitting each of the 9 steps with my right elbow and have broken it (coronoid fracture of the ulna). I'll have to keep this plaster cast for 3 weeks (I'm typing with my left hand). It doesn’t hurt but it can be very itchy as you can see here: