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| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox
They could have named it "great way to fuck up your sounds".
Its not the label that gets me its the concept of how much it takes to officially make your sound sound off key.
If I detune up to 40 or 50 on vanguard it still sounds on key (sometimes), but if I detune it 127 it becomes obvious usually that its too much and is off key. |
There's a principle of psycho-acoustics which says that whenever you have different pitches, close enough together, that the pitch which exist between them is the one which is heard. This third note is referred to as a Beat Frequency. What you're doing, when detuning a synthesizer, is essentially creating a third note - which is the one predominately heard (unless you're panning differently pitched oscillators - in which case you'll only hear the third note as a result of the tones summing in the center of the stereo field.)
A note which is out of key, therefore, could be due to the fact that one of the oscillators is detuned while another is pure-toned. It could be that you have both detuned equally but the volume of one of the oscillators is too low. If your using a Unison function (essentially multiplying the number of times a note is played concurrently and therefore creating phase acoustic effects which impart diversity to the harmonic field) and tweaking the detune function there, at certain thresholds, depending on the sound, you're going to have tones which are too far apart to have tonal integrity.
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Now with extra singles!
my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012
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