[OSC_dev] OSC replacement for MIDI

[Andy W. Schmeder]

"Frequency" has a specific interpretation as the SI unit, Hertz = 1/ 
Seconds, and can *only* be used to describe a periodic (i.e.  
repeating) process.

For example, wavelets are aperiodic functions so they can't be  
described in Hz.  To describe the dilation between a wavelet and its  
mother-wavelet, the term "scale" is used.  Scale is a unitless number;  
a ratio between two objects of the same type (e.g., Seconds per Second).

Obviously one of the reasons OSC was created was to break out of the  
centuries-old "int(12*log2(Hz))" view of the musical universe. Pitch- 
bend breaks out of "int" and MIDI ends here.  Microtonal breaks out of  
the "12".  The Bohlen-Pierce scale breaks out of the "log2" (it is 13  
steps in log3).  And, finally, wavelets/microsound breaks out of the  
"Hz".

In other words, do whatever you want. Just don't expect to please  
everyone--its impossible. That's why OSC is "open".


On Jan 30, 2009, at 10:39 PM, Jeff Glatt wrote:
> I'm not talking about "periodic". I'm talking about a frequency or  
> period.
> It's what electronic circuits such as an oscillator need to know in  
> order to
> produce sound, or what some circuitry feeding a DAC digital audio  
> samples needs to
> know in order to play the waveform at the correct rate.

---

Andy W. Schmeder
andy [at] cnmat.berkeley.edu
Programmer/Analyst II
Research Group
Center for New Music and Audio Technologies
University of California at Berkeley
http://cnmat.berkeley.edu