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Quarter tones

A Forum to Discuss NOTION

Quarter tones

Postby Mario » Wed May 08, 2013 12:58 pm

Hello,
does anybody know, if it is possible to write music with quarter tones in Notion? If yes, in which version then?
Thanks, Mario
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Re: Quarter tones

Postby thorrild » Wed May 08, 2013 4:35 pm

Hi Mario,

Yes it is. The current version supports adding quarter-tone accidentals to notes, and they play back correctly as well.

Best wishes,
Thorrild
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Re: Quarter tones

Postby Mario » Wed May 08, 2013 5:45 pm

Ok, what a pleasure! Thank you, M.
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Re: Quarter tones

Postby Surfwhammy » Thu May 09, 2013 5:05 am

Mario wrote:Hello,
does anybody know, if it is possible to write music with quarter tones in Notion? If yes, in which version then?
Thanks, Mario


thorrild wrote:Hi Mario,

Yes it is. The current version supports adding quarter-tone accidentals to notes, and they play back correctly as well.

Best wishes,
Thorrild


Mario wrote:Ok, what a pleasure! Thank you, M.


This is a bit new for me, since as best as I can recall I never encountered the musical terms "accidentals" and "quarter tone" until recently, but after doing a bit of research, which curiously started a week or so ago in another topic in this FORUM where I discovered what "accidentals" were, along with two facts--one of which is vastly disturbing--everything is exactly as Thorrild stated so succinctly, hence I am augmenting the information Thorrild provided with a screen capture of the NOTION 4 Palette showing the Accidentals Section and a short video demonstrating an equal temperament quarter tone scale beginning with Middle C (C4 in scientific pitch notation, with the reference tuning pitch being 440-Hz, which is Concert A here in the sound isolation studio), but first these are the two facts:

(1) It is possible and practical to specify a 24-note equal temperament quarter tone scale starting with Middle C entirely using sharps in the standard three flavors {lower, regular, higher} . . .

(2) Disturbing as it might be, it also is possible to specify a 24-note equal temperament quarter tone scale using three flavors of flats, which one might suppose is necessary when it is impossible to avoid composing for musical ensembles, groups, and orchestras that have horn and woodwind players, in particular any song which has even the most remote possibility of being played by Kenny G . . .

[NOTE: There are a few rules regarding composing and performing as it relates to music theory and music notation here in the sound isolation studio, including but not limited to (a) there are a grand total of 12 notes in the standard musical scale {C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B}; (b) provided one uses only the three flavors of sharps for accidentals, it is allowed to extend the standard musical scale to 24 quarter tone notes; (c) there are somewhere in the range of 8 to 10 octaves; (d) a grand piano has 88 keys, and each key has a grand total of one name, which is specified using scientific pitch notation; (e) with very few exceptions all songs are in the key of C, which when extended chromatically is done using only sharps; (f) there is only one staff and clef, which is the soprano treble staff and its treble clef; (g) instruments and voices that are in ranges different from soprano nevertheless are notated on the soprano treble staff but in such instances the soprano treble staff is transformed by indicating in NOTION 4 Score Setup that its notes are to be played or sung one or two octaves higher or lower, as the necessary; (h) all songs are in 4/4 time, with a few rare exceptions, mostly because we like "Take Five" (The Dave Brubeck Quartet) and "Money" (Pink Floyd); and (i) while we like tenor sax and oboe, such affectations can be a bit disturbing, unless you can find musicians who learned how to play in a Surfwhammy approved key, which of course does not have any flats, really . . . ]

Image
NOTION 4 Palette ~ Accidentals

NOTION 4 Equal Temperament Quarter Tone Scale in the Key of C (Surfwhammy) -- QuickTime MPEG-4 Movie -- MP4 (1.3MB, approximately 12 seconds)

Image

[NOTE: This is done with music notation in NOTION 4 (64-bit) using a virtual festival of VSTi virtual instruments, where the Tenor Sax is done with MachFIve 3 (MOTU) . . . ]

"The Darkest Hour" (The Surf Whammys ft. Pretend Kenny G and Pretend Nirvana) -- MP3 (8.6MB, 281-kbps [VBR], approximately 4 minutes and 1 second)

Lots of FUN! :D
The Surf Whammys

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Re: Quarter tones

Postby twistedblues » Tue May 14, 2013 10:35 pm

thorrild wrote:Hi Mario,

Yes it is. The current version supports adding quarter-tone accidentals to notes, and they play back correctly as well.

Best wishes,
Thorrild


very nice!
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