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
Thanx
The Happy Hippy
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
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
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 🙂
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 🙂
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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
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
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.
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.
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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
SLIGHT change in pitch
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
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
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.
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.
So many factors.
SOmeone may have a piano that is in tune to itself, but not to concert pitch. You can;t adjust the piano, so the band tunes to it instead of to pitch. If someone records that, anyone trying to play along will be out of pitch until they tune to it.
SOme recordings are pitch shifted a little to change the time length of the track.
A zillion exercise programs can;t be wrong, get a CD player with a pitch control. A zillions DJs can;t be wrong, get a turntable with a pitch control. A zillion whoever the heck still uses them can;t be wrong, get a tape deck with a pitch control. Even cheap Tascam cassette decks had those in many cases.
SOmeone may have a piano that is in tune to itself, but not to concert pitch. You can;t adjust the piano, so the band tunes to it instead of to pitch. If someone records that, anyone trying to play along will be out of pitch until they tune to it.
SOme recordings are pitch shifted a little to change the time length of the track.
A zillion exercise programs can;t be wrong, get a CD player with a pitch control. A zillions DJs can;t be wrong, get a turntable with a pitch control. A zillion whoever the heck still uses them can;t be wrong, get a tape deck with a pitch control. Even cheap Tascam cassette decks had those in many cases.
Sure pitch shifting is great. It's done wonders for musicians<Roll eyes means sarcasm.
Auto-Tune - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Auto-Tune - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DIY
But the question was, how to BUILD one. Something I can work into the design of my new amp. Anybody got a schematic?
Thanx
The Happy Hippy
But the question was, how to BUILD one. Something I can work into the design of my new amp. Anybody got a schematic?
Thanx
The Happy Hippy
Some years back I bought digital organ samples from Milan Digital Audio that I planned to use in Gigastudio160 . The organ tuning was not what I wanted so I used Adobe Audition to tune (re-sample ) the organ. You can hear the results here. Select Harmonies du Soir.
Milan Digital Audio - 12 Stop Tracker Demonstrations
The sheet music was scanned in with MidiScan and 'tweaked' in Cakewalk which was the used to play the Gigastudio and recaptured as audio with Audition and then converted to MP3. I.E i did _not_ play the organ myself.
There may be better tuning software in terms of ease but it definitely can be done in Audition to any degree of accuracy you want - just takes time.
G²
OK, my message was the problem would be far easier to solve making the source material variable in pitch, but if you want to pitch shift the guitar, get a audio DSP unit that does pitch shift and run it in the FX loop. There are tons of them these days, we used to use Yamaha SPX90s and SPX900s way back when.
If you are planning to incorporate pitch shift into an original amp design, that is the sort of circuit you are going to need anyway. SOme suggested above that you could load your source into the cpmputer, massage it around and spit it back out "corrected." But to do this in real time live, I see no other way than DSP, and that would be far from trivial to draw up on a napkin, so to speak.
If you are planning to incorporate pitch shift into an original amp design, that is the sort of circuit you are going to need anyway. SOme suggested above that you could load your source into the cpmputer, massage it around and spit it back out "corrected." But to do this in real time live, I see no other way than DSP, and that would be far from trivial to draw up on a napkin, so to speak.
Good grief Charley Brown.
OK Thanks to everyone who has managed to bring me back to the real world, in terms of technical possibilities. To use a transportation metaphore, I was thinking along the lines of a bicycle or motor scooter. But it seems that the job is more like a Rolls-Rovce, a Greyhound bus, or maybe even a 747, in terms of complexity. Oh well 🙂
Thanx
The Happy Hippy
OK Thanks to everyone who has managed to bring me back to the real world, in terms of technical possibilities. To use a transportation metaphore, I was thinking along the lines of a bicycle or motor scooter. But it seems that the job is more like a Rolls-Rovce, a Greyhound bus, or maybe even a 747, in terms of complexity. Oh well 🙂
Thanx
The Happy Hippy
There was an analog shift register in the early days of CMOS that the input and output could be could be run at different clock rates. A year after that announcement I saw a device at the TMEA convention that would double or halve an instruments tone, turning your clarinet into a bass clarinet. Something using that part could be built by an amateur with voltage controlled oscillators for the input and output clocks. But the pitch would be more stable if the clocks were digitally produced. I designed a digital clock synthesizer in 1979 out of LSTTL that was about 40 IC's. But every toy keyboard with a variable pitch has got one. Look around charity resale shops for a little kid keyboard with pitch bend, then use the top note as a clock for the bit bucket analog shifter, you have a portable pitch shifter.
Then again all this stuff is in software in some DSP's. There is one brand in the banner ad on diyaudio: I haven't needed one but you can read up on it. It was under $200 I think. TI was also selling a demonstrator pcb at newark.com.
Then again all this stuff is in software in some DSP's. There is one brand in the banner ad on diyaudio: I haven't needed one but you can read up on it. It was under $200 I think. TI was also selling a demonstrator pcb at newark.com.
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