sub half step melodies

[Junkstyle]

Do musicians ever set up their keyboard to be able to play sub half-step melodies? I'm not sure how to ask this.

[S_Gould]

You mean like 1/4 tone and other microtonal scales?

I've heard of people doing this, and a number of instruments give you the capability; but I can't say I've ever heard any of this music, nor can I point you to recorded examples.

 

Scott

[Junkstyle]

yeah like 1/4 tone and microscales. I mean I heard this electronica music and I was trying to play the melody on a regular keyboard and I couldn't get the steps it had.

[Tusker]

It's relatively easy to do the 1/4 tone and 1/3 tone scales. A little more ergonomically challenging sometimes, as a one octave range may be a 2 octave stretch away. The issue is on the listening end. Our ears aren't very used to this, so the section you are writing typically has to be short and to the point.

 

Most oscillators in digital synths have a parameter called "keyboard tracking" or something similar. Set it to 100% and you get a regular scale. 50% gets you are quarter tone scale, and so on. Negative 100% inverts the keyboard. You can have different oscillators/waves track differently across the keyboard. Or send them through a ring modulator and the different pitches will start interacting in interesting ways.

 

Jerry

[Dick Ward MP Hall of Fame]

Exactly Tusker. The other thing you can do that I mess with sometimes just for my own enjoyment, is adjust the individual tuning of each note. Takes a bit of time, but it can be a lot of fun. I'm not sure how to go about this on indivdual boards, but most soft synths can do it, as can my Jv-1000. Good luck, it's always fun to mess around with something different!

 

(just make sure you know how to undo whatever you did)