Acoustica User Forums

Hi
I am from the middle east and living in the USA. I like to make oriental music using the Mixcraft 10.5. My native origin music has quarter tones to use (like Maqam "scale" of Bayat, has second and sixth notes as quarter tones). Is there anyway to use the Mixcraft 10.5 virtual instrument (on my keyboard) to custom a scale with certain notes as quarter tones?
If yes, how is that done? I am very beginner in this software and only used it before as a recording application with effects from my classic guitar.
Thanks

Hi,

You could look for a third-party plugin that can be tuned that way.

Greg

Hi,

You might be able to get away with a little MIDI setup on certain VSTs to play quarter tones.

For example, using the Messiah 2 synthesizer there is a Master Tune knob. It ranges from -2.00 to +2.00. That means its tonal range is from one whole step down to one whole step up. If the numbers represent a percentage in terms of a semi tone, a +1.00 would be a semi tone up and a +0.50 would be a quarter tone up. The idea would be to shift the whole keyboard tuning up or down when you want to play the quarter tone.

If we add a MIDI controller to the VST and set the Param to Master Tune, we could set a couple of MIDI switches to change the master tune up .5 and down .5. We want to use on and off switches like soft and sustain pedal controls so they do the shift completely when activated as opposed to a knob or fader that will gradually go up or down.

So If I wanted to use the soft pedal connected to my keyboard, I would set CC to 67 . For the min and the max on the controller, I have to do a little converting. The Master tune is 200% up or down starting at the center position set to 0. The MIDI Max Min dials' center position starts at 50%. So we set the min at 50% . For the Max, it will only go up to 100% but min starts from 50 so that is a range of only 50 units. The Master Tune on the VST has a range of 200 units. That means we have to take a Quarter of our original quarter tone calculation. what is 1/4 of 50? 12.5 . So we have to add 12.5 to the minimum to get our maximum value for the quarter tone.

Set Max to 50% + 12.5% or 63% . That might be a hair sharp, but that should do it. In this scenario, whenever you step on the soft pedal (CC 67) the whole keyboard will shift up 1/4 tone.