User:Mousemambo/Workbench: Difference between revisions

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==Practical Tuning for Beginners pages==

Below is a list of '''existing pages''' (still expanding by search, as of August 2023) relevant to beginners who want to set their electronic instruments to other than 12-EDO tuning. Synth/sampler manuals frequently don't provide enough background information, instead assuming you already know something about tuning files.

Below is a list of '''existing Xen wiki pages''' (still expanding by search, as of August 2023) relevant to beginners who want to set their electronic instruments to other than 12-EDO tuning. Synth/sampler manuals frequently don't provide enough background information, instead assuming you already know something about tuning files.

It's useful to consider the trajectory of beginners newly arriving at the wiki. The wiki's [[Main Page|front page]] has a section "If you are new to musical tuning" that doesn't get into practical how-to issues, but the page also has a very appropriate and helpful section "Practical xenharmonics" ([[Useful Tools]], [[List of microtonal software plugins]], [[Microtonal instruments]]). "Useful tools" simply redirects to the "[[List of music software]]" page, which seems sensible if inconsistent.

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*[[List of music software|'''List of music software''']]. Good page with ongoing maintenance activity. Linked to from the [[Main Page]] in the "Practical xenharmonics" section, as a "Useful tools" redirect. Also in the Navigation sidebar boath as "Software" under the Practice section, and as "Useful Tools" under the Theory section.

*[[List of microtonal software plugins|'''List of microtonal software plugins''']]. Very important page at this time (August 2023), well maintained with updates. Linked to from the [[Main Page]] in the "[[Main Page#Practical xenharmonics|Practical xenharmonics]]" section. Also from the "[[List of music software#Software plugins .28VST etc..29|Software plugins]]" section of the "[[List of music software]]" page.

*[[Pedagogy]]. Excellent page with a name that unfortunately doesn't scream, "New folks start here!" "Education" would be better because it's [https://www.ef.com/ca/english-resources/english-vocabulary/top-1000-words/ more common], or "Learn" is [https://www.summerboardingcourses.com/blogs/500-most-common-words-in-english/ even more common]. I note that [[User:Fredg999/Sandbox]]#Summary_of_proposed_changes notices the same problem, and implies that "Guides" would be a good choice -- I agree. An important page because there's a link to it in the wiki's default/Navigation sidebar. Understandably focused on tuning theory, not practical issues.

*[[DAWs]]. The section "[[DAWs#Approaches%20to%20Microtonal%20Composition%20in%20a%20DAW|Approaches to Microtonal Composition in a DAW]]" has some good info about practical tuning issues, though without enough detail to actually do it. Needs a link to some more practical how-to page.(s)

*[[Scala]]. Has a brief section on tuning files, which needs "See: Tuning files" added.

*[[Pedagogy]]. Excellent page with a name that unfortunately doesn't scream, "New folks start here!" "Education" would be better because it's [https://www.ef.com/ca/english-resources/english-vocabulary/top-1000-words/ more common], or "Learn" is [https://www.summerboardingcourses.com/blogs/500-most-common-words-in-english/ even more common]. I note that [[User:Fredg999/Sandbox]]#Summary_of_proposed_changes notices the same problem, and implies that "Guides" would be a good choice -- I agree. An important page because there's a link to it in the wiki's default/Navigation sidebar. Understandably focused on tuning theory, not practical issues. Update 2023-08-05: The sidebar link has been renamed Guides.

*[[New Tuning Method]]. Relevant, but mostly outdated page whose last substantial update was June 2016, so no mention of MTS-ESP, MPE or tuner plugins.

*[[Creating Scala scl files for rank two temperaments]]. Beginners won't know what a "rank two temperament" is or what Scala does.

*[[Creating Scala scl files for rank two temperaments]]. Beginners won't know what a "rank two temperament" is (I personally have no idea) or what Scala does (I know what it does but haven't figured out how to use it yet). I don't understand this page at all yet, but I'm sure others do.

*[[Pedagogy questions]]. Old abandoned page.

*[[PedagogyTradeoffs]]. Redirects to the "Pedagogy questions" page section: [[Pedagogy questions|When_is_learning_a_microtonal_system_of_pitches_harder_than_learning_the_12-equal_system.3F_When_is_it_easier.3F]]

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*[[Useful Tools]]. Redirects to the [[List of music software]].

*[[Anamark tuning file format]]. A good page already. Too bad there isn't an equivalent for Scala SCL/KBM file formats!

*[[Scala]]. Has a brief section on tuning files, which needs "See: Tuning files" added.

*[[DAWs]]. The section "[[DAWs#Approaches%20to%20Microtonal%20Composition%20in%20a%20DAW|Approaches to Microtonal Composition in a DAW]]" has some good info about practical tuning issues.

Also, there are some not (yet) totally outdated pages out beyond the Xenharmonic wiki that are worth learning from:

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There is some movement in the music world for moving away from referring to "Indian music" as a broad category, and toward instead referring to South Asian music. This is to distinguish the music primarily or entirely found within the country of India from (admittedly closely related) traditional/classical/artistic, folk, and contemporary music found in the South Asia region but outside India itself. I wouldn't say that movement is strong, but it has a point.

I note that under [[:Category:Traditions]] all the cultural traditions (not just Indian) are named with strange and somewhat dismaying names that omit the word "music" that should follow. E.g. Indian, Arabic and Greek should sensibly be Indian music, Arabic music, and Greek music. The words "Indian," "Arabic," and "Greek" by themselves can mean a people, a culture, or (except for Indian) a language. I believe that these page names and category names should specify "music" or "microtonality" or something else specific.

I note that under [[:Category:Traditions]] all the cultural traditions (not just Indian) are named with strange and somewhat dismaying names that omit the word "music" that should follow. E.g. Indian, Arabic and Greek should sensibly be Indian music, Arabic music, and Greek music. The words "Indian," "Arabic," and "Greek" by themselves can mean a people, a culture, or (except for Indian) a language. I believe that these page names and category names should specify "music" or "microtonality" or something else specific. Wikipedia (which this is not) follows [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:NOUN&redirect=no WP:Noun].

== Toolkit==

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Practical Tuning for Beginners pages==
-Below is a list of '''existing pages''' (still expanding by search, as of August 2023) relevant to beginners who want to set their electronic instruments to other than 12-EDO tuning. Synth/sampler manuals frequently don't provide enough background information, instead assuming you already know something about tuning files.
+Below is a list of '''existing Xen wiki pages''' (still expanding by search, as of August 2023) relevant to beginners who want to set their electronic instruments to other than 12-EDO tuning. Synth/sampler manuals frequently don't provide enough background information, instead assuming you already know something about tuning files.
 It's useful to consider the trajectory of beginners newly arriving at the wiki. The wiki's [[Main Page|front page]] has a section "If you are new to musical tuning" that doesn't get into practical how-to issues, but the page also has a very appropriate and helpful section "Practical xenharmonics" ([[Useful Tools]], [[List of microtonal software plugins]], [[Microtonal instruments]]). "Useful tools" simply redirects to the "[[List of music software]]" page, which seems sensible if inconsistent.
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 *[[List of music software|'''List of music software''']]. Good page with ongoing maintenance activity. Linked to from the [[Main Page]] in the "Practical xenharmonics" section, as a "Useful tools" redirect. Also in the Navigation sidebar boath as "Software" under the Practice section, and as "Useful Tools" under the Theory section.
 *[[List of microtonal software plugins|'''List of microtonal software plugins''']]. Very important page at this time (August 2023), well maintained with updates. Linked to from the [[Main Page]] in the "[[Main Page#Practical xenharmonics|Practical xenharmonics]]" section. Also from the "[[List of music software#Software plugins .28VST etc..29|Software plugins]]" section of the "[[List of music software]]" page.
-*[[Pedagogy]]. Excellent page with a name that unfortunately doesn't scream, "New folks start here!" "Education" would be better because it's [https://www.ef.com/ca/english-resources/english-vocabulary/top-1000-words/ more common], or "Learn" is [https://www.summerboardingcourses.com/blogs/500-most-common-words-in-english/ even more common]. I note that [[User:Fredg999/Sandbox]]#Summary_of_proposed_changes notices the same problem, and implies that "Guides" would be a good choice -- I agree. An important page because there's a link to it in the wiki's default/Navigation sidebar. Understandably focused on tuning theory, not practical issues.
+*[[DAWs]]. The section "[[DAWs#Approaches%20to%20Microtonal%20Composition%20in%20a%20DAW|Approaches to Microtonal Composition in a DAW]]" has some good info about practical tuning issues, though without enough detail to actually do it. Needs a link to some more practical how-to page.(s)
+*[[Scala]]. Has a brief section on tuning files, which needs "See: Tuning files" added.
+*[[Pedagogy]]. Excellent page with a name that unfortunately doesn't scream, "New folks start here!" "Education" would be better because it's [https://www.ef.com/ca/english-resources/english-vocabulary/top-1000-words/ more common], or "Learn" is [https://www.summerboardingcourses.com/blogs/500-most-common-words-in-english/ even more common]. I note that [[User:Fredg999/Sandbox]]#Summary_of_proposed_changes notices the same problem, and implies that "Guides" would be a good choice -- I agree. An important page because there's a link to it in the wiki's default/Navigation sidebar. Understandably focused on tuning theory, not practical issues. Update 2023-08-05: The sidebar link has been renamed Guides.
 *[[New Tuning Method]]. Relevant, but mostly outdated page whose last substantial update was June 2016, so no mention of MTS-ESP, MPE or tuner plugins.
-*[[Creating Scala scl files for rank two temperaments]]. Beginners won't know what a "rank two temperament" is or what Scala does.
+*[[Creating Scala scl files for rank two temperaments]]. Beginners won't know what a "rank two temperament" is (I personally have no idea) or what Scala does (I know what it does but haven't figured out how to use it yet). I don't understand this page at all yet, but I'm sure others do.
 *[[Pedagogy questions]]. Old abandoned page.
 *[[PedagogyTradeoffs]]. Redirects to the "Pedagogy questions" page section: [[Pedagogy questions|When_is_learning_a_microtonal_system_of_pitches_harder_than_learning_the_12-equal_system.3F_When_is_it_easier.3F]]
@@ Line 33: / Line 35: @@
 *[[Useful Tools]]. Redirects to the [[List of music software]].
 *[[Anamark tuning file format]]. A good page already. Too bad there isn't an equivalent for Scala SCL/KBM file formats!
-*[[Scala]]. Has a brief section on tuning files, which needs "See: Tuning files" added.
-*[[DAWs]]. The section "[[DAWs#Approaches%20to%20Microtonal%20Composition%20in%20a%20DAW|Approaches to Microtonal Composition in a DAW]]" has some good info about practical tuning issues.
 Also, there are some not (yet) totally outdated pages out beyond the Xenharmonic wiki that are worth learning from:
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 There is some movement in the music world for moving away from referring to "Indian music" as a broad category, and toward instead referring to South Asian music. This is to distinguish the music primarily or entirely found within the country of India from (admittedly closely related) traditional/classical/artistic, folk, and contemporary music found in the South Asia region but outside India itself. I wouldn't say that movement is strong, but it has a point.
-I note that under [[:Category:Traditions]] all the cultural traditions (not just Indian) are named with strange and somewhat dismaying names that omit the word "music" that should follow. E.g. Indian, Arabic and Greek should sensibly be Indian music, Arabic music, and Greek music. The words "Indian,"  "Arabic," and "Greek" by themselves can mean a people, a culture, or (except for Indian) a language. I believe that these page names and category names should specify "music" or "microtonality" or something else specific.
+I note that under [[:Category:Traditions]] all the cultural traditions (not just Indian) are named with strange and somewhat dismaying names that omit the word "music" that should follow. E.g. Indian, Arabic and Greek should sensibly be Indian music, Arabic music, and Greek music. The words "Indian,"  "Arabic," and "Greek" by themselves can mean a people, a culture, or (except for Indian) a language. I believe that these page names and category names should specify "music" or "microtonality" or something else specific. Wikipedia (which this is not) follows [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:NOUN&redirect=no WP:Noun].
 == Toolkit==