Pitch/Semitone Help

[thickage]

I would like to accomplish the following:

1. I would like to take a song that is played 1/2 step down and change the key or pitch so I can play along to that song in standard tuning. I.e. Most Guns 'N Roses tunes are tuned 1/2 step down, but I want to learn the tune using the same positions on the neck but in standard tuning. So, if Slash busts a solo from the 12 fret, I want to mimic that in standard tuning on the 12th fret(it's a PIA to swap between tunings, especially when I'm practicing 40 tunes). How would I convert the tune to "standard" tuning (E)? I don't care about the actual quality of the sound, I just want to practice against the guitar parts.

2. Let's say a tune was in the key of C (standard tuning) and I want to drop that to F (standard tuning) - how many semitones would that be? I get confused between B and C (is that 1 semitone or 1/2?) - you know, where there are no sharps/flats between the notes. Could someone explain how I would get from C to a lower F (I'm assuming minus semitone). Would it be C - B - Bb - A - Ab - G - Gb - F for minus 7 semitones?

[thickage]

I would like to accomplish the following:

1. I would like to take a song that is played 1/2 step down and change the key or pitch so I can play along to that song in standard tuning. I.e. Most Guns 'N Roses tunes are tuned 1/2 step down, but I want to learn the tune using the same positions on the neck but in standard tuning. So, if Slash busts a solo from the 12 fret, I want to mimic that in standard tuning (it's a PIA to swap between tunings, especially when I'm practicing 40 tunes). How would I convert the tune to "standard" tuning (E)? I don't care about the actual quality of the sound, I just want to practice against the guitar parts.

2. Another scenario: Singer needs key change on tune, say a tune was in the key of C (standard tuning) and I want to drop that to F (standard tuning)?

[viscofisy]

Yip, you counted correctly - it's 7 semitones. A semi tone is from one piano key to the next (regardless of whether said keys are white or black) or from one guitar fret to the next (on the same string, obviously )
Alternatively, you can use the same system to count upwards instead of down, whatever suits.

Use the Reapitch plugin on the track you want to retune....you can shift in semitones.
Try the different conversion types at the bottom of the gui to get the best sound quality.

Once you've re - pitched it, you can also slow it down, btw - without further affecting the pitch, by changing the BPM
(You have to choose the correct project time settings).
Maybe you don't need that....I use that feature for learning fast fiddle tunes where you want to preserve the current key.

[Fergler]

You'd love a Variax guitar.

Anyway, yeah you can use pitch shifting but it will add -some- delay to your sound making it very hard to practice. Also you will need to monitor loud to cover the sound of your own strings so they don't fight.

Lastly, make sure to practice it with detuned strings at some point, as this affects the intonation microchanges you need to do with your finger especially higher up and also the tension of the strings, affecting bends and action of the guitar. It's not much but if you practice it in regular tuning and get too used to it, you could catch a surprise during performance in downtuning when the guitar doesn't behave as you're used to from muscle memory.

Also it's not that hard to downtune/uptune all six strings between songs, takes like 30 seconds at most to ensure they are tuned properly after. If you have a tuning pedal or keep ReaTune open to take out the guess work, even less time. Is it really worth crappy tone and irregularly responsive guitar action to save 15 seconds?

[Judders]

Why would you use Reapitch? Why not simply change the pitch in the item properties window?

[typhonj]

Yes, Judder is right!
Easiest to do it from item properties.
Right click on the item then 'Item properties' (See attached)
It doesn't affect the tempo. Put a negative value to lower it down and positive to crank it up.
As it is saying whole integer number are for semitone entries.
So from C down to F, put -7 in there and voila!

[viscofisy]

Originally Posted by Judders

Why would you use Reapitch? Why not simply change the pitch in the item properties window?

In Reapitch you have options for formant and algorythm type.
I've no idea how item settings re-pitches audio, but it might just be using the same default as Reapitch, which afaik is the zplane elastique programme.
I find Reapitch very quick and simple to use - just a few mouse clicks.

[Judders]

Originally Posted by viscofisy

In Reapitch you have options for formant and algorythm type.
I've no idea how item settings re-pitches audio, but it might just be using the same default as Reapitch, which afaik is the zplane elastique programme.
I find Reapitch very quick and simple to use - just a few mouse clicks.

Now, I don't know, but if you off-line render the audio after changing the pitch in item properties, can you not get better quality results than real-time pitch adjustment? That's what I presumed from the preferences options regarding resampling. Maybe this in conjunction with the ReaPitch formant controls could produce the best results?

Just an idea...

[Fabian]

Select your item. Hit F2. In the dialog that appears, change the "Take pitch shift/time stretch mode" to "elastique 3 pro", and then set the option to "Presv Formants (Most Pitches)". Now adjust the pitch of the item your desired number of semitones, and play along.

You can play around with preserving formants for low/high/most pitches to find the sound you like best.

ReaPitch uses the exact same set of available algorithms, but now you change the pitch off-line, which creates no delay and no CPU cost. And I really don't think adding ReaPitch as an FX and adjusting that is easier than what I described above. If you want to you can save the default pitch change algo by saving a project template. Then using "Project default" will directly give you teh selected algo and there is only pitch adjustment to do.

[Judders]

Originally Posted by Fabian

Select your item. Hit F2. In the dialog that appears, change the "Take pitch shift/time stretch mode" to "elastique 3 pro", and then set the option to "Presv Formants (Most Pitches)". Now adjust the pitch of the item your desired number of semitones, and play along.

You can play around with preserving formants for low/high/most pitches to find the sound you like best.

ReaPitch uses the exact same set of available algorithms, but now you change the pitch off-line, which creates no delay and no CPU cost. And I really don't think adding ReaPitch as an FX and adjusting that is easier than what I described above. If you want to you can save the default pitch change algo by saving a project template. Then using "Project default" will directly give you teh selected algo and there is only pitch adjustment to do.

Thanks for the confirmation!

[viscofisy]

Originally Posted by Judders

Now, I don't know, but if you off-line render the audio after changing the pitch in item properties, can you not get better quality results than real-time pitch adjustment?

Would that be effectively the same as rendering the track with Reapitch on it?
Are they just two different methods of doing the same thing?

[daniel88v8]

media item properties: pitch adjust (semitones) and put 0.50000 and now the song is in standard tunning

[Judders]

Originally Posted by viscofisy

Would that be effectively the same as rendering the track with Reapitch on it?
Are they just two different methods of doing the same thing?

I don't think so, but I'm not sure.

If you use the highest quality of off-line rendering, I believe it would be of better quality than rendering the output of a plugin, which would be exactly the same as real-time.

Hopefully someone else can confirm.