friend: frequency to MIDI should be easy right?
-
raddevus wrote:
I know there basically is a solid way to say XXX frequency is a particular note
Not really, or at least only if you make certain assumptions. From the perspective of music theory that isn't correct at all. Warning: below is a little clarification about technicalities and theory, but for the practical purposes of what you're doing you don't really need to take this into account for most cases. I think it's worth mentioning though while we're discussing notes and frequencies, because there are some misunderstandings here. And, yeah, I have a bit of a thing about this because it's a common misconception that bugs me. You can easily find tables of frequencies matched to notes on the scale, but they are lies told for practical purposes and convenience. In reality, there is no defined frequency for any note, there are just arbitrary standards that can be--and often are--ignored by musicians in practice. The A=440 thing is a relatively recent convention designed to make it easier for musicians to play together while being in tune with each other. It's just a convention, and it's far from universal. For the purposes of a MIDI pickup, though, it's safe to assume that A=440 unless the guitarist is into archaic or oddball tunings. That's the easy part, though. The real problem is that the Western scale is based on ratio intervals between notes rather than any absolute pitches (frequencies), and the intervals change with each key, which can require the notes themselves to change frequency to be perfectly in tune for a particular key. That is, E-flat in one key may be a slightly different frequency than E-flat in another key, if you want perfect consonance with the other notes on the scale. You might think that's crazy, but it's true, and it's the reason for things like blue notes in jazz. Microtonal instruments like voice, violin, trombone, etc. automatically adjust pitch for each key, because intonation is done by ear and your ear will tell you to adjust the intonation for each key, musicians do this automatically. But fretted and keyboard instruments are another story, they have discrete pitches that they can play with little wiggle room, and so the musician can't adjust on the fly and it's impossible to tune them so that they are in tune in every key. This is why every piano in the world is out of tune, always, and if you don't believe me ask a piano tuner. The only way to make a piano truly in tune is to re
That's a great read but my original statement was a mistake:
raddevus wrote:
I know there basically is NOT a solid way to say XXX frequency is a particular note
I left out the word not. Oops. :-D I learned a lot about pitches, instruments, tambre from my time at Berklee College of Music and from David L Burge (Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse: Name EXACT Notes by Ear.[^]).
-
That's a great read but my original statement was a mistake:
raddevus wrote:
I know there basically is NOT a solid way to say XXX frequency is a particular note
I left out the word not. Oops. :-D I learned a lot about pitches, instruments, tambre from my time at Berklee College of Music and from David L Burge (Perfect Pitch Ear Training SuperCourse: Name EXACT Notes by Ear.[^]).
Haha! Well, you gave me an excuse to go on a rant about even temperament, so that was fun at least :)
-
Haha! Well, you gave me an excuse to go on a rant about even temperament, so that was fun at least :)
