Loading tuning files automatically

Hi.
I've been watching Native Instruments products for almost 15 years, waiting for some capability of dynamically controlling tuning. Like all other soft synth developers, they've been inching forward in baby steps. I see that I can specify tunings and keyboard maps in several NI products... but I have authored a microtonal sequencer which does not use fixed scales; an unlimited number of frequencies can be specified by the end user in the course of using the program.
Can Reaktor or any other NI synth be made to update its tuning at run-time? I will happily modify my own program to edit a preselected tuning file on disk so it can be reread by a softsynth, but I don't see any way for any of NI's products to notice the changes, nor even to tell them programatically to switch to another tuning bank at runtime.
It's been over 30 years since the MIDI specification came into existence and the people doing all the developing still can't imagine that anyone would want complete control over the frequencies they play. But correct me if I'm wrong!
Thanks,
Chuckk

 

might be best to achieve this with pitch bend? if you know the bend range of the receiving instrument you should be able to achieve any frequency just by auto-bending the pitch to the right location. of course, then you can't you pitch bend for it's original intent, but i'd say that's a small price to pay.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but no, pitch bend is useless, as it can only have one value per channel which affects all of the notes on that channel. That means that if users of my software want to compose for more than 4 instruments, they can have a maximum of 4 notes per instrument, and even if they can accept that, the notes will bend when they change. And they would rightfully blame my software.

So, again, my question is: Do any NI products allow for automatic retuning at runtime, without the user clicking on anything?
Thanks,
Chuckk

 

I've found a way with the Reaktor VST. I tried using OSC to trigger notes, but apparently note events only come into existence when triggered by MIDI, and if I send OSC tuning info before MIDI noteon, it doesn't get processed for some reason. So I send 3 cc's: One for the rounded-down note number for the frequency I want; another with the fine tuning of that, to 1/127th of a semitone; and the third cc with the fine tuning of the last one, to 1/16129th of a semitone. The actual Notepitch module is only used to trigger the value calculated by those 3 ccs, because I want to be able to have notes very close to each other if I want, so the MIDI note number of the noteon message is only used to turn off the right note when noteoff comes, not for determining pitch. It appears to work. I have to show my users how to create a macro to do this wizardry and where to insert it, but it's the only way I've found so far.

-Chuckk

 

Banjo Man - did you get this working? Sounds really intriguing. I'm struggling with a similar setup right now, though I'd settle for monophonic microtuning with pitch-bend over MIDI for now!

 

I think you can safely scrap the third CC message! 1/127th of semitone is less then a cent, which is almost imperceptible already, and I doubt anybody will ever hear the difference of 1/16129... keep in mind that the internal ear is known to slightly "correct" the percieved pitch in many situation. I think such a fine tuning is overkill!

 

You're probably right there...
'Imperceptible' changes in tuning can be more noticeable when playing intervals or chords. We can hear the resulting changes in 'beating' effects between notes much more easily than the change in a single notes pitch. Whether it matters really depends on the context. That said, 1/127th of a semitone really is itty bitty...
However , I suspect folks aren't getting involved with microtonal tunings because they're happy to accept little compromises here and there

 

Would love to see the results Banjo Man if you've made any progress with this!

 

You can use this macro to load scales from scala into reaktor. I also made a macro that generates all kinds of scales from JI to ET to everything in between in real time.

 

Wow. Would love to see your realtime generator!

 

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/11833/

Here it is. Let me know if you have any issues with it. This version can crash when it is loaded into certain ensembles.

 

Here are 50 Jacques Dudon Scales in a macro. Converted from Scala.
https://www.native-instruments.com/de/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/11853/

 

Found a bug in Noel Burgess' microtune table fill instrument:
Must be -2 not -1