It is possible to LucyTuned your sequences to the nearest 64th of a
semitone using MIDI pitchbend.
Check that your MIDI
equipment can recognise and respond to pitchbend data
The current pitchbend range operating on your equipment may be adjustable (see
the operating
manual), if this is not clear or you wish to test the current range test
it as follows:
1. Make a simple MIDI sequence of two adjacent notes (one semitone apart) Eg. G#4 and A4. Play the sequence and you should hear two notes a semitone apart.
2. Now add a pitchbend value to the lower of the two notes, at a value of +4096 and a value of 0 to the higher note. Listen to the two notes again. If the notes are now the same pitch your pitchbend range is set at 4096 units per semitone.
Experiment by changing the values until you get it right, and discover how many pitchbend units are required to bend your equipment by one semitone. This will tell you which column (d, or e) of the table below to use.
Pitchbend usually effects only the assigned channel, and all notes played on that channel will be "bent" until another pitchbend command is received. Therefore to LucyTune your sequence you may have to move notes to other channels, so that there is only ever one note per channel at any time.
(Remember to reset all the A's to zero)
3. Each note will need to be pitchbent by the appropriate amount. This is a tedious procedure, yet the results can be quite satisfying. You can make the conversion easier by using copy and paste in your sequencer's edit program.
Using the table below and the appropriate pitchbend ranges (columns d, or e) you can set the pitchbend of each note (column a) which you wish to use by adjusting the value for the MIDI note named in column b.
The cent values are also included for users of Ensoniq, Korg M series,
and other cent programmable equipment (column c).
Lucy
Note Name a |
Bend
12tET Note b |
cents
from A4=440Hz c |
Bend
+/- 64ths d |
Bend
4096 ths e |
Ratio from
(Octave=2.0) f |
Dump
64ths (Proteus) g |
Dump
xx (hex) semitone h |
Dump
yy (hex) MSB i |
Dump
zz (hex) LSB j |
Nearest
Semitone to pitch k |
Cents Change
(to nearest 1/10th cent) l |
C | C | 0313.521 | +9 | +554 | 1.198531 | 0009 | 00 | 11 | 27 | C | +13.5 |
Dbb | C | 0367.605 | +43 | +2769 | 1.236564 | 0043 | 00 | 56 | 45 | C# | -32.4 |
C# | C# | 0381.972 | -12 | -738 | 1.246869 | 0052 | 00 | 68 | 75 | C# | -18.0 |
Db | C# | 0436.056 | +23 | +1477 | 1.286437 | 0087 | 01 | 2E | 14 | C# | +36.1 |
Cx | D | 0450.424 | -32 | -2031 | 1.297156 | 0096 | 01 | 40 | 45 | D | -49.6 |
D | D | 0504.507 | +3 | +185 | 1.338320 | 0131 | 02 | 05 | 62 | D | +04.5 |
Ebb | D | 0558.591 | +37 | +2400 | 1.380789 | 0166 | 02 | 4B | 00 | D# | -41.4 |
D# | D# | 0572.958 | -17 | -1108 | 1.392295 | 0175 | 02 | 5D | 31 | D# | -27.0 |
Eb | D# | 0627.042 | +17 | +1108 | 1.436478 | 0209 | 03 | 22 | 4F | D# | +27.0 |
Dx | E | 0641.410 | -37 | -2400 | 1.448445 | 0218 | 03 | 33 | 00 | D# | +41.4 |
E | E | 0695.493 | -3 | -185 | 1.494412 | 0253 | 03 | 7A | 1E | E | -04.5 |
Fb | E | 0749.577 | +32 | +2031 | 1.541834 | 0288 | 04 | 3F | 3B | E | +49.6 |
E# | F | 0763.944 | -23 | -1477 | 1.554682 | 0297 | 04 | 51 | 6C | F | -36.1 |
F | F | 0818.028 | +12 | +738 | 1.604018 | 0332 | 05 | 17 | 0A | F | +18.0 |
Gbb | F | 0872.112 | +46 | +2954 | 1.654918 | 0366 | 05 | 5C | 27 | F# | -27.9 |
F# | F# | 0886.479 | -9 | -554 | 1.668709 | 0375 | 05 | 6E | 59 | F# | -13.5 |
Gb | F# | 0940.563 | +26 | +1661 | 1.721663 | 0410 | 06 | 33 | 76 | F# | +40.6 |
Fx | G | 0954.931 | -29 | -1846 | 1.736018 | 0419 | 06 | 46 | 28 | G | -45.1 |
G | G | 1009.014 | +6 | +369 | 1.791099 | 0454 | 07 | 0B | 45 | G | +09.0 |
Abb | G | 1063.098 | +40 | +2584 | 1.847936 | 0488 | 07 | 50 | 62 | G# | -36.9 |
G# | G# | 1077.465 | -14 | -923 | 1.863336 | 0498 | 07 | 63 | 14 | G# | -22.5 |
Ab | G# | 1131.549 | +20 | +1292 | 1.922466 | 0532 | 08 | 28 | 31 | G# | +31.5 |
Gx | A | 1145.917 | -35 | -2215 | 1.938491 | 0542 | 08 | 3A | 63 | G# | +45.9 |
A | A | 00000.000 | 0 | 0 | 1.000000 | 0576 | 09 | 00 | 00 | A | 00.0 |
Bbb | A | 0054.083 | +35 | +2215 | 1.031734 | 0611 | 09 | 45 | 1D | A# | -45.9 |
A# | A# | 0068.451 | -20 | -1292 | 1.040331 | 0620 | 09 | 57 | 4F | A# | -31.5 |
Bb | A# | 0122.535 | +14 | +923 | 1.073344 | 0654 | 0A | 1C | 6C | A# | +22.5 |
Ax | B | 0136.903 | -40 | -2584 | 1.082291 | 0664 | 0A | 2F | 1E | A# | +36.9 |
B | B | 0190.986 | -6 | -369 | 1.116633 | 0698 | 0A | 74 | 3B | B | -09.0 |
Cb | B | 0245.070 | +29 | +1846 | 1.152068 | 0733 | 0B | 39 | 58 | B | +45.1 |
B# | C | 0259.438 | -26 | -1661 | 1.161667 | 0742 | 0B | 4C | 0A | C | -40.6 |
Programs to microtune your MIDI files using
pitchbend
Oct 1999 A recent trio of PC programs called
Midi Tempering Utilities
by Fred Nachbaur (free midi pitchbend software) can be used to
midi microtune existing midi files.
Download lucy****.dat files for use with Nachbaur miditemp program.
Lucy0f5s 0 flats - 5 sharps (i.e. black notes are
C#-D#-F#-G#-A#)
Lucy1f4s 1 flat - 4 sharps (i.e. black notes are
C#-D#-F#-G#-Bb)
Lucy2f3s 2 flats - 3 sharps (i.e. black notes are
C#-Eb-F#-G#-Bb)
Lucy3f2s 3 flats - 2 sharps (i.e. black notes are
C#-Eb-F#-Ab-Bb)
Lucy4f1s 4 flats - 1 sharp (i.e. black notes are
Db-Eb-F#-Ab-Bb)
Lucy5f0s 5 flats - 0 sharps (i.e. black notes are
Db-Eb-Gb-Ab-Bb)
To LucyTune your files with these programs use the ratios
from A = 1.000000 in g column above
Tuning samples, in cent values.
Some sample programs, such as EMagic's EXS24, and tuners, such as Peterson VS-1, show microtuning values in cents and tenths of a cent respectively, yet only within +/- 50 cents for each semitone. Therefore to set these values the columns k and l have been provided to simplify calculations. When using EXS, a separate zone will be needed for each note in each group. For example to set up an 88 note sample mapping with three groups requires 264 zones to be individually adjusted. I hope now that Apple have taken over EMagic, they will consider introducing a more user friendly interface with more accurate tuning resolution.
EXS Instruments
The following samples and 12tET.exs files were generously provided by Patrick Hall, and may also be
found on his site at: pbone.org
EVP73 Pretty self explanitory. Default settings from the
EVP73 - 3 velocity layers.
B4Jazzy2 The "Jazzy2" preset from the B4.
Oddity2HIGH A preset from the Oddity VST that
reminded me of the Bass sound on Stevie Wonder's "Too High".
To LucyTune these samples, also download
LucyTuned .exs files for these samples
MIDI Tuning Dump
In 1992, a new MIDI tuning dump standard was introduced. This is intended to transmit tuning data to a resolution of 16,384 units per semitone, (196,608 per octave). As many of the psychological effects of LucyTuning depend upon subsonic beating: the more accurate the tuning; the greater the effect. Unfortunately I have yet to find a manufacturer who has fully implemented this standard, although it should eventually happen. (Please encourage manufacturers to introduce it in their new products). A number of tuning programs (eg. Tuning Wrench) and some hardware (eg. Proteus 3) already use these values to transfer tuning data.
By using the table above in the Dump columns (g, h, i, and j), you can tune to the LucyTuned notes listed in column a. The tuning resolution which is played will depend upon your hardware. The 64th of a semitone (Proteus) and xx (hex) values shown in the table are for the lowest octave. For higher octaves add 768 units per octave to the 64th of a semitone (Proteus) column (g), or 12 (0C in hex) per octave to the xx column (h).
[Frequency data format (all bytes in hex)]
xx semitone = 100 cent units; yy MSB (Most Significant
Byte) of fraction (1/128 semitone) = 0.78125 cent units; LSB (Least Significant
Byte) of fraction (1/16384 semitone) = 0.0061 cent units
Download .zip files of ten LucyTuning tables for microtuning programs
Scala (.scl) or
Max Magic Microtuner (.mtx)
LucyTuning table
of 52 arrangements for microtunable synths and samplers
LucyTuning table of 107 Hertz values per octave from A0 = 27.5 Hz. to Bbbb9 = 13,963.642,967,453,6 Hz.
Brian Pugley's EMagic Logic Tuning Environments include LucyTuning features - download from here.
Download printable version of this page
(Adobe .pdf)
Download printable version of table of 23 notes per octave cent tuning values and tempos.
(Adobe .pdf)