Make xenharmonic music and explore musical tunings.
# Resources
- [Changelog](https://github.com/Woyten/tune/releases)
- [Scale expressions](https://github.com/Woyten/tune/blob/master/tune-cli/README.md)
# Overview
`microwave` is a microtonal modular waveform synthesizer with soundfont rendering capabilities based on:
- [tune](https://github.com/Woyten/tune) – a microtonal library
- [Nannou](https://nannou.cc/) – a UI framework
- [FluidLite](https://crates.io/crates/fluidlite) – a soundfont renderer
- [fluid-xenth](https://github.com/Woyten/tune/tree/master/fluid-xenth) – a microtonal wrapper around FluidLite
It features a virtual piano UI enabling you to play polyphonic microtonal melodies with your touch screen, computer keyboard, MIDI keyboard or mouse. The UI provides information about pitches and just intervals in custom tuning systems.
# Demo
- [Xênerie (15-EDO)](https://youtu.be/0PczKDrOdUA)
- [Don't Take Five (16-EDO)](https://youtu.be/LLgClI8pyNw)
- [The Bedoginning (17-EDO)](https://youtu.be/gaYvK9OBHK0)
# Download / Installation
Option A: Download a precompiled version of `microwave` for the supported target architectures:
- [microwave 0.26.0 (Linux)](https://github.com/Woyten/tune/releases/download/microwave-0.26.0/microwave-0.26.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.zip)
- [microwave 0.26.0 (Windows)](https://github.com/Woyten/tune/releases/download/microwave-0.26.0/microwave-0.26.0-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip)
- [microwave 0.26.0 (macOS)](https://github.com/Woyten/tune/releases/download/microwave-0.26.0/microwave-0.26.0-x86_64-apple-darwin.zip)
Option B: Use Cargo to build a fresh binary from scratch for your own target architecture:
```bash
# If you are using Linux: Make sure all dev dependencies are installed.
# On the CI environment (Ubuntu 20.04) we only need to add one library:
sudo apt install libasound2-dev
cargo install -f microwave
```
`microwave` should run out-of-the box on a recent (Ubuntu) Linux, Windows or macOS installation. If it doesn't, the problem is probably caused by the Nannou framework. In that case, try following these [instructions](https://guide.nannou.cc/getting_started/platform-specific_setup.html).
# Usage
Hint: Run `microwave` with parameters from a shell environment (Bash, PowerShell). Double-clicking on the executable will not provide access to all features!
```bash
microwave run # 12-EDO scale (default)
microwave run steps 1:22:2 # 22-EDO scale
microwave run import my_scale.scl # imported scale
microwave help # Print help about how to set the parameters to start microwave
```
This should spawn a window displaying a virtual keyboard. Use your touch screen, computer keyboard or mouse to play melodies on the virtual piano.
## MIDI in/out
To enable playback via an external MIDI device you need to specify the name of the output device and a tuning method. The available tuning methods are `full`, `full-rt`, `octave-1`, `octave-1-rt`, `octave-2`, `octave-2-rt`, `fine-tuning` and `pitch-bend`.
```bash
microwave devices # List MIDI devices
microwave run --midi-out name-of-my-device --tun-method octave-1
microwave run --midi-in "name of my device" --tun-method octave-1 # If the device name contains spaces
```
To listen for events coming from a external MIDI device you only need to specify the name of the input device:
```bash
microwave devices # List MIDI devices
microwave run --midi-in name-of-my-device
microwave run --midi-in "name of my device" # If the device name contains spaces
```
## Soundfont Files
For playback of sampled sounds you need to provide the location of a soundfont file. The location can be set via the environment variable `MICROWAVE_SF_LOC` or the command line:
```bash
microwave run --sf-loc /usr/share/sounds/sf2/default-GM.sf2 steps 1:22:2
```
If you like to use compressed sf3 files you need to compile `microwave` with the `sf3` feature enabled. Note that the startup will take significantly longer since the soundfont needs to be decompressed first.
## Modular Synth – Create Your Own Waveforms
On startup, `microwave` tries to locate a waveforms file specified by the `--wv-loc` parameter or the `MICROWAVE_WV_LOC` environment variable. If no such file is found `microwave` will create a default waveforms file for you.
Let's have a look at an example clavinettish sounding waveform that I discovered by accident:
```yml
name: Funky Clavinet
envelope: Piano
stages:
- Oscillator:
kind: Sin
frequency: WaveformPitch
modulation: None
out_buffer: 0
out_level: 440.0
- Oscillator:
kind: Triangle
frequency: WaveformPitch
modulation: ByFrequency
mod_buffer: 0
out_buffer: 1
out_level: 1.0
- Filter:
kind: HighPass2
resonance:
Mul:
- WaveformPitch
- Envelope:
name: Piano
from: 2.0
to: 4.0
quality: 5.0
in_buffer: 1
out_buffer: AudioOut
out_level: 1.0
```
This waveform has three stages:
1. Generate a sine wave with the waveform's nominal frequency *F* and an amplitude of 440. Write this waveform to buffer 0.
1. Generate a triangle wave with frequency *F* and an amplitude of 1.0. Modulate the waveform's frequency (in Hz) sample-wise by the amount stored in buffer 0. Write the modulated waveform to buffer 1.
1. Apply a second-order high-pass filter to the samples stored in buffer 1. The high-pass's resonance frequency is modulated by the envelope named `Piano` and ranges from 2*F* to 4*F*. Write the result to `AudioOut`.
To create your own waveforms use the default waveforms file as a starting point and try editing it by trial-and-error. Let `microwave`'s error messages guide you to find valid configurations.
## Live Interactions
You can live-control your waveforms with your mouse pointer or any MIDI Control Change messages source.
The following example stage defines a resonating low-pass filter whose resonance frequency can be controlled with a MIDI modulation wheel/lever from 0 to 10,000 Hz.
```yml
Filter:
kind: LowPass2
resonance:
Control:
controller: Modulation
from: 0.0
to: 10000.0
quality: 5.0
in_buffer: 0
out_buffer: AudioOut
out_level: 1.0
```
# Feature List
- Sound features
- Built-in modular waveform synthesizer with physical modeling synthesis
```bash
microwave run --wv-loc <waveforms-file-location> [scale-expression]
```
- FluidLite soundfont renderer
```bash
microwave run --sf-loc <soundfont-file-location> [scale-expression]
```
- External synthesizer via MIDI-out
```bash
microwave run --midi-out <midi-target> --tun-method <tuning-method> [scale-expression]
```
- Microphone / aux input
```bash
microwave run --audio-in [scale-expression]
```
- WAV recording
- Control features
- Sequencer / piano keyboard via MIDI-in
```bash
microwave run --midi-in <midi-source> [scale-expression]
```
- Computer keyboard (configurable isomorphic layout)
- Touch Screen
- Mouse
- Channel events (pitch-bend, modulation, pedals, aftertouch, etc.)
- Polyphonic events (key pressure)
- LF sources (envelopes, time slices, oscillators, etc.)
- Effects
- Low-pass
- 2nd order low-pass
- High-pass
- 2nd order high-pass
- Band-pass
- Notch filter
- All-pass
- Reverb
- Spatial delay
- Rotary speaker
- Microtuning features
- Custom scales
- SCL imports
- KBM imports
- Tuning-dependent automatic isomorphic keyboard layouts
- Customizable second visual keyboard (`--kb2` option)
- MIDI-out retuning via different tuning message types
- Display frequencies and rational number approximations
# Help
For a complete list of command line options run
```bash
microwave help
```
# License
`microwave` statically links against [`fluidlite`](https://crates.io/crates/fluidlite) for soundfont rendering capabilities. This makes the *binary executable* of `microwave` a derivative work of `fluidlite`. `fluidlite` is licensed under the *GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1*.
