Scala .scl in Max/Msp?
Hello,
Does anybody know of a way to get .scl or scala files into Max/MSP. I was messing around with this in Audio Paint and it was great to have nearly 4000 scales just right there already made up.
i have converted the scala library into a custom 110 format which stores the
values in a coll.
to simplify the process i have not been using the .scl files but an existing
text format from victor cerullos little application.
when i am not wrong there is also an external now since a while, you might
search the forums or maxobjects.com, i cant remember the name or who
made it.
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http://www.olilarkin.co.uk / http://olilarkin.blogspot.com
Great I'll look into it. I had a look at the MaxObjects but I could not find the 110 externals. I saw the yahoo group though so I'll have a look there.
thanks
anyone got a zip of scala scales converted to .txt files for the coll object
thats the complete scala library from 2008 in coll format.
the first two integer numbers after the scale name are:
- type of scale
- number of notes per octave.
i call type 1 "expandable" - which means it should be played over several octaves.
type 1 the most common format.
only very few scales are not to be expanded - or not expandable because the base set already spreads across more than one octave.
05-19.scl, "5 out of 19-tET" 1 5 261.62558 302.729614 350.291534 405.325928 469.006775;
05-22.scl, "Pentatonic "generator" of 09-22.scl" 1 5 261.62558 306.264099 358.51886
snip ... see attachement below
I have created an editor in Max for MaxScore capable of reading scala files, displaying them in music notation and also outputting messages for microtonal playback. This is part of the MaxScore release. Refer to http://www.computermusicnotation.com/?page_id=443 for more information.
actually it would make more sense to have it available as note numbers. i´ve currently lost my nn version of it.
Hello Roman,
Not elegant! There are better ways to communicate information besides flooding the forum with data. What about a download link or similar?
Best,
Georg
Ok thanks, I figured out how to batch convert them with Scala
You can use the following command in Scala:
set synth 135
And then you can export the synth tuning. This makes a .txt file that can be read by the coll object. You can then replace your mtof object with a coll and get at your microtones that way.
Still, it would be good to see native support for more tuning files in Max/MSP. The Scala scl/kbm format is very flexible, and it would be great to see an update for the mtof object where these files could be imported.
Here's a blog post about using the coll object to hold frequency data, though it's aimed at newbies to microtuning/Max. Hope it can be helpful to someone: http://sevish.com/blog/index.php/2014/how-to-play-microtonal-scales-on-a-maxmsp-synth/
@Georg - we met once at UK Microfest in London several years ago. Are you still interested in the Bohlen-Pierce scale these days?
Hi Sevish, I'm interested in all sort of things, the BP scale among them. We have recently published an exhaustive 50+ page article in a book called 1001 microtones establishing a novel music theory for the BP scale, and have looked into equal subdivisions of BP with some interesting results. What about yourself? What are you working on these days?
sorry for beeing unelegant. it looked less data inside the coll object.^^
Georg, good to hear that you're still actively working with microtonality! Congrats on your recent published article.
I recently released an EP (titled MK-SUPERDUPER) which uses 313-EDO, 22-EDO and Wendy Carlos' alpha tuning. For that I built a Max for Live patch to play microtonal bass tones (TR-808-ish). I'm also thinking of how we can encourage DAW developers such as Ableton to add microtuning support to built-in synths. Being able to customise the piano roll keyboard layout is another huge issue for me, as I'm sick of being encumbered with piano rolls designed for 12-EDO. I made a request through Ableton's beta users site, but I don't think they will notice it. Any suggestions?
Roman - The coll data you posted has some errors in it, I think there are quote marks in the wrong places, it doesn't format correctly when I paste and save it in a coll....
uh, there are probably two semicolons missing, because that thing is stored in 3 different colls here.
broken attachement removed
Belated thanks Roman (i was away). But I can't open the link you posted, I can't connect to the proxy server?
Forgot that, I got it. But I can't open the .bin file, Archive Utility says "Unable to expand ....Error 78. Function not implemented"
yeah this time its ok. maybe it was related to the same server problem which didnt let you download it.
Ok, I got that thanks. I'm not clear how you use that patch, do you have three menus or something ?
yes. i should of course provide those as well.
on the playing part you should find your own solution, mine are too idiosychratic. for a generic application you would basically have to check if the type of scale is "expandable" (97% are), then you can map key to frequency while leaving the octave of the incoming key untouched.
Thanks Roman. Ive used your 110.scales patch in a max for live hardware micro tuner, is it ok to share on maxforlive.com? (for free)
yes sure
So here's a device that uses the Scala archive to tune hardware synths
Roman, thanks so much for this!
Is there any way to use this patch to directly create/write a coll list?
(I get the frequencies from the 5th outlet of the 110.scales object .. but it would be nice to have a complete coll list as the one which you can export from Scala)
Thanks again! Lilian
i once created my coll (of course) by a max patch (which was reading 3000 textfiles from a folder one by one) but i am not sure if it still works.
i would not mind to make a generic conversion abstraction so that i can update my 15 years old library a bit. what is your goal? do you make custom scales with scala app?
2020: i´ve edited the thread to be readable again.
I've been using this for custom tuning stuff lately. These's an option on there to export to coll format.
https://sevish.com/scaleworkshop/