User:Mousemambo/Document 2 draft: Difference between revisions

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'''DRAFT''' ==== Proposed page title: '''<big>Tuning base, tuning center, and tonic</big>''' ==== '''DRAFT'''

''['''Parts of this writing are confused''', I know. Also see "Development notes" below.]''

''['''Parts of this writing are confused''', I know. Also see "Development notes" below. This text is going to be corrected and its parts moved to the [[User:Mousemambo/Scala tuning system|Scala tuning system]] document.]''

In the context of defining a tuning, the terms "tuning base," "tuning center," and "tonic" are at the center of a great deal of confusion. Much of the problem comes from not recognizing when we are making assumptions based on early indoctrination into Western classical music theory, which contemporary music theory has grown past. The other major source of confusion is the common use of wrong terminology that blurs the lines between meanings, which the establishment of specific terminology is supposed to prevent. These both create serious obstacles to clear understanding and communication, which in a world of diverse cultural musics and expanded tunings are worth trying to overcome.

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It is critical to recognize that the Scala scale file does not assign any pitch frequencies. All the Scala scale file does is declare the notes of the scale and their relative frequency relationships, then set one as the tuning base. That intervallic (also spelled intervalic) network can be slid to any location along the frequency spectrum, and any location within the controller field (e.g. keyboard span). The tuning base sets one of the notes as the anchor or handle of that network, which the Scala keyboard mapping file will use for the practical solution of establishing fixed pitch frequencies and fixed controller associations.

[Say something about tuning file naming standards/practices, and the extremely terse abbreviations used for some classes of tunings. This really should go in the "[[User:Mousemambo/Scala tuning system#Scala%20scale%20file|Scala scale file]]" article or that section of a "[[User:Mousemambo/Scala tuning system|Scala tuning system]]" article.]

==What does the Scala mapping file do?==

How does the Scala keyboard mapping file answer our second two questions? How does it fix the tuning's intervallic network to the pitch frequency spectrum and the controller controls? The keyboard mapping file does this with four sections, two for each function. It's worth recognizing here that a "note" in the Scala tuning system always refers to a [[MIDI]] note. MIDI notes have conventional default 12-EDO concert pitch assignments, but retuning takes advantage of their freedom to be assigned to any pitch or sound.

* The four functions of the keyboard mapping file are to define the MIDI range to be used, the tuning base, the tuning center, and the mapping of the tuning's notes to the controller (e.g. keys on a keyboard controller). See [[User:Mousemambo/Document draft#Tuning%20base.2C%20tuning%20center.2C%20and%20tonic|Tuning base, tuning center, and tonic]] in the Appendix for more about setting a tuning's base note, tuning center, and addressing keyboard mapping issues, including the tuning system meanings of the terms ''base note'', ''reference pitch'', ''tuning center'', ''diapason'', and ''tonic''.

* [Note that although it is called the keyboard mapping file, that is only half its function. It is also critical for establishing on what note the tuning base (given in the scale file) is placed and also its pitch frequency (either directly by setting the tuning center to the tuning base, or indirectly by using some other note as the tuning center that then defines relatively the pitch frequency of the other notes).]

* [Note that other keyboard layouts are supported by other keyboard mapping files.]

[The two sections below need work, and some things in them are definitely confused.]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 '''DRAFT''' ==== Proposed page title: '''<big>Tuning base, tuning center, and tonic</big>''' ==== '''DRAFT'''
-''['''Parts of this writing are confused''', I know. Also see "Development notes" below.]''
+''['''Parts of this writing are confused''', I know. Also see "Development notes" below. This text is going to be corrected and its parts moved to the [[User:Mousemambo/Scala tuning system|Scala tuning system]] document.]''
 In the context of defining a tuning, the terms "tuning base," "tuning center," and "tonic" are at the center of a great deal of confusion. Much of the problem comes from not recognizing when we are making assumptions based on early indoctrination into Western classical music theory, which contemporary music theory has grown past. The other major source of confusion is the common use of wrong terminology that blurs the lines between meanings, which the establishment of specific terminology is supposed to prevent. These both create serious obstacles to clear understanding and communication, which in a world of diverse cultural musics and expanded tunings are worth trying to overcome.
@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 It is critical to recognize that the Scala scale file does not assign any pitch frequencies. All the Scala scale file does is declare the notes of the scale and their relative frequency relationships, then set one as the tuning base. That intervallic (also spelled intervalic) network can be slid to any location along the frequency spectrum, and any location within the controller field (e.g. keyboard span). The tuning base sets one of the notes as the anchor or handle of that network, which the Scala keyboard mapping file will use for the practical solution of establishing fixed pitch frequencies and fixed controller associations.
+[Say something about tuning file naming standards/practices, and the extremely terse abbreviations used for some classes of tunings. This really should go in the "[[User:Mousemambo/Scala tuning system#Scala%20scale%20file|Scala scale file]]" article or that section of a "[[User:Mousemambo/Scala tuning system|Scala tuning system]]" article.]
 ==What does the Scala mapping file do?==
 How does the Scala keyboard mapping file answer our second two questions? How does it fix the tuning's intervallic network to the pitch frequency spectrum and the controller controls? The keyboard mapping file does this with four sections, two for each function. It's worth recognizing here that a "note" in the Scala tuning system always refers to a [[MIDI]] note. MIDI notes have conventional default 12-EDO concert pitch assignments, but retuning takes advantage of their freedom to be assigned to any pitch or sound.
+* The four functions of the keyboard mapping file are to define the MIDI range to be used, the tuning base, the tuning center, and the mapping of the tuning's notes to the controller (e.g. keys on a keyboard controller). See [[User:Mousemambo/Document draft#Tuning%20base.2C%20tuning%20center.2C%20and%20tonic|Tuning base, tuning center, and tonic]] in the Appendix for more about setting a tuning's base note, tuning center, and addressing keyboard mapping issues, including the tuning system meanings of the terms ''base note'', ''reference pitch'', ''tuning center'', ''diapason'', and ''tonic''.
+* [Note that although it is called the keyboard mapping file, that is only half its function. It is also critical for establishing on what note the tuning base (given in the scale file) is placed and also its pitch frequency (either directly by setting the tuning center to the tuning base, or indirectly by using some other note as the tuning center that then defines relatively the pitch frequency of the other notes).]
+* [Note that other keyboard layouts are supported by other keyboard mapping files.]
 [The two sections below need work, and some things in them are definitely confused.]