The Roland HandSonic HPD-15 hand drum includes some tuned percussion instruments. You can edit the pitch of each pad in cents. The pads are grouped into 3 sets of 5, as shown:
You can edit the pitch of each pad individually, and further adjust the pitch of an entire set (A, B or C). The pad set adjustment is very helpful when creating a patch for any HPD-15 instrument that is voiced for a higher or lower octave.
After several experiments, I finally settled on this arrangement of the Bohlen-Pierce scale notes. It is fully chromatic from D to D’. I didn’t include a low Db as it seemed less important than the high D’ for modal music.
I tuned the notes to the C Lambda scale in just intonation with A=440 Hz (pad A2). The first song recorded with this system was Fuse Blue. The HPD-15 is somewhat buried in the final mix. I’ve created a separate MP3 file of just the HandSonic tracks so that you can hear what it sounds like:
I’m happy to answer any technical questions from other HandSonic players who are into BP or other alternate scales. The HPD-15 isn’t a real sensitive instrument, but its fine tuning capabilities make it a very useful tool for creating a variety of sounds in real time performance. I advise using a good frequency meter when tuning, as the readout of cents isn’t really very accurate. The tables below contain the fine tuning adjustments that I developed for several of the unit’s virtual instrument voices.
| C Lambda Just Intonation on Roland Handsonic HPD-15 | |||||||
| Midrange Voicings | A49:Gender | T43:SynStrings | S13:Drip | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| note | frequency | pad | cents | pad | cents | pad | cents |
| C2 | 188.57 Hz | A5 | -567 | A5 | -1767 | A5 | -1768 |
| Db2 | 203.66 Hz | -433 | -1634 | -1631 | |||
| D2 | 224.49 Hz | A3 | -265 | A3 | -1464 | A3 | -1464 |
| E2 | 242.45 Hz | A4 | -132 | A4 | -1332 | A4 | -1331 |
| F2 | 264.00 Hz | A1 | +16 | A1 | -1184 | A1 | -1175 |
| Gb2 | 288.63 Hz | B1 | +170 | B1 | -1030 | B1 | -1030 |
| G2 | 314.29 Hz | B2 | +317 | B2 | -881 | B2 | -874 |
| H2 | 339.43 Hz | B3 | +451 | B3 | -748 | B3 | -744 |
| Jb2 | 369.60 Hz | B4 | +598 | B4 | -602 | B4 | -600 |
| J2 | 404.08 Hz | B5 | +753 | B5 | -448 | B5 | -436 |
| A3 | 440.00 Hz | A2 | +900 | A2 | -298 | A2 | -290 |
| Bb3 | 475.20 Hz | C1 | +1033 | C1 | -166 | C1 | -161 |
| B3 | 523.81 Hz | C2 | +1202 | C2 | +2 | C2 | +8 |
| C3 | 565.71 Hz | C3 | +1335 | C3 | +135 | C3 | +135 |
| Db3 | 610.97 Hz | C4 | +1469 | C4 | +268 | C4 | +269 |
| D3 | 673.47 Hz | C5 | +1637 | C5 | +439 | C5 | +439 |
| High Voicings | T66:Fantasia | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| note | frequency | pad | cents |
| C3 | 565.71 Hz | A5 | -1073 |
| Db3 | 610.97 Hz | ||
| D3 | 673.47 Hz | A3 | -770 |
| E3 | 727.35 Hz | A4 | -638 |
| F3 | 792.00 Hz | A1 | -490 |
| Gb3 | 865.89 Hz | B1 | -335 |
| G3 | 942.86 Hz | B2 | -188 |
| H3 | 1018.29 Hz | B3 | -55 |
| Jb3 | 1108.80 Hz | B4 | +94 |
| J3 | 1212.24 Hz | B5 | +246 |
| A4 | 1320.00 Hz | A2 | +395 |
| Bb4 | 1425.60 Hz | C1 | +530 |
| B4 | 1571.43 Hz | C2 | +705 |
| C4 | 1697.13 Hz | C3 | +828 |
| Db4 | 1832.91 Hz | C4 | +965 |
| D4 | 2020.41 Hz | C5 | +1133 |
| Low Voicings | T34:FunkBass | T33:FingBass | T01:Ac.Piano | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| note | frequency | pad | cents | pad | cents | pad | cents |
| C0 | 20.95 Hz | set | -700 | ||||
| Db0 | 22.63 Hz | ||||||
| D0 | 24.94 Hz | -1668 | |||||
| E0 | 26.94 Hz | -1548 | |||||
| F0 | 29.33 Hz | -1388 | A1 | -1388 | |||
| Gb0 | 32.07 Hz | -1232 | B1 | -1232 | |||
| G0 | 34.92 Hz | A5 | -1086 | B2 | -1086 | ||
| H0 | 37.71 Hz | A4 | -954 | B3 | -954 | ||
| Jb0 | 41.07 Hz | A3 | -805 | B4 | -805 | ||
| J0 | 44.90 Hz | A3 | -652 | B5 | -652 | ||
| A1 | 48.89 Hz | A1 | -506 | A2 | -506 | ||
| Bb1 | 52.80 Hz | B1 | -372 | C1 | -372 | ||
| B1 | 58.20 Hz | B2 | -202 | C2 | -202 | ||
| C1 | 62.86 Hz | B3 | -70 | A5,C3 | -70 | A5 | -1767 |
| Db1 | 67.89 Hz | B4 | +63 | C4 | +63 | -1634 | |
| D1 | 74.83 Hz | B5 | +232 | C5 | +232 | A3 | -1464 |
| E1 | 80.82 Hz | A2 | +365 | A3 | +365 | A4 | -1332 |
| F1 | 88.00 Hz | C1 | +512 | A4 | +512 | A1 | -1184 |
| Gb1 | 96.21 Hz | C2 | +668 | B1 | -1030 | ||
| G1 | 104.76 Hz | C3 | +815 | B2 | -881 | ||
| H1 | 113.14 Hz | C4 | +948 | B3 | -748 | ||
| Jb1 | 123.20 Hz | C5 | +1096 | B4 | -602 | ||
| J1 | 134.69 Hz | B5 | -448 | ||||
| A2 | 146.67 Hz | A2 | -298 | ||||
| Bb2 | 158.40 Hz | C1 | -166 | ||||
| B2 | 174.60 Hz | C2 | +2 | ||||
| C2 | 188.57 Hz | C3 | +135 | ||||
| Db2 | 203.66 Hz | C4 | +268 | ||||
| D2 | 224.49 Hz | C5 | +439 | ||||
