Small change in pitch

[happy hippy]

If you have ever tried to practice guitar while listering to a tape or CD, or phonograph, you know that you have to retune your instrument slightly to match the pitch. I'm not talking about a key change. Is there any kind of DIY circuit that will change the sound coming out of your amp to match the pitch of the recording? (I'm not sure which catagory this falls in, so I'll put it in instruments and amps, to start with)

Thanx
The Happy Hippy

[jcx]

no simple circuit can do pitch correction

tape, phonograph mechanical speed directly affects pitch and tempo together - in principle you could add a speed knob to your tape machine or phonograph depending on internal speed regulation circuitry used


nearly all CD players use quartz crystal oscillators with frequency tolerance, stability that are orders of magnitude better than human hearing pitch resolution
still if mastered in analog the problems of the tape machine gets faithfully stored on the CD

tuning isn't universally standard - reference pitch frequency has generally risen over centuries of western music, some modern orchestras tune to different frequencies today

[vacuphile]

There are Karaoke machines that allow you to change the pitch on CD's.

[geraldfryjr]

There are rack mount devices that are dedicated pitch transposers.
You may be able to find a VST plug in that can do this as well.
A pitch transposer will change the pitch without changing the tempo.
I have an early version of ACID that has this function built in to the program.
Audacity has a pitch transposing function as well and it is free!


jer

[Keriwena]

There's the Tascam CD-GT2 guitar trainer.

[PeteMcK]

My solution is to copy the track onto my computer, and use Audacity to change the pitch.
It would be much more convenient to have some sort of controller for the CD/DVD drive motor... I used to do this with tape players, but that only took a small pot wired in to controll the speed

[GloBug]

My solution would be to just tune the guitar a half step up or down, in other words tune the same as the people playing.

But that's just me. Don't over complicate it. Original sheet music will show the tuning. ie EADGBE (standard) or E-A-D-G-B-E- (Half step down.)

Some bands play a half step down E-flat, while you may need to tune a half step up for Sabbath.

Trust me it's not your CD player spinning too fast.

[stratus46]

Originally Posted by happy hippy

If you have ever tried to practice guitar while listering to a tape or CD, or phonograph, you know that you have to retune your instrument slightly to match the pitch. I'm not talking about a key change. Is there any kind of DIY circuit that will change the sound coming out of your amp to match the pitch of the recording? (I'm not sure which catagory this falls in, so I'll put it in instruments and amps, to start with)

Thanx
The Happy Hippy

I would rip the CD and take it into Adobe Audition (what I use) and adjust the pitch to whatever was needed. If you don't try to maintain tempo it will simply re-sample with no audible quirks - exactly the same as changing pitch on a turntable. Play it out of the PC or burn a new disc.

G²

[happy hippy]

The crux problem is contained in the word SLIGHT, which means just a few cycles per second in the lower pitches, like 79 cps instead of 82. I'm not talking one whole key or even half a key. And the change is different from song to song. I have the Audicity program, and it works well for key changes. But that's not what I'm talking about here. But thanks for all the advice. It's good to know that someone is actually out there.

Thanx
The Happy Hippy

[GloBug]

Slightly = quarter note.
Regardless of the cps, just tune to it.

Don't be so lazy, it takes 15 seconds.
That's what you are practicing after all, you'll suck all the fun and vibe out it.

Myself I would just pick a note from the song, preferably an open string and tune to that.
This way it sounds "Official"

You see bands would do this on purpose to align the instruments to the particular singers voice.

You might want to try it yourself to see if it makes it easier to sing in tune with your guitar.

Black Sabbath's Paranoid again for an example. You will have to tune up "Slightly" to be in tune with the guitar on that original song.
They tuned up slightly to be in tune with Ozzy's natural voice.

It sounds more authentic if it matters to you.

Options are to have four guitars, or play guitar hero.

Don't let me stop you from doing the project, it might be useful for an effect or something.