TEMPO and PITCH???!!! Experts Only...

JonT wrote on 6/12/2001, 8:19 PM
OK - When you select a portion or segment of a track, rightclick and view the properties, there's a dropdown menu of options for changing the pitch and tempo - what are "SEMITONES" and "CENTS" in relation to octaves, notes, key, etc??? Please help, as my music shall reign over all if I can find out this little secret! Just kidding, but I really need to know.

Comments

pelvis wrote on 6/12/2001, 8:55 PM
A semitone is the closest distance between two sounds played on a piano. So if you play any key on a piano and go to it's nearest neighbour you have travelled one semitone or a half step.

A cent is 1/100 of an equally tempered semitone, or 1/1200 of an octave.
RobSoul wrote on 6/14/2001, 3:53 PM
Adjust SEMITONES if you want to change the notes (or key) of the audio to another note in the scale. For example; your song is in the key of G# but you want to add a guitar line originally record in the key of A. You adjust the guitar lines' SEMITONES to (-1) and now it's in the key of G#.

Adjust CENTS if you want to "tune" the audio file because it's slightly sharp or flat. For example; the highest note in your song is really hard for the singer to hit because it's so high and he was a little flat. Adjust the CENTS by +15 (or whatever amount it takes to get it in tune with the music). Now it sounds like the singer actually was able to hit that note!

Hope this helps...
Rob
Avene wrote on 6/16/2001, 3:54 AM
I used to know this off the top of my head back in the days when I was tuning drum loops to a cetain tempo. There's a formula, and you need a scientific calculator to work it out. I think it's the expand command. I can't remember exactly. I'll post it here once I find the book I have it written in.
edna6284 wrote on 6/19/2001, 2:52 PM
I'm not sure what part of your question requires an "expert", but a semitone is 1 12th of a common octave. Each piano key represents one semitone.

A cent is, as the word would imply, 1/100th of a semitone.