I like microtuned pianos, but they're hard to do.

There's an ongoing pull request on the sfizz .sfz player, to support MIDI Polyphonic Expression. One feature of MPE is that you can convert fractional values into an integer note value plus pitch bend. Since each note plays on its own channel, pitch-bend applies per note rather than globally. (sfizz also supports Scala files, but this is different -- it lets you go full Jacob Collier on your sub-sub-sub-semitones. MPE's default settings allow for 1/170th of a semitone pitch resolution.) sfizz works a treat with spacechild1's fantastic vstplugin~ external.

So, if you're comfortable compiling software yourself, you can have fractional notes on a sample player. sfizz was a relatively painless build in Linux. "git clone --recursive" from https://github.com/rullopat/sfizz-ui .

Here's what might have happened if Ligeti had an eighth-tone piano:

Initially, I had tried to use [poly] for voice/channel assignment. It got confused about so many notes so close together, so I ended up making my own version that binds the note number to the channel and duration.

hjh

else/sfz~ has support for mictrotones

@porres said:

else/sfz~ has support for mictrotones

What I'm describing here is a way to do microtuning without setting a scale on the player.

Or perhaps I'm just misled by the tuning page's prominent comment about using scales, where transp might be the droid I'm looking for.

This seems to work (didn't try sfont~ this way though).

(It sounds like a transposition message doesn't affect the pitch of previously played notes -- unlike MIDI pitch bend, which is why MPE needs to split up notes among channels. If so, then transp is more convenient than what I did.)

hjh

cool, I thought you wanted particular scales, like 8th tones, which is the first example in here