"Eric M. Mrozek" wrote:
>
> Jack Campin wrote:
> > Best of all would be to allow these modes to be defined, on both
> > a per-tune and per-file basis:
> >
> > K:Montgomerie A Mix =G ^g
> > ...
> > K:E Montgomerie % the original pipe is in fact in E though
> > % nobody would notate for it that way
> >
> > And yes, this *is* a slippery slope sneakily intended to lead to support
> > for microtonal modes...
>
> I wrote the highland bagpipe abc2ps variant so that specifying K:HP would
> blank out the key signature among other things. On the actual bagpipe
> the pitches are typically 135 cents above what's written (relative to A440)
> and c, g, and G are actually closer to ^c, ^g, and =G. I say "closer"
> because the bagpipe scale is not equally tempered. I've thought about
> modifying abc2midi (but haven't had the time to do it) so that it would
> generate midi with the pitches adjusted to the correct frequency.
>
> The easiest way to implement the bagpipe scale would be to hard-code
> the software to do what I want when K:HP is specified (that's what
> I did with abcb2ps). It would be more flexible to soft-code it so
> that the pitch adjustments can be specified with %% style pseudo-comments
> or with a .fmt file, and invoked with a K: command.
I'm afraid that's impossible - at least if you want to share the files
with others.
And it's not ABC's fault. It's the midi standard. You see, the only way
to intonate with midi is to use the pitch bend control. And that isn't
standardized. I just checked the two midi sequencers I use myself
(Finale and MidiGraphy) The pitch bend value -8192 (maximum - or rather
minimum value) gives a whole tone pitch cnage with MidiGraphy and an
octave with Finale. That's what I call a significant change.
As far as I know, BarFly is the only ABC program that has an intonation
function, and it certainly adds to the realism of the playback. It's
really a pity it can't be exported to other programs.
Frank Nordberg
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