User:Mousemambo/Document draft: Difference between revisions

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Therefore, we can define a scale designer as a software tool for indicating the notes of a scale and their exact pitch frequencies. Given that definition, a tuning editor could be understood as a more general tool for exploring the various mathematical patterns from which tuning systems are developed. However, you will encounter software that uses these terms differently, as well as many other names that point toward these same functions being fulfilled. And software in this category frequently combines at least some of the functions of a scale designer and tuning editor. Just keep in mind that ultimately to play music you will need both to indicate the notes of your scale and the exact frequencies on which they are placed.

'''''Glossary for scale design software'''''

* '''Tuning base'''. The implied note, or explicit MIDI note number, on which the tuning file's scale is anchored. In the part of a tuning file that specifies a scale, it is usually the first, usually lowest pitched, scale note defined in a tuning file. In some tuning file systems, the other notes in the scale may be defined with reference to the tuning base (e.g. by frequency ratio or distance in cents). In the part of a tuning file that specifies a keyboard mapping, the tuning base is the MIDI note to which the scale is anchored. Also called the tuning base note, base note (easily confused with bass note), reference note (which is vague), 1/1 (referring to its intervallic relationship with itself), or (least clearly) the "middle note" which is how it's named in the Scala keyboard mapping file (.kbm) specification. It can be misleading to refer to the tuning base as the tonic, root, or key. The conceptual tool that is a tuning base does not directly appear in Western classical music theory. It's related to the concepts of tonic and key, but the tuning base is just a technical tool that operates in the context of needing to attach a scale to a musical instrument controller. Not every tuning base is also a tonic or key (e.g. in atonal music), and "root" applies to chords not scales.

* '''Reference note'''. The named note, or the MIDI note number, of the reference pitch. Also called the tuning center (e.g. in piano tuning terminology), or in a MIDI context the reference MIDI note. The reference note is sometimes specified with a combined named note, MIDI number, and pitch frequency expression, e.g. A4-440Hz-MIDI.69, meaning 440 Hz exactly for the A above middle C. Notice that 440 Hz exactly is the ISO-16-1975 tuning reference standard pitch for A4 on a piano keyboard.

* '''Reference pitch'''. The exact pitch frequency (typically in Hz) based on which all other notes in the scale or tuning system will be assigned a frequency, according to their intervallic relationship to the reference note. Also called the pitch reference or tuning center. In a reference specifier like C4-261Hz-MIDI.60 the "261" is typically an approximation, implying a more accurate number with 2-4 digits after a decimal point (e.g. 261.6256).

* '''Keyboard mapping'''. A data set that specifies how the notes of the scale are to be mapped to the MIDI notes of a musical instrument controller, beyond just the tuning base and reference note. For example, a seven note per octave scale might be mapped to skip the black keys on a standard piano keyboard layout. Or a scale with more than 12 notes per octave might be mapped in a way that uses only a subset of the scale, or makes the octaves easier to recognize within the black/white key pattern.

* '''Linear keyboard mapping'''. A mapping between scale and keyboard controller keys, such that the notes of the scale are simply applied in a sequential order starting from the tuning base. In the absence of an explicit keyboard mapping, music software will typically assign linear keyboard mapping. Consequently, the pattern of black and white keys on a standard piano keyboard might not align with small and large intervals of the scale.

===Set up an instrument track in the Reaper DAW===

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 Therefore, we can define a scale designer as a software tool for indicating the notes of a scale and their exact pitch frequencies. Given that definition, a tuning editor could be understood as a more general tool for exploring the various mathematical patterns from which tuning systems are developed. However, you will encounter software that uses these terms differently, as well as many other names that point toward these same functions being fulfilled. And software in this category frequently combines at least some of the functions of a scale designer and tuning editor. Just keep in mind that ultimately to play music you will need both to indicate the notes of your scale and the exact frequencies on which they are placed.
+'''''Glossary for scale design software'''''
+* '''Tuning base'''. The implied note, or explicit MIDI note number, on which the tuning file's scale is anchored. In the part of a tuning file that specifies a scale, it is usually the first, usually lowest pitched, scale note defined in a tuning file. In some tuning file systems, the other notes in the scale may be defined with reference to the tuning base (e.g. by frequency ratio or distance in cents). In the part of a tuning file that specifies a keyboard mapping, the tuning base is the MIDI note to which the scale is anchored.  Also called the tuning base note, base note (easily confused with bass note), reference note (which is vague), 1/1 (referring to its intervallic relationship with itself), or (least clearly) the "middle note" which is how it's named in the Scala keyboard mapping file (.kbm) specification. It can be misleading to refer to the tuning base as the tonic, root, or key.  The conceptual tool that is a tuning base does not directly appear in Western classical music theory. It's related to the concepts of tonic and key, but the tuning base is just a technical tool that operates in the context of needing to attach a scale to a musical instrument controller. Not every tuning base is also a tonic or key (e.g. in atonal music), and "root" applies to chords not scales.
+* '''Reference note'''. The named note, or the MIDI note number, of the reference pitch. Also called the tuning center (e.g. in piano tuning terminology), or in a MIDI context the reference MIDI note. The reference note is sometimes specified with a combined named note, MIDI number, and pitch frequency expression, e.g. A4-440Hz-MIDI.69, meaning 440 Hz exactly for the A above middle C. Notice that 440 Hz exactly is the ISO-16-1975 tuning reference standard pitch for A4 on a piano keyboard.
+* '''Reference pitch'''. The exact pitch frequency (typically in Hz) based on which all other notes in the scale or tuning system will be assigned a frequency, according to their intervallic relationship to the reference note. Also called the pitch reference or tuning center. In a reference specifier like C4-261Hz-MIDI.60 the "261" is typically an approximation, implying a more accurate number with 2-4 digits after a decimal point (e.g. 261.6256).
+* '''Keyboard mapping'''. A data set that specifies how the notes of the scale are to be mapped to the MIDI notes of a musical instrument controller, beyond just the tuning base and reference note. For example, a seven note per octave scale might be mapped to skip the black keys on a standard piano keyboard layout. Or a scale with more than 12 notes per octave might be mapped in a way that uses only a subset of the scale, or makes the octaves easier to recognize within the black/white key pattern.
+* '''Linear keyboard mapping'''. A mapping between scale and keyboard controller keys, such that the notes of the scale are simply applied in a sequential order starting from the tuning base. In the absence of an explicit keyboard mapping, music software will typically assign linear keyboard mapping. Consequently, the pattern of black and white keys on a standard piano keyboard might not align with small and large intervals of the scale.
 ===Set up an instrument track in the Reaper DAW===