Kyra Sound Programming
115
Waldorf Kyra
Microtuning
Overview
By default, Kyra plays notes according to the equal tempe-
rament tuning scale. This tuning is widely used in modern
Western music and allows music to be played in any key.
However, there are many alternative tunings and in other
parts of the world and with music styles other than mo-
dern Western, these other tunings are used extensively.
Kyra supports all tuning schemes by means of full key-
board tunability using the MIDI Tuning Standard (MTS).
With MTS, Kyra can tune any key to any frequency to sin-
gle cent resolution. This allows tuning schemes with octa-
ves containing other than the 12 notes per octave of equal
temperament tuning. Kyra supports fixed and dynamic re-
tuning.
MIDI Tuning Standard
Kyra supports two forms of MTS messages:
Non-Realtime Bulk Dump
: These tune every key MIDI
can play in a single message. This message is usually sent
at the beginning of a song. As most tunings will only sound
correct if played in a specific key (equal temperament's
advantage is that it doesn't have this constraint), the song
must be in the specified key to be correctly tuned.
r
Kyra will ignore a request to play MIDI note zero but
it can (and must) be present in the MTS bulk dump
message.
Realtime Per-Key
: These messages tune individual keys
in real time, as the song plays. This offers the most flexibili-
ty as the tunings can be changed during the song.
Hermo-
de Tuning
is an example of a tuning that uses this. Your
sequencer must support the tuning scheme for it to work.
Kyra maintains a single, global tuning scheme at any given
time and does not store tuning information in non-volatile
memory. Being global, the tuning configured applies to all
notes on all Parts. Kyra defaults to equal temperament
when the system is restarted. Some DAWs can handle the
tuning messages automatically, others will require manual
insertion of MIDI Tuning Standard messages in the song
preroll in the form of a Non-Realtime Bulk Dump.
The only way to change the tuning is to replace it with
another one. Restart Kyra to restore it to equal tempera-
ment tuning (or send it a bulk MTS of equal temperament).
Other Tuning Parameters
Kyra's master tuning can be set using the System Configu-
ration page to be in the range 430Hz to 450Hz in 1Hz