MOTM

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