User:Mousemambo/Workbench

Mousemambo's workbench for ideas and projects. Questions? Please use his Talk page or contact him through XenHarmonic Alliance's Discord server #wiki channel.

Project ideas

• User:Mousemambo/Tuning file. Add this new page. What are tuning files, what do they do, what are some formats? This will expand on the brief descriptions elsewhere, and link to the Anamark v2 page appropriately. Alternatively, create a User:Mousemambo/Tuning methods page with Tuning Files as one section, within which there might be some complete descriptions and others could have brief ones but links to a separate page with a more complete description. This might be a more future-proof approach. I need to think a little more before beginning. See below "Outline for a Tuning Methods Page" section for a sketch of what this might look like. I will note that there are excellent existing resources, like the Making Microtonal Music is Easier Than You’d Think page archived here from its original source. The problem with these is that they go out of date easily. Therefore, I am proposing a wiki solution that will be available for community maintenance including significant updates as appropriate.
• Add "See: Tuning file" (or See: Tuning methods) as appropriate in the articles that currently reference them.
• User:Mousemambo/Indian music. Replace the existing article "Indian" which, by the way, has a strange and dismaying page title (see below). Provide some history and current usage of tuning selections in the various branches of Indian music, and links to outside information.
• Add some "how to" information for people just beginning their journey, either as additions to existing pages or by creating new ones as appropriate. E.g. How to use tuning files, how to select which ones, how to get your electronic or software instrument to use one. These types of pages live in Category:Guides.
• Category: Tuning mechanisms. Probably not that category name, but something that would encompass all articles about how electronic instruments are made to adhere to alternative (non-12-EDO) tunings. "Practical tuning" or "Tuning practices" or Tuning methods" or "Tuning technique" (currently in use but deprecated with redirect) or "Tuning practice" perhaps? I note that the current Category:Tuning is about the theoretical side and not at all the practical side. However, it might instead be best to stick everything in there, practical and theoretical, although that's not the direction I currently lean toward.

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.

It's useful to consider the trajectory of beginners newly arriving at the wiki. The wiki's 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.

Related to that visitor's initial likely trajectory, note that the wiki's main sidebar also includes a section "Practice" with links underneath to some essential starting points for people seeking practical tuning guidance, especially "Software" and (of less relevance to this work) "Pedagogy." Also in that sidebar, "Useful Tools" (redirects to List of music software) is listed under "Theory" which is odd unless you know how useful the "practice" tools are for better understanding theory.

• Categories with practical tuning articles:
  • Category:Tuning
  • Category:Guides
  • Category:Software
  • Category:Practice
  • Category:Pedagogy (This is an odd word choice, and I believe that "Education" or "Learn" might be better. I note that Fredg999 is considering "Guides" instead, which I am liking more.)
  • Category:Tuning technique (a soft redirect to Category:Regular temperament tuning, otherwise could be an attractive category for all tuning file and closely related pages)
• 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. Very important page at this time (August 2023), well maintained with updates. Linked to from the Main Page in the "Practical xenharmonics" section. Also from the "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 more common, or "Learn" is 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.
• 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.
• Pedagogy questions. Old abandoned page.
• PedagogyTradeoffs. Redirects to the "Pedagogy questions" page section: When_is_learning_a_microtonal_system_of_pitches_harder_than_learning_the_12-equal_system.3F_When_is_it_easier.3F
• MicroPedagogyCollective. Old abandoned page.
• 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 "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:

• Making Microtonal Music is Easier Than You’d Think... also archived here as Making Microtonal Music is Easier Than You’d Think
• ... more to be added

Outline for a Tuning Methods page

Last updated 2023-Aug-03.

Note that although much of the info will be in the Tuning Methods page itself, some other info might best be split out into its own page (e.g. there is already an Anamark tuning file format page). Also, any how-to Category:Guides pages would be separate, and links could be provided to existing outside how-to instructions that have text or video format (urgh...link maintenance sucks).

This writing needs to use descriptions that apply to both hardware (integrated synth & component systems) and software (standalone and plugin) instruments. Because this would probably grow unwieldy if the writing went into to much depth about *how* the provided information applies to each those types of instruments, it would be wiser to split out into separate pages any how-to details or implementation-specific info, beyond very general ones (e.g. that there is a drop-down menu selector or the ability to load an outside file). Those additional pages might be instrument-specific (e.g. how to implement the various tuning methods in the Kontakt sampler system) or method-specific (how to use SCL/KBM files in several popular electronic or virtual instruments. I defer deciding which of those two is preferable.

I'm inventing a distinction between "Tuning plugins" (operate within a plugin chain) and "Retuners" (are standalone apps) even though tuning plugins have been understood as a subset of retuners. People are calling them "tuning plugins" and not using the term retuners so this makes sense to me.

The description of each component that has an alternative, e.g. tuning files vs. direct tuning, Kontakt scripts vs. Scala tuning, needs to state the advantages and disadvantages of that component compared to the common alternatives.

• Intro
  • Why? We need to tell hardware (electronic) and software (virtual) musical instruments what tuning system to use when they receive controller input or MIDI data.
  • What? Either the instrument itself, or an intermediary component dedicated to tuning, needs to be provided either with direct tuning data entry or a data loaded from a tuning file. You may need to specify what tuning mechanism(s) the instrument supports or should use, and sometimes also additional information about how to use that tuning data.
  • How? Components of a tuning system. At the time of this writing, there are three general components of tuning systems that you'll encounter: direct tuning information, tuning files, and tuning plugins or retuners. These are in addition, of course, to a controller (e.g. keyboard) and a musical instrument, which may be integrated in a hardware synth for example.
  • Addressing the complexity. There are many different types of hardware and software musical instruments, each of which will have a specific method or set of methods for tuning that it supports. This page will summarize what methods are being or have been used, and the advantages and disadvantages of alternatives. But you'll need to consult the manual for the specific instrument you are using to learn what tuning method (or methods) it actually supports, and you may need to choose components able to implement that method. This writing is intended to ensure that when you read that manual, you understand what it's saying and can make informed decisions.
• Direct tuning information. Some musical instruments have a built-in system for tuning information, via dropdown menu selection or custom tuning settings. Note: I don't like the expression "direct tuning" but can't think of something better right now.
  • Kontakt "microtuning" built-in script. Because Kontakt is so important, this needs to be stated explicitly, and a how-to link provided.
  • Other instruments (e.g. <list of example instruments>)
• Tuning files
  • Intro
    • What are tuning files? They provide, in an outside file that needs to be loaded, the information necessary to tell a musical instrument (or software that in turn tells an instrument) how to implement a specific tuning system.
    • What are the important features of tuning files? They may establish intervals, frequency assignment, controller data mapping, and more.
  • Anamark (.TUN) tuning files
  • Kontakt scripts
  • Scala (.SCL/.KBM) tuning
    • Scala tuning files (.SCL)
    • Scala keyboard mapping files (.KBM)
• Retuners or tuning plugins
  • Intro
    • What are retuners and tuning plugins? They take a tuning file as input (or direct tuning info), and appropriately modify the data going to an instrument. They interpret a tuning file to map controller data into the format the instrument can use. There are both software and hardware implementations, depending on specific musical system (e.g. all software, modular synth system, etc.).
    • What are the important features of retuners and tuning plugins? They modify incoming data as it happens, so they need to be fast. Also, they may implement this function either by altering the note-on data of a MIDI stream, or by providing dynamic (continuous control) tuning info while a note is playing (or both??).
  • Tuning plugins (e.g. VST/AU inserted into a DAW or VST-host plugin chain ahead of a software or hardware-interface instrument)
    • MTS-ESP tuning
    • MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) tuning
    • Pitch bend-based tuning
  • Software retuners. Software running standalone (independent from a DAW or plugin host), operating between a controller and a software or hardware instrument.
    • alt-tuner
  • Hardware retuners. Hardware modules for integrated hardware synths and for CV-controlled modular synths, independent of an all-purpose computer (PC, tablet, phone).
• Other tuning methods
  • MIDI Tuning Specification (MTS)
  • Other SysEx-based tuning methods (?)
• Deprecated and obsolete tuning methods
  • RPN tuning

Indian music

Existing pages addressing microtonality in various branches of Indian music (e.g. Hindustani classical, Carnatic classical, Sikh, etc.):

• Indian
• Category:Indian
• ... to be further developed

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. These page names and category names should specify "music" or "microtonality" or something else specific. Otherwise they feel very much like they are exoticizing and generalizing traditional cultural musics, much like how 20th century academic Western music theory tends to treat all music outside those by dead Germans as somehow lesser.

Toolkit

• Xenharmonic Wiki:Conventions
• Xenharmonic Wiki:Article guidelines
• Xenharmonic Wiki:Wikifuture
• Xenharmonic Wiki:Things to do [also its Discussion page]
• Category:Stubs
• Category:Todo
• Category:Todo:expand
• Special:RecentChanges
• Help:Editing
• Category:Wikipedia text help (@Wikipedia)
• Help:Cheatsheet (@Wikipedia)
• Sysops
• ... to be further developed

All user sub-pages

• Document 2 draft
• Document draft
• Document draft template
• Introduction to xenharmonic music terminology
• Scala tuning system
• Tuning methods
• Workbench