Making microtonal music using free software
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 5:40 pm
All softwares below are free softwares and have versions for Windows and Linux. Additionally if you have trouble installing some of them in Linux you can run the Windows version via Wine.
Musescore
You can select one or more notes, open inspector (F8), scroll down to tuning option and tune selected notes by cents. You can also create customized key signatures using the master palette (F9) but they are only visual. They do nothing at all to the tuning of notes. So you'll have to manually flat, sharp and re-tune them. If you have some symbol that you want to be played without being visible, select it and press V.
Huygens Scala
First of all go to options, synth and in tuning model select 107, now new equal temperament (shift+alt+E), edit (ctrl+E), here you can change the tuning of notes by cents and then export synth tuning (ctrl+shift+T) and put the name of your file. The tuning you created will be exported as a midi file. Additionally you can save your tuning in Scala format to edit it later.
Rosegarden (using Timidity as output)
Open the midi file you exported from Scala. You'll see a single measure segment. It contains the tuning information. Copy it and paste it in your piece at the point you want tuning to be changed. From that point on notes will be re-tuned. If you need to change tuning during the same composition all you have to do is to copy and paste another tuning segment exported from Scala and the tuning will be changed on the fly.
If you are not able to connect Rosegarden to Timidity you can still follow the procedures above. Probably you won't be able to hear the new tuning inside Rosegarden, but at the end export your composition as midi and play it using Timidity that you'll be able to hear your micro-tunings and render them as audio.
(Note: Some versions of Rosegarden released during 2014-2015 had a bug that prevented users from hear new tunings even using Timidity, but they could export the file as midi correctly. This bug is already fixed in 2016 versions.)
Here are two examples of music created using the methods above. The scores were typed in Musescore and the audio was produced using Rosegarden and Timidity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS1dGXW6T98
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6v1we5z6NQ
Musescore
You can select one or more notes, open inspector (F8), scroll down to tuning option and tune selected notes by cents. You can also create customized key signatures using the master palette (F9) but they are only visual. They do nothing at all to the tuning of notes. So you'll have to manually flat, sharp and re-tune them. If you have some symbol that you want to be played without being visible, select it and press V.
Huygens Scala
First of all go to options, synth and in tuning model select 107, now new equal temperament (shift+alt+E), edit (ctrl+E), here you can change the tuning of notes by cents and then export synth tuning (ctrl+shift+T) and put the name of your file. The tuning you created will be exported as a midi file. Additionally you can save your tuning in Scala format to edit it later.
Rosegarden (using Timidity as output)
Open the midi file you exported from Scala. You'll see a single measure segment. It contains the tuning information. Copy it and paste it in your piece at the point you want tuning to be changed. From that point on notes will be re-tuned. If you need to change tuning during the same composition all you have to do is to copy and paste another tuning segment exported from Scala and the tuning will be changed on the fly.
If you are not able to connect Rosegarden to Timidity you can still follow the procedures above. Probably you won't be able to hear the new tuning inside Rosegarden, but at the end export your composition as midi and play it using Timidity that you'll be able to hear your micro-tunings and render them as audio.
(Note: Some versions of Rosegarden released during 2014-2015 had a bug that prevented users from hear new tunings even using Timidity, but they could export the file as midi correctly. This bug is already fixed in 2016 versions.)
Here are two examples of music created using the methods above. The scores were typed in Musescore and the audio was produced using Rosegarden and Timidity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS1dGXW6T98
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6v1we5z6NQ