Ableton have released Microtuner, a free Max for Live MIDI effect which accommodates the use and creation of microtonal scales. Check out our First Look video below to see how it works.
Microtonal scales are a great way to create interesting or unusual melodies, but they can sound a little jarring which can be off-putting. But if you put some time into it, they can be very rewarding and give your music a truly unique quality
You can either import any Scala tuning file, of which 5000 (!) are downloadable directly via the Device’s instructions in Live’s Help View, or easily create your own custom scale via two generators..
The 5000 readily available presets will certainly keep you busy for some time to come, although the intuitive scale generator encourages experimentation, so you’ll no doubt find yourself using both approaches. You can even use both simultaneously via the blend mode, to seamlessly morph between two scales.
Microtuner acts as a MIDI effect and can be placed in front of any pitch bend friendly MIDI instrument, translating incoming MIDI notes into the chosen microtonal scale. This is done using pitch bend so you will need to match your instrument’s pitch bend range to Microtuner’s Pitch Bend Parameter.
The device works monophonically or polyphonically with any MIDI controller or sequencer, but is also MPE compatible and much fun can be had polyphonically sliding between notes with an MPE capable controller. Especially when certain notes don’t sound quite how you expect them to (as demonstrated several times in our video).
Microtuner is free for any owners of both Max for Live and Live 11, so if you’ve never explored microtonality before, or have been looking for an easy way to utilize it in Ableton Live, this could be just what you need.
