PA800-Arabic Scale in Song play mode

[Joe_PA800]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me if arabic scale can be used in songs (Song play mode).
I tried to select Quarter tone notes, it affects only the Real time tracks, none of the 32 two sequencers tracks
I tried changing the scale under "Sub scale" tab to "Arabic", it only affects the realtime tracks

[Sam CA]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me if arabic scale can be used in songs (Song play mode).
I tried to select Quarter tone notes, it affects only the Real time tracks, none of the 32 two sequencers tracks
I tried changing the scale under "Sub scale" tab to "Arabic", it only affects the realtime tracks

I've used this feature in style mode multiple times, and it works perfectly fine. It never occured to me to try the same in sequencer or song play mode. I just assumed it was available for those modes as well. If that's the case, then that would be a major disappointment for oriental sequences that use quarter tone...Let's find out for sure if this is true.

[Rob Sherratt]

No there is no edit mode for quarter tone scales in Song play mode but it does work in Sequencer mode. Load your MIDI song into the sequencer. Go to the Sequencer:Mixer Tuning -> Sub Scale page, and select sub scale for any required tracks. Then do "Save Song" from the drop down menu. When you load the modified file the quarter tone scale settings are remembered.

Alternatively you can edit the MIDI master track events themselves and insert note/scale modifiers at the start of the file as MIDI events. See page 210 of the Pa2x user guide.

The modified MIDI file will play with quarter tone scales in Song play mode.

Regards,
Rob

[Joe_PA800]

Hi,
Thanks Rob for the information.
After reading the section you mentioned in the user manual, performing some tests and reading the FAQ (Quarter Tone section) on korgpa.com
http://www.korgpa.com/pa_root/en/produc ... fr#Quarter
I assume the arranger works as follows:
A)About Quarter Tone:
Quarter Tone is an "On the fly" setting which can be assigned to Realtime Tracks only. This can be done with:
-the keyboard panel/screen
-via system exclusive messages from an external sequencer
-via system exclusive message ("QoT" event in the Master Track) in a midi file read in Song play mode.
Note that in all cases the midi Sequencer Tracks are not affected, only Realtime Tracks are.
I discovered this by testing and by comparing the system exclusive messages in the midi files saved by the PA800.
In fact, inserting a QoT event in the Master Track is directly replaced with a system exclusive message in the midi file.
This message is the same as the one that you must send via external sequencer to apply a quarter tone to a note on Realtime Tracks
Note that if you reload the song, the event no more appears in the Master Track event list, I think it is a bug (they don't convert the system exclusive message back to a QoT event)

B)About User Scale:
The User Scale works fine in Song Play mode. If you assign a User Scale to a song in Sequencer Mode, it will be read and applied in Song Play mode but only on Sequencer Tracks.
In the midi file generated after saving the modifications of the User Scale I noticed differences in two messages.
Note that if you reload the song in Sequencer Mode the system exclusive messages are converted and you can see that the User Scale is restored under Menu/Mixer tuning/Subscale.

To resume:
Quarter Tone is a realtime setting that can only be applied to Realtime Tracks.
User Scale can be applied to Sequencer Tracks in a song but it doesn't affect Realtime Tracks.

I still have to check whether User Scale can be changed dynamically in a song (by using the system exclusive messages) because, in oriental music, scale changes in a song are frequent.
I still have to find the system exclusive messages to be sent for those modifications to take effect (If anyone has them already, it would be great ).

I hope I was clear enough for those who will be reading this topic.
Please send me your feedback if you notice that my assumptions are wrong or if you have any other information to share.

Thanks