On Aug 29, 2007, at 4:07 AM, Koos Fockens wrote:
> could some one describe to me in "simple mans language", what
> exactly is a quantizer?
within the context of voltage control music synthesis, a "voltage
quantiser" will shift incoming voltages, in regard to a 1v/octave
scale, to voltages which correspond to a particular musically
relevant scale.
these scales do not have to correspond to a 12-tone series but can
also be subsets (ie: major, pentatonic, root+fifth+seventh,
octatonic) of the 12-tone lifestyle or even relate to scales and
subsets of scales in the world of microtonality (which ranges from
Just Intonation and Werckmeister all the way to Pelog and the Wacky
Partch Scale all the way to truly bizarre tunings such as 23-tone
Equal Temperment {used primarily in the score of the stage production
of Robert Anton Wilson's infamous Illuminatus! musical.})
this is useful in forcing the outputs of things such as sample holds
fed from noise and analogue sequencers (such as the 960 or Milton)
into a musically-useful voltage environment, which is quite useful in
dealing with things such as sample holds fed from noise and
sequentially-activated knobs which swing over a 4 volt (approximate)
range, because they're really fiddly.
as an aside, i thought i'd point out that "stretch" should be a
parameter in any tuning system. is this something which is part of
the MIDI Tuning Thingamabobbie or is it a completely fictitious thing
that STG for some demented reason wants in a digital Hammond organ to
be able to play with acoustic pianists? it seems to me this is
something useful to have under voltage control.
---
Suit & Tie Guy
suitandtieguy.com
stgsoundlabs.com