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Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 8:29 pm
by jamessimon
I'm perplexed why my Notion tuning for all instruments is off. I've tried 440 and 442. I have to change the tuning to approximately 427.4 to approximate what my tuner says is A 440. Anyone know what I'm missing?

Re: Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 10:27 pm
by michaelmyers1
Hmmm, that would be a good question for support! I'd be curious as well. Maybe your tuner is off? I've never tried to check the tuning, but that's a substantial difference!

Your tuner isn't a "Verdi" tuner is it? https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/which-tuning-standard-sounds-better-432hz-or-440hz

Re: Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2018 12:39 am
by Surf.Whammy
jamessimon wroteI'm perplexed why my Notion tuning for all instruments is off. I've tried 440 and 442. I have to change the tuning to approximately 427.4 to approximate what my tuner says is A 440. Anyone know what I'm missing?


I have the global tuning pitch set to 440-Hz (Concert A) in NOTION 6; and I did a test using SignalSuite (Faber Acoustical) with its sine wave generator set to 440-Hz . . . :)

SignalSuite (Faber Acoustical)

There were no beats, which indicates the 440-Hz global tuning value in NOTION 6 is correct . . .

I did this with a flute (which naturally and expectedly oscillated based on the breathing of the flute player, which is part of the sampled sound), piano, and electric guitar . . .

The piano and electric guitar did not oscillate, which is the reason I used them . . .

Flutists tend to heavy breathers, and they are easily excited . . . :P

THOUGHTS

I do everything on the Mac here in the sound isolation studio . . .

By default, NOTION 6 is not configured to use 440-Hz as the global tuning pitch, so it needs to be set manually . . .

My best guess is that the default is non-standard to match the sampled sounds from the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) that are bundled with NOTION . . .

440-Hz is the international standard tuning frequency, and in the US it is broadcast on radio hourly at various times so that orchestras and music ensembles have a consistent, standard tuning pitch . . .

The US time and frequency station WWV broadcasts a 440 Hz signal at two minutes past every hour, with WWVH broadcasting the same tone at the first minute past every hour. This was added in 1936 to aid orchestras in tuning their instruments.

[SOURCE: A440 (pitch standard) ~ Wikipedia ]

There is a 440-Hz tuning pitch on YouTube, and it matches the 440-Hz sine wave output by SignalSuite . . .

phpBB [video]


Check your tuner against the YouTube video (440-Hz) . . .

It's likely that your tuner has a problem or is not calibrated correctly . . .

Lots of FUN! :)

P. S. It's better to do the pitch verifying with a third-party sampled sound library like Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments) that uses 440-Hz by default . . .

NOTION 6 will do computed pitch adjustments to make pitches sound in tune with whatever global tuning pitch you select, but I do not think the native NOTION sounds are played on instruments which were tuned to standard Concert A (440-Hz), so when you change the NOTION global tuning pitch to 440-Hz, this probably causes NOTION to compute each note . . .

In contrast, Kontakt 5 uses 440-Hz by default, as does MachFive 3 (MOTU); so their sampled sounds will be played on instruments tuned to 440-Hz as Concert A . . .

SampleTank 3 is designed and programmed by IK Multimedia, which is an Italian company; so it uses some of the Italian and EU values--at least for Middle C, which it considers to be C3 in Scientific Pitch Notation rather than the American standard C4. In the MIDI universe, Middle C is note 60, but different synthesizers use a range of Scientific Pitch Notation values for Middle C from the set {C3|C4|C5}' so it depends on the specific company and the way they configure their synthesizer . . .

It might be nice if there were only one "standard", but there isn't . . .

Toward the goal of being as Utopian as possible, I think it's important to allow Middle C to be A### or E♭♭♭♭ . . .

The world must be peopled, and this works best when there is music . . .

When people are peopling, the specific frequency value of Concert A is not first and foremost in their minds . . .

It's True! :+1

Re: Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2018 3:52 pm
by jamessimon
Now my B-flat trumpet, playing an E (D concert), is playing the same E that the piano on Notion is playing. I checked that all Transposition is off and I changed the tuning back to A 440. I think I'm losing my mind.

Re: Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 12:55 pm
by Rudi_UK
A shot in the dark... have you checked the View menu?
There is a choice of Transposed, Concert Tuning, and Concert Pitch.
Which one do you have selected?

Re: Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:53 pm
by jason.parfait
Not sure if you've solved this yet, but have you compared your sound interface's sample rate to the setting in Notion? I've had notes come out about a 1/2-step off due to my interface being set at 48khz and Notion being set to 44.1khz.

Re: Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:50 pm
by johnnewberry
440 A is right on here. I used the YouTube test tone by ear and I also used a Boss TU-80 tuner.
Right on the mark.

,Newberry

:arrow:

Re: Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 2:38 pm
by jamessimon
Update on the tuning issue: It happens when I open Garageband while I'm using Notion. Notion suddenly changes tuning when that happens. Garageband stays true to A440. Weird and frustrating because I need both these apps to work together on one computer.

Re: Notion 6 tuning

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:37 am
by estebancortes
Had the exact sam issue. The sample rate of my interface was set at 441 and and notion was set at 448, once both were set at the same sample rate, everything came back to normal.