Detuning vs. Playing a different note

L

Libertine Lush

New member
A feature I'm coming across in synths a lot, though I think I've seen it in drum machines before, is Detuning.

What purpose does it serve when you can achieve the same by simply playing a higher or lower pitched note? Is it more about allowing you to do so to a held note while playing? If so, how is that different from pitch bending with a wheel/touch strip/etc?

Thanks!
 
There are whole articles written on the benefits & tricks of detuning, but basically it happens on a much narrower range than whole semitones - usually just a few cents. The important thing is that it's only really useful when you have more than one oscillator: a slight detune on the other osc(s) instantly creates a much "wider" or "bigger" sound; the phase changes & the waveforms mix up, creating new waveforms. And of course you can detune to a wider degree & play "chords" with a single key. Lots of classic synth sounds are based on detuning, actually...
 
Well, if you have enough oscillators and tune them into a chord - then that's what it is. But obviously your regular two oscs don't go very far.
 
Are you referring to detuning as a unisono effect i.e stacked oscillator voices, or referring to the finetuning of the master pitch in a synth, often labeled "Detuning"?
I suppose the purpose of finetuning the masterpitch is if you do a quite complicated sound in a synth, and you lose the correct key in it - then you can quickly finetune it until it matches the note you play it with.

As for regular unisono detuning, it's just another tool inside a synth so you can create specific sounds. Creating your own detuning by hitting extra semitones is just pointless since you waste time (imagine doing it with chords) and it will only sound false. It's much more efficient to it "in the box".
 
Its not the same at all the scale of difference is huge.

100 cents = 1 semi tone. You can detune by 1 cent. You can only move the pitch of your note playing by 1 semi tone. Detuning is for thickening, etc...playing a different note is just playing a different note.
 
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