How do you compensate for the effects of synth detuning in a track?

Vespasian

New member
Hi everyone,

It's a bit of a noob question but one that's always bugged me.

If you have a 2 oscillator bass and detune it by semi-tones, obviously any key you press to play it not be correct the frequency for that key. So how do you go about making sure you're hitting the RIGHT note when it comes to then playing the bassline in your track, is it just PURELY by having to use your ears or is there a tricksy method I'm not aware of?

This is especially difficult if you're trying to find the root note of a track which has a detuned bass in it, because sometimes it sounds right, and others it doesn't - nightmare.

How do people get around this issue of disharmony?

Kind Regards

Vespa
 
So, let me see if I understand your question.

Facts Given:
You have a synth bass line

You have detuned the entire bass sound by some number of semitones, call it x.

Actual question:
You want to know how to make sure you are playing the right notes against the rest of your track?

My answer:
You need to learn about using transposition, either on your MIDI control track in your sequencer or in terms of transposing the scale you are using to fit your bass sound.

In either case you want to move your track notes
up X semitones if the detuning was downwards or
down X semitones if your detuning was upwards.

If this is not what was asked can you make the nature of your bass synth sound more clear please.
 
Hi and thanks for the reply.

Ah, I see.

So my next question would be this:

I am using modules in reason, so if I detuned by a number of semi's or cents, is there any way I can apply transposition so that when I play the detuned sound module it maps correctly to the keys on the keyboard? Is there a way of doing this in real-time and not applying it after recording midi notes?

{edit} I can see there is a master tune in reason, that only works if you have detuned all your modules by the same amount, not likely.

Kind Regards

Vespa
 
Last edited:
In Reason itself, no.

On your master keyboard, yes. There is always an option to change the note mapping on a synth keyboard - helps those folks who can only play in C major play in any other key by hitting the transpose buttons, moving them up or down 12 semitones (all the way up to B or all the way down B).

So check the manual for main keyboard and discover how to use the transpose functions it already has.
 
Ah right, a manualy consultation then.

I've realized that the kind of detuning involved to fatten a sound up is so slight it shouldn't cause an issue when playing back melodies but yes, for anything bigger I'm going to have to delve into my manual for my keyboard.

Many thanks for this.
 
In Reason itself, no.

On your master keyboard, yes. There is always an option to change the note mapping on a synth keyboard - helps those folks who can only play in C major play in any other key by hitting the transpose buttons, moving them up or down 12 semitones (all the way up to B or all the way down B).

So check the manual for main keyboard and discover how to use the transpose functions it already has.

Do you mean the manual for Reason, or the manual for the keyboard itself?

I'm still slow, so say..I do a chord progression in Amin/CMaj....and I want to hear it in a different key...it still takes me a good while to figure out the keys for the next scale to try... but shit, if theres some magic transpose trick that I'm missing out on...I want in!!! LOL
 
Manual for the keyboard

You can also do post-sequence processing of midi notes using the Tool Window (F8)
Find the Pitch pocket in the second pane of the tool window (not the insert instruments pane)
After selecting the notes in your sequence, use the transpose by semitones feature

Some hints on transposition by semitones based on C/Amin as your starting key

Transpose Up byTranspose Down byResult - MajorResult - Minor
111C[sup]#[/sup]/D[sup]b[/sup]A[sup]#[/sup]/B[sup]b[/sup]
210DB
39D[sup]#[/sup]/E[sup]b[/sup]B[sup]#[/sup]/C
48EC[sup]#[/sup]/D[sup]b[/sup]
57FD
66F[sup]#[/sup]/G[sup]b[/sup]D[sup]#[/sup]/E[sup]b[/sup]
75GE
84G[sup]#[/sup]/A[sup]b[/sup]E[sup]#[/sup]/F[sup]b[/sup]
93AF[sup]#[/sup]/G[sup]b[/sup]
102A[sup]#[/sup]/B[sup]b[/sup]G
111BG[sup]#[/sup]/A[sup]b[/sup]
 
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