Howdy folks,

I'm working (with someone else) on a patch. Part of it is a channel with a generator (right now it's a pair of saw waves).

The idea is to fix it's tonality, but still being able to switch between them.

I know how I could for example fix it in C major (or A natural minor) tonality - putting selects for every tone inside the key in a few octaves. But having to do this for 12 keys would be a bit hideous.

So in the above scenario, taking C/Am as example, you'd be able to play notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B. The black keys would yield no sound.

Then you'd be able to switch keys, so when choosing the key of G/Em, you'd only be able to play G, A, B, C, D, E, F#.

One thing of which I'm sure I'll need is the intervals (which I know by heart, pretty much) and move that around throughout the keys.

The question though, is how do I do it?

I hope the question is clear and if it's not I'm very sorry. In that case please ask what you don't get and I'll try to explain more.

Thanks in advance.
There must be a better way.

You could use [% 12] on the MIDI note values. That will basically take the note values and push them within one octave (MIDI notes 0-11), so you don't really need to test every note in every octave. Just the notes of the key that fit in 0-11.

I separate the octave and pitch class, then use a table to define the scale. Usually I think it makes more sense to use a 7 note octave (or whatever) for input (from a keyboard or sequencer). Then you can just play the white keys only, and even use the black keys as additional controls (maybe to change scales).

The table can just be a pitch class set, i.e. 0, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11. You should be able to transpose the scale by adding offsets before and after the table read...

Maelstorm,

Thanks! I got it to work in C. I think I know how to do some simple math trickery to get it to switch between keys, but still using the same [select 2 4 5 7 9 11] (which is how I got it to work right now).

I haven't thought of tables though. That might be useful elsewhere in the project also.

Thanks.