The Micro Tuner allows the exploration of many unique and interesting temperaments, both modern and classical. It also allows ethnic instruments to be played in their natural tuning.
For this example we’re going to create an instance of Falcon in 12-tone Pythagorean temperament with C4 at 256 Hz. Pythagorean tuning is based on a stack of intervals called perfect fifths, each tuned in the ratio 3:2 and creates exceptional harmonics.
- Navigate to the Tree tab, right-click the Master node and select Add Event Processor > Micro Tuner. Placing the Micro Tuner at the Master level means that all parts in Falcon will be effected, this is a great way to ensure that any and all instruments loaded or created from here on out will be in tune.
- Double-click the new Micro Tuner to reveal it in the Events editor to the right. In its default state the Micro Tuner doesn’t do anything. From here we could load an existing preset, but for this example we’re going to use a custom Scala file.
- Let’s create a new Scala file to describe 12-tone Pythagorean temperament. Create a new text document and paste in the following:
! pyth12.scl
!
12-tone Pythagorean scale
12
!
2187/2084
9/8
32/27
81/64
4/3
729/512
3/2
6561/4096
27/16
16/9
243/128
2/1 - Save this document as “pyth_12.scl” (UTF-8 encoding) and drag the resulting file onto your Micro Tuner. You can save this as a Micro Tuner preset and it will be available for future projects.
- Now change the Global Tune in Falcon’s header to 430.5 Hz. With A4 tuned to 430.5 Hz, C4 will be at 256 Hz. This would be a good time to save out the Multi if you wanted to create a template or even ‘Save as Default Multi’ if you consistently use a particular tuning.
Now let's load a patch to hear the results, something with a long release, try Pads > Beauty Is Simple 2 from the Falcon Factory soundbank.
There are many Micro Tuner presets that come with Falcon, and that can be expanded easily with custom Scala files.