MTS-ESP issues

With MTS-ESP controlling the intonation of Pianoteq, use the 'Continuous retuning (pitch-bending)' option, which enables doing things such as dynamic-microtuning and scale-morphs.

Using the other option, New notes only (no pitch-bending), requires new MIDI note-ons to be played before the tuning will update. Often this is the default selection in that drop-down options list...

I just tested an implementation sending MTS data before AND after the note being played. This does not work, and pitch-bending produces silly scooping artifacts on each note! Here is the MTS spec from MIDI 1.0:

[SINGLE NOTE TUNING CHANGE (REAL-TIME)]
The single note tuning change message (Exclusive Real Time sub-ID#1 = 08) permits on-the-fly adjustments to any tuning
stored in the instrument's memory. These changes should take effect immediately, and should occur without audible artifacts
if any affected notes are sounding when the message is received.
F0 7F <device ID> 08 02 tt ll [kk xx yy zz] F7
F0 7F Universal Real Time SysEx header
<device ID> ID of target device
08 sub-ID#1 (MIDI Tuning)
02 sub-ID#2 (note change)
tt tuning program number (0 – 127)
ll number of changes (1 change = 1 set of [kk xx yy zz])
[kk] MIDI key number
[xx yy zz] frequency data for that key (repeated ‘ll' number of times)
F7 EOX
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This message also permits (but does not require) multiple changes to be embedded in one message, for the purpose of
maximizing bandwidth. The number of changes following is indicated by the byte ll; the total length of the message equals 8
+ (ll x 4) bytes.
If an instrument does not support the full range of 128 MIDI key numbers, it should ignore data associated with un-playable
notes on reception.
This message can be used to make changes in inactive (background) tunings as well. This message may also, at the
discretion of the manufacturer, be transmitted by the instrument under particular circumstances (for example, while holding
down one or more keys and pressing a "send-single-note-tuning" front panel button).

Here is my code:

if ((this.mts.length > 0) && (this.mts[0] >= 0) && (this.mts[0] < 128)) {
    this.midi_output.send([240, 127, 0, 8, 2, 0, 1, note_count, this.mts[0], this.mts[1], this.mts[2], 247]);
  };

note_count cycles between MIDI note 9 and 91 (the dampered notes) to produce target pitches. Unfortunately, Pianoteq is NOT retuning those notes, instead it is producing random retunings when either single note retuning option is selected.

Has Modartt implemented a "tuning map" concept for built-in retunings? can this be addressed?

cheers and thanks so much for your time and attention! This would be a great feature to have working properly!

Hello and thanks for the reply. Yes, the chain I was using was : my program sends sysex with retuning of one note (real-time MTS) followed by a noteon message with that note. The MTS messages are cycling through different notes to allow maximum polyphony as the preceding notes may have tails. I am curious to learn about the working chain you mention, with MTS-ESP Master (a paid software) BEFORE a MTS-ESP client, followed by PTQ. Which client is this, and how is it configured? Thanks
Marc

Hello and thanks for the reply. Yes, the chain I was using was : my program sends sysex with retuning of one note (real-time MTS) followed by a noteon message with that note. The MTS messages are cycling through different notes to allow maximum polyphony as the preceding notes may have tails. I am curious to learn about the working chain you mention, with MTS-ESP Master (a paid software) BEFORE a MTS-ESP client, followed by PTQ. Which client is this, and how is it configured? Thanks
Marc

Since it appears that this forum doesn't permit pasting in, or uploading screenshots in posts, I was unable to provide them earlier, although I made some to share that would've clarified on some details...

So, yes, it will require MTS-ESP Suite, which features two plugins: MTS-ESP Master, and MTS-ESP MIDI-Client.

For MTS SYSEX microtuning, the MTS-ESP MIDI-Client plugin instance would need to be placed before Pianoteq (or others that can be tuned with MTS), then from the top-right Preset menu options, choose from the MTS SYSEX Bulk or Single Note options (sounds like the latter is what's needed in this case).

Then when the tunings are changed in the MTS-ESP Master Scale List, MTS SYSEX dumps will be transmitted from MTS-ESP MIDI Client to the instrument after.

In testing this early on, I've not experienced any of the anomalous behaviors you've found, but rather the MTS tuning was robust and reliable.

For anyone that needs to work in these ways and with a wide range of musical intonation systems, MTS-ESP Suite is well worth the small investment. It just makes all of this so much easier to manage, with the added benefit of being able to save MTS-ESP Master Scale List presets, but recall all of the parameters of MTS-ESP MIDI Client as well. It's an elegant way of working.

Hello again, a final update! Now I have successfully set up Pianoteq standalone to receive and respond to MIDI Tuning Standard real-time messages by sending the right kind of message: Pianoteq needs the Device ID to be set to 127 (all) rather than 0, which some other devices prefer. I have updated my code at plainsound.org/hex so BOTH versions are sent, and now Pianoteq responds to the retuning in real-time:

thanks for the input and advice, also the support team from MTS_ESP who helped walk through it!

cheers
Marc