> It is a ratio problem I believe. The initial problem stems from trying to > shoehorn the original ratios/partials from the analysis of my 5 chimes, into > equal temperament. There are a couple of reasons for this; I've been > playing around on the piano after assigning each partial to its nearest > midi/equal temperament note, and was liking the results that ensued whilst > listening to them on the piano. Obviously the tones generated on the piano > are much richer than individual sines. The original wind chime has been sat > over my desk for the last 18 months, so I'm also very attuned to the > original sounds. I would also like to have the various partials to be as > modular as possible with the idea that I can 'mix'n'match' the various > frequencies of the chimes to create new sonorities. > > When I listen to the results of using equal temperament within my patch my > ears don't like the results in comparison to the original frequencies, which > has led to the current predicament.
One other question for you that might be a bit unrelated: are you looking for an equal temperament for your chimes? And if so, should the modular interval necessarily be an octave? For instance, a scale I have liked lately is 19-tones per octave+fifth, which is very very close to 12-tones per octave, but you can do some interesting additive synthesis to "stretch" the partials so they match the equal temperament (that is, every partial number that is a power of two is now an octave+fifth higher than the last, rather than an octave in "normal" harmonic series... then all the other partials are just fit in logarithmically). Another is 11-tones per perfect 5th, which corresponds quite a bit to 19-tones per octave. Equal temperaments can give you a systematic way of handling pitch that in my experience is a bit harder to navigate with just intonation/unequal temperament; at least they take a little bit less planning and experimentation. It seems possible you could maybe reverse-engineer a "best-fit" equal temperament for your chimes that would not just give you the selection of the original partials, but a compositional space you could use with some more expression, so that the chimes fit in "organically" if they want to, but aren't the only thing going on. I haven't looked hard at your numbers though -- the more you have the harder it will be to find a "best-fit." Remember though, that a great deal of the expression in traditional Western classical music comes from some of the partials being out of tune with the underlying scale. The "combine 5 partials, each chosen from one of the chimes" problem is quite a bit easier to solve, but attack transients and decays for each of partials, assuming you really will be using [osc~] will be paramount: they are a lot of what makes your chimes sound the way they do. Sorry for the long wind, Matt _______________________________________________ Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list