Microtone

[kyrillos]

Good day everybody
I am trying to play a song that has only (MI) or (E) between natural and  E♭ 
how is it possible to do it. i was trying to understand but i really need someone to explain from scratch.
thank you so much

[Nigel Mackay]

?

Now, if you click Play you should get sound. The Es will be wrong, but you will have sound.

Save the project.

Track 1 is selected.  We will use that for all the notes except E.
From the menu select Views -> Piano Roll View.
Scroll up and down until you see your MIDI notes.
On the piano keyboard on the left click on the E key.
You will see something like this (Note the right notes, but you get the idea ?)

All the Es are selected. Press Delete key.  All the Es are removed.

Save.

Click on track 2 to select it.
In the PRV (piano roll view) you will see the notes in track 2. Which is everything.
One at a time: click on the keyboard for a note which is NOT an E. Delete. Next note.

Now you only have the Es in Track 2.

Save.

Let me know you have managed this.

[Nigel Mackay]

1) Click on the track to select it.
2) Just above the tracks click on Tracks, then Duplicate Track(s)...
3) Check Events, then click Ok.

Send screenshot.

[Nigel Mackay]

Step 2 is click on Duplicate Track(s). Do it. You will see Events. Do Step 3.

If you want, click on Duplicate Track(s) and do a screenshot immediately.

When you click on Duplicate Track(s) this is what you get:

 

Under Duplicate it says

Events                                                             
   Link to Original Clip(s)
Properties
Effects

Make sure Events is checked, but not Link to Originals

That copy you made has no MIDI data because you didn't check Events before clicking Ok.

 

Edited August 6, 2020 by Nigel Mackay
More suggestions

[Nigel Mackay]

Let's try again.

Delete both MIDI tracks. Completely. Import it. Do the Duplicate Track(s) again. With Events checked.

Select Track 1. Open piano roll view. Let's pretend your music looks like this.

Click on E on the keyboard. You get this.

Press Delete. You get this.

Track 1 now has everything except Es.

[Nigel Mackay]

Now select Track 2. You see this.

Click on G. You see

Press Delete. You get

Now click on F

Press Delete

Do the same for D and C. You are left with this

 

Now Track 2 has ONLY Es. And track 1 has EVERYTHING EXCEPT Es.

Try it.

[Nigel Mackay]

Don't have it, so can't experiment for you.

 

Open the interface for the track 2 synth: In Track 2 click on the little picture of a keyboard to the left of the track name. Between the 2 and "BBC Symphony".

In the top bar of the interface is CPU    DISK    MEM   ...   TUNE. Tune has a knob next to it.

Start play, then click on theTune knob and see how it can be adjusted, what values it displays (if any) and see if you can detune it to the note you want.

Unfortunately I have no idea if it does fine tuning, or semi-tone steps, or what. Just give it a go.

[Promidi]

Pitch bend?

[kyrillos]

how can i do that? is it free?

[Nigel Mackay]

No,pitch bend is the tiny change in tuning that you get when you bend the pressure of your fingers on a fretboard. Like vibrato. Or when you use the "tremelo" arm on a guitar. Or move the slide slightly on a steel guitar.

It is a lot of hard work in MIDI, certainly at first. Found two articles about it. Here and here.

Not trivial.

 

[kyrillos]

so there is no way to adjust the scale and let it play?
i type the music score first in a notation program and save it as midi then add it to cakewalk. the notation program i adjust my scale and it plays.
there is no way at all? 

[Promidi]

I know what pitch bend is - I've been sequencing MIDI for 30 years and use pitch bend every day.   Of course, if playing a chord, pitch bend would change the entire chord.

Some synths support poly aftertouch and if applied to pitch, could achieve microtuning - I know Z3ta2 supports this

If the OP wants Microtone (If I under stand what the OP actually means) then it would depend on the synth whether it supports microtuning files...   Some synths support microtuning by the loading of *.SCI files

[kyrillos]

lets say you wrote a piece of music in a sheet music and you want to play it with a better instrument sound in cakewalk.
u added it and then the quarter tone scale u wrote is not playing in cakewalk.
in this case what would you do exactly.
in the music notation software i write the scale and it plays it as desired but the instruments have no good sound!

now please walk in my shoe as a totally beginner and tell me what steps i need in order to play this E three quart tone 

i really appreciate your answer but i dont understand the steps

[Nigel Mackay]

39 minutes ago, Promidi said:

I know what pitch bend is - I've been sequencing MIDI for 30 years and use pitch bend every day.   Of course, if playing a chord, pitch bend would change the entire chord.

Some synths support poly aftertouch and if applied to pitch, could achieve microtuning - I know Z3ta2 supports this

If the OP wants Microtone (If I under stand what the OP actually means) then it would depend on the synth whether it supports microtuning files...   Some synths support microtuning by the loading of *.SCI files

The explanation of pitchbend was for the OP, he seemed to think it is a VST or FX that you must buy.

And I agree with you about what the OP wants, that is why I posted 2 links to articles about Scala.

[kyrillos]

i apologize for my ignorance i dont understand what op is and google just shows a none sense result!
i am trying to understand the links u sent me but its like a great ocean i dont know where to start just a simple explain is appriciated

[Nigel Mackay]

23 minutes ago, kyrillos said:

lets say you wrote a piece of music in a sheet music and you want to play it with a better instrument sound in cakewalk.
u added it and then the quarter tone scale u wrote is not playing in cakewalk.
in this case what would you do exactly.
in the music notation software i write the scale and it plays it as desired but the instruments have no good sound!

now please walk in my shoe as a totally beginner and tell me what steps i need in order to play this E three quart tone 

i really appreciate your answer but i dont understand the steps

OP is the Original Poster. In this case, you. ?

I can't help you with using Scala. I can only tell you how to use it in Cakewalk.

In a nutshell, you use Scala to create the same scale system you used in your notation program.
You export the scale as an .sci file.
In Cakewalk you use a synth that supports Scala. There is a list of synths in the second link.
You export MIDI from notation app, import into Cakewalk.
Play the MIDI file.

Maybe the notation software can export .sci files? Have a look. Ask on the forum for that software about Scala. Maybe someone there can help you better.

 

[kyrillos]

thank you  i will follow those steps and try

[kyrillos]

Helllo Again
i think i didnt explain what i need exactly .
what i need from cakewalk is the orchestral sound which i use vst plugins for 
the supported synthesizers dose not have the sound i need.
to make it easy for me. i just want to know 
i am working with BBC orchestra plug ins can i make it play oriental scales via cakewalk?
thats what i want to know

[User 905133]

 

4 hours ago, kyrillos said:

I am trying to play a song that has only (MI) or (E) between natural and  E♭ 
how is it possible to do it. i was trying to understand but i really need someone to explain from scratch.
thank you so much

After reading the discussion, I went back to the original post and saw that it contained no information that I could see about the instrument and what Cakewalk recording/playback methods being used.  Readers offering help are forced to make assumptions in trying to answer the question For example:

• Is this about playing/recording an acoustic guitar?
• Is this about notating microtones in the staff view or PRV?
• Does it involve using midi with a bona fide* synthesizer or sound module [*which some people call it "external"]?
• Does it involve using midi with a virtual/software** synthesizer [**which some people call a "synth]?

--------------------------------

OK--as I was finishing this up, this came in:

19 minutes ago, kyrillos said:

Helllo Again
i think i didnt explain what i need exactly .
what i need from cakewalk is the orchestral sound which i use vst plugins for 
the supported synthesizers dose not have the sound i need.
to make it easy for me. i just want to know 
i am working with BBC orchestra plug ins can i make it play oriental scales via cakewalk?
thats what i want to know

Thank you for clarifying.

------------------------------------------

A few years ago, I played around with a program called Scala.  That might help you.  Some software syths (e.g., VSTi's) actually have the ability to use *.scl files. Just an FYI, Scala has the ability to export tuning tables for hardware.  For example, I was able to create tuning tables to load into a Proteus 2500.

Edited August 5, 2020 by User 905133
(2) to fix typo (*.sci to *.scl); (1) to add a link to Scala

[Nigel Mackay]

15 minutes ago, kyrillos said:

i am working with BBC orchestra plug ins can i make it play oriental scales via cakewalk?
thats what i want to know

Oriental scales are not microtonal. Not the ones that I see.

Just import the MIDI files and the synth will play the notes that are written.

[kyrillos]

i already exported the scales i need from scala but i cant put it to cakewalk unless its supported synthesizer.
the vst plugins i am using work with spitfire audio 
i mean while i am googling i saw some daws u can just transpose E to -50 no matter what plugins ur using