Available for the Slim Phatty and coming soon for the Little Phatty with OS
v3.0, this free download makes experimenting with alternate scales a breeze.
Tuning data is easily editable and is displayed as a ratio, frequency and in
cents. Scala files (http://www.huygens-fokker.org/scala) can be imported and
exported for use with other tuning software. An unlimited number of tunings
can be saved on your computer and the synthesizer’s hardware can store up to
thirty-two different tunings; enough to take you around the world and back
again.
If your musical explorations actually take you around the world, the Little
Phatty and Slim Phatty’s convenient size and universal power supplies make
them ideal travel partners.
My first thought was “Why the H would I want the possibility to change scale on my LP”.
But when I listened to the video I got really impressed!
Maybe I won’t use it myself - even if I love that kind of tunes - but I am sure it opens a new market for Moog in the middle East.
And that is not a small market …
video looks awesome, but how do we get it to work? a few of us have the software and have the scales in the little phatty but it doesnt change the pitch… is there something we’re missing?
I’m having the same problem! The directions say to look in your manual for more info about “scale#” but there isn’t anything in their or the addendum about that.
Same here, I have loaded in a few different scales successfully. However the scales don’t have any effect - whether selected globally, or saved into a patch. The SP continues to play equal temperament. The only thing that changes is the displayed scale…
I’m interested to know how this worked in the demo vid but not for the rest of us. It doesn’t seem like it should be complex to get going ?
Has anyone else out there with a SP managed to get alternate tunings to work?
Maybe it has something to do with the OS. There was an update to 3.03. It didn’t add anything as far as the tuning tables go, afaik. Maybe it worked on the demo because the machine was running a different OS. Just a guess. Maybe a setting in the menu needs to be adjusted. Are tunings per patch or global?
problem is I’ve been at NAMM… will look into this ASAP.
Clearly we’ve had it working, as the video proves – but it seems you’re experiencing a bug somewhere.
Could be in the latest version of the Tuner app, rather than on the Phatty side of the equation.
I’ll check into it this week. Sorry for the mis-fire!
OK guys, I have a Slim Phatty here running firmware v3.03 617 (what we’re shipping now, and available from our website)
and Phatty Tuner v0.6 beta (just downloaded from our website).
Both the Mac and Windows versions of the Phatty Tuner seems to be working perfectly for me. I have the default Slim presets, in which at the preset level, all tunings are set to GL (global), and as I change the Tuning Scale on the Master Menu, I get each new tuning audibly working.
So, for anyone who’s not having success with this, can you report here and tell me what version Phatty firmware and what version of the Phatty Tuner you’re using? Any other details that might help to shed light on the situation? Thanks.
I have OS 3.03 / 617 on a SP (same as it shipped with) but not sure which phatty tuner I have used - downloaded it pretty much straight after the announcement. I can’t confirm the version number of the application because someone is sleeping in my studio at the moment (had a lot of floods here and quite a few homeless so they need the space more than me).
Perhaps beta 0.6 is newer than the one I have, when I get the chance I’ll check and try again. But I have tried both global and local, the tunings certainly load into the SP OK, but getting them to actually apply - no luck at all.
just updated the OS and the only bearing it had on the scales that it seems like siamese clem and mqm husseini scales work… only on the white keys… they update just by scrolling to that listed tuning, meaning that hitting enter didnt seem to make any difference… so yea it seems like updating the OS only affected those two tuning scales the others dont change the pitch whatsoever
correct, hitting enter isn’t necessary. most of the meantone, pythogorean etc. tunings are VERY subtle; if you look, many notes have 0 cents of detuning and others have only a few cents. These tunings are most noticeable when playing chords or at least 2 notes of an interval at once, so it can be very difficult to tell if anything is happening on a monosynth (unless you overdub multiple tracks). I test those with a tuner, or by playing only a single note in equal temperament and then playing the same note in an alternate tuning (check the Tuner program to make sure the note in question should indeed be detuned).
If some tunings obviously work, then the simplest explanation is that all tunings work and some are just hard to hear. You can try re-sending the “non-working” tunings again, to be sure. But, if the names show up and the very obvious tunings are clearly happening, then I definitely start to think the problem is one of subtlety and perception…
Just checked this again, I downloaded the application again I re-sent the scales and I am getting the alternate tunings to work now exactly as intended. Don’t know what was going on before but probably ‘operator error’ on my part, sorry! This is a fantastic innovation, well done Moog.
Hi Amos: I have updated my LPStage2 to the latest beta vers of OS3 (#667) and have the Phatty Tuner 0.6 beta running on my Mac. Can you point me to a user manual for running the alternate tuning MIDI info to the LP? or is the PT soft not yet configured yet for the LP? I read all these postings and it seems everyone is starting off knowing how to load the alt tunings…
There’s not much to it really. Make sure MIDI is connected from your computer to the LP (on the LP Stage II, the built-in USB is perfect for this). In PhattyTuner, go to the Device menu and make sure the correct MIDI device is selected.
Next, select a tuning from the Tunings menu, or if you’re a little more comfortable with the software you can program your own tuning here or load one from a file.
In any case, the number box in the top left of the PhattyTuner sets which of the 32 slots (numbered 0-31) the tuning will be stored in. The only other thing you should need to do is to click the “Send” button at the bottom.
When you click “Send,” watch the Phatty LCD. You should see “Receiving Tuning Scale” for about a second. Now you can go to the Master menu TUNING SCALE menu and you should see the new scale appear in its designated slot. You can set the tuning globally from this menu, or you can choose a tuning by number on the Advanced Preset menu and it will set an alternative scale only for that preset.
A final note - a lot of the tunings (such as Just Intonation or Pythagorean) are extremely subtle changes in tuning which are difficult to detect when listening to only one note in isolation. The real difference can be heard more easily when listening to chords or intervals (more than one note at a time). In the case of more extreme detunings such as Maqam Husseini or Siamese Clem, you should be able to hear the difference on a monosynth, no problem.
