MMD > Archives > September 2008 > 2008.09.15 > 02Prev  Next


Catalog of Automatic Musical Instrument Scales
By Harald Mueller

Hi -- For "small" scales, I have sent a list to the MMD long
ago, "Small Organ Scales for the Noteur".  It resides at
http://www.mmdigest.com/Gallery/Sounds/mueller3.html 
Maybe extending this or a similar list would be possible.

(For reasons I don't know, it is in section "Sounds" -- not where
I'd look for it; but be that as it may...)

 [ I placed it in the "Sounds" section because this is where the
 [ discussions about arranging the music -- the art of the noteur --
 [ are found.  After the information is expanded to encompass all the
 [ mechanical parameters, I think the data should be transferred to
 [ the MMDigest "Tech" page.

(Also, the images are reduced in size, so that they are quite illegible,
at least in my browser.  Couldn't they be shown in full size?)

 [ The web pages of the MMD web site are created for display with
 [ (primitive) VGA format, 480 x 640 pixels, and so big original
 [ images are reduced by the web browser program at the computer.
 [ With some web browsers you can <right click> "View Image Full
 [ Size" or similar.  -- Robbie

By the way, for reasons I do not understand, all "scale definitions"
(also e.g. Jüttemann and all the ones cited in Christofer Nöring's
posting) do not define one of the arguably most important measurements
of a scale for an arranger, namely the "minimum repetition distance."

This is the distance such that a pipe (or drum or key) will reliably
sound twice.  Without knowing this distance (to be around 4.2 mm on
well-kept 20ers), I'd never have been able to write arrangements for
Elvis Presley songs.  Especially for drums, these distances are often
quite long: "10 holes" distance or even more on some Bruders, I have
heard.

Regards
Harald Müller

 [ Organ valves know nothing about distance; they react to the
 [ 'on' and 'off' time durations.  To compute the minimum 'off time'
 [ between repeated notes or drum beats, we need to know the speed
 [ of the paper or cardboard moving across the reader (tracker bar).
 [
 [ Wolfgang Brommer told me the paper of 20er music rolls, pulled
 [ at constant speed by a capstan, typically moves at 60 to 70 mm
 [ per second.  70/4.2 = 16.7 notes per second.  That's speedy!
 [ -- Robbie


(Message sent Mon 15 Sep 2008, 09:27:06 GMT, from time zone GMT+0200.)

Key Words in Subject:  Automatic, Catalog, Instrument, Musical, Scales
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