Wish A Middle Eastern custom pitch follower to the Pitch block

Omri Bazelet

Omri Bazelet

Inspired
Hi everyone!
I'm playing middle eastern music and one of the things that I need to bring with me a is portable "quarter fret".
What it does is simply adding a quarter note to that certain fret.
For example, if I put it in the second fret, I'll usually use it for the note A. as in a arabian makam called bayatt. so it's A+1/4 or else if I need that A,Taking Bb and lowering it a quarter step,

I thought of taking the exist custom shifter and setting it to 100% on the mix. So every note besides that quarter note isn't raised in quarter step and I can play this scale freely in the entire register of the guitar.
And if I don't need it, I can simply toggle it on or off.

It will save so much time for the turkish,israeli, morrocan and middle eastern players out there. and won't need a stupid quarter fret
 
Is it fair to say that you’re asking for the custom pitch shifter to be microtone-capable?
 
Huh. So Middle Eastern music doesn't use Equal Temperament, is what you're saying? And only one note of a scale is altered that 1/4 pitch?
 
TSJMajesty said:
Interesting. Is that in any type of scale (minor, dim, etc.), or just major? Or is it based on something entirely different? Ala Alan Holdsworth...?
Click to expand...
There are lots of scales available to Middle Eastern music. Some of them defy notions of major and minor.
 
Scala is the defacto standard for defining microtonal scales. You download or create a scala file for the scale you want, then load that file into your synth to play in that scale. Presumably you would load one into the pitch block if you want microtonality.

Here is a list of available scala files:

http://www.huygens-fokker.org/docs/scalesdir.txt
 
TSJMajesty said:
Interesting. Is that in any type of scale (minor, dim, etc.), or just major? Or is it based on something entirely different? Ala Alan Holdsworth...?
Click to expand...
Actually middle eastern music works a bit differently then the regular. It is much more intuitive and sing based than harmony ruled. Like, you can play Am and the guitar player will play a lot of different modes just based on that chord.

Those Makams (The arabic word for scales) are sort of based of the western world.
For example Makam Russt is simply a Major scale
Jaharka is a Mixolydian with the b7 lowered in quarter step.
 
Omri Bazelet said:
Actually middle eastern music works a bit differently then the regular. It is much more intuitive and sing based than harmony ruled. Like, you can play Am and the guitar player will play a lot of different modes just based on that chord.

Those Makams (The arabic word for scales) are sort of based of the western world.
For example Makam Russt is simply a Major scale
Jaharka is a Mixolydian with the b7 lowered in quarter step.
Click to expand...
This was one of the most fascinating things I learned, either in high-school in a music appreciation class, or maybe in college in music theory, but I like the idea of microtones.

I think we hear them in the blues, considering its roots, in bends we do since a bend is just a series of attached or slurred microtones. Some people always do 1/2 or whole step bends, but it's those tiny bends that aren't even a 1/2 step that really catch the ear. Jeff Beck does it with his tremolo bar, Derek Trucks with his slide, and I'm pretty sure I've heard Robben Ford do it in licks. It's just that little… tweak and I sit up and go "Whaaaa?".
 
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