On Sat, 8 Mar 1997, Nick S Bensema wrote:
> I would like someone who has the necessary equipment, or a really damn
> good ear, to load up SoundX and write down what each pitch and distortion
> value make what notes.
I have a guitar tuner that could give me cent values. I can do that part.
> Even more ideally, it would say exactly how much each pitch was out of
> tune, in cents, so that a prospective VCS music composition could lean
> towards scales which use notes that are out of tune in the same way.
You should also be aware that stringed and fretted instruments are
"Tempered". What that means is that they are slightly out of tune
somewhere on the neck in relation to the rest of the neck or the open
strings, usually on one of the fist few frets, where the guitar neck is
most bowed.
My point being that perfect tune is not absolutely necessary. There is a
threshold in which it can be out of tune and still sound acceptable.
> would either try to use a different distortion to get closer to E+20, or I
Distortion wouldn't, I don't think, change the pitch.
> would just program the piece in a different key. It'd certainly sound better
> tuned down a half-step than it would if the fifth were out of tune.
Exactly. For a prime example of music composition via 2600 sound that hit
just about every out of tune note on it is the Atari 7800 Tower Topper
music. It's so bad that the notes seem to be off as much as a half tone,
and it almost seems intentionally messed up.
An example of more effective music composition is Smurf's Rescue in
Gargamel's Castle.
> Unfortunately, my efforts to hook the 2600's audio output into my guitar
> tuner have been as of yet unsuccessful. To be honest, I can't even
My tuner has a small microphone on it.
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