User:Mousemambo/Scala tuning system

Please use this page's Discussion page for comments and suggestions. Or you can join the discussion in the #wiki channel of the Xenharmonic Alliance's Discord server. This developing page is initially just an outline, but will be expanded into a proper page. Please note that I used square brackets to indicate personal notes to myself for article development, but these will all be removed in the final document.

This page is being explored as a possible new main space article. Much of its content might best be split out into a "Scala scale file" page and a "Scala keyboard mapping file" page, but part of the reason to explore this page is to figure that out. This page is part of a set of pages intended to work together, including "Tuning methods," and "Guide to Tuning a Software Synth in a DAW." The proposed article title "Scala tuning system" is not entirely ideal because "tuning system" is also used to mean a musical tuning, but this seems the best compromise to me. The alternative "Scala tuning files system" or "Scala tuning files" is unattractive because "Scala tuning file" is used as a synonym for the more correct term "Scala scale file."

Brief article summary goes here....

Temporary Outline

1. Overview
   1. Tunings vs. scales
   2. Scales vs. MIDI notes
2. Scala scale file
   1. What the scale file does
      1. Defines the notes of the tuning and their intervallic relationship
      2. Identifies one MIDI note as the tuning base
   2. Alternative methods for specifying a tuning
      1. By frequency ratio with the tuning base
      2. By cents from the tuning base
   3. Scala scale file format
3. Scala keyboard mapping file
   1. What the keyboard mapping file does
      1. Sets one MIDI note as the tuning reference note
      2. Sets the pitch frequency of the tuning reference note, and indirectly all the others
      3. Identifies which MIDI notes will be retuned
      4. Maps the tuning to the MIDI notes of the controller
   2. Scala keyboard mapping file format
4. Scala tuning in practice
   1. Tonic vs. tuning base
   2. Just intonation tunings and their tonic
   3. Linear keyboard mapping
   4. Tunings with fewer or more than 12 pitches per octave or equave
   5. Uncommon controller formats
5. Scala tuning system vs. Anamark v2 tuning system
6. Software for creating Scala tuning system files
7. Sources for Scala tuning system files
8. See also
9. External links

Overview

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Scala scale file

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Scala keyboard mapping file

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Scala tuning in practice

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Scala tuning system vs. Anamark v2 tuning system

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Software for creating Scala tuning system files

Software is listed only if it is able to read and write both Scala scale files and keyboard mapping files.

• Scala
• Scale Workshop (and User Guide)
• Universal Tuning Editor

Sources for Scala tuning system files

• Mizzan Microtonal Piano scale archive
• Huygens-Fokker Foundation scale archive
• Tuning Files collection from Sevish

See also

• Anamark tuning file format
• Tuning methods

External links

• Scala
• Scala scale file format. Huygens-Fokker Foundation. The official file format specification.
• A simple and detailed documentation of Scala Tuning Format. Mizzan Microtonal Piano.
• Scala (software). Wikipedia.
• Scala keyboard mapping file (.KBM) format specification. Huygens-Fokker Foundation.