Pitch Automation Tips in DP 4.6

[magicd]

Pitch automation is done primarily in the Sequence Editor. The pop-up menu that allows you to view Soundbites, Volume, Loops and other types of automation now includes Pitch. When you switch to the Pitch view, the track should show the audio waveform, the Pitch Segments, and the actual Pitch Curve. If you don't see the Pitch Segment or Pitch Curve, that's because DP has to analyze the audio first to get it's pitch information. This should happen automatically when you switch to the Pitch view. You can track analysis progress in the Background Processing window (Studio menu).

If you have DSP analysis set to Wait Until Needed in the DP preferences, DP won't analyze for pitch until you switch the track view to Pitch. At that point, DP only analyses the pitch for the visible, displayed soundbite/soundfile. So lets say you have a vocal track and you've punched in the bridge. If you are zoomed in so that only the bridge soundbite shows, switching to the pitch view will cause DP to analyze only the soundfile that contains the bridge soundbite.
This is useful to know if you are running on a slower computer and working with long soundfiles. For example, lets say I've got a four minute vocal track and I want to tweak one word in the middle of the chorus. I could select the chorus and split it out as it's own soundbite. I then Merge that soundbite (Audio menu), which causes DP to create a new audio file that contains just the selected area. I zoom down to the word I want to edit and switch to the pitch view. Instead of analyzing the original four minute vocal track, DP only analyzes the newly created chorus soundbite.

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Pitch automation is a real time DSP process. It's like a plug-in built into the track. You'll notice that the update notes say that Delay Compensation must be on when using Pitch Automation. If it isn't, pitch automated soundbites will be delayed during playback.
This also means that if you add complex pitch automation to many tracks, you're adding to the CPU load on playback. on my single processor G4 Powerbook, this load can add up quickly, especially if I have other plug-ins running.

The trick here is to print pitch automation changes once you're happy with what you've got. Check it out:
I've recorded a vocal verse. I want to fix a syllable of a word. I switch to the Pitch view and make my edit. I like what I hear. So I switch back to Soundbite view and select a region around the edit (extra space before and after the edit). I Split (edit menu) the soundbite out and Merge (Audio menu) it. This creates a new soundbite with the pitch change printed. Because there is no more live pitch automation for the newly fixed and created soundbite, it isn't using extra CPU power.

As I've been working with this feature, I've found that making corrections, then merging soundbites has been a very efficient workflow technique.

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Pitch Segmentation is a big deal. When DP analyzes monophonic audio for pitch, it has to make a decision as to what is a different note, and what is a variation of single note. There is a Adjust Pitch Segmentation command under the Audio menu>Audio Pitch Correction. This command works on selected soundbites. It's basically a threshold slider that controls the sensitivity of DPs decision making in terms of what are separate pitches or not. Other ways to control pitch segmentation include the Scissors and Mute tools from the Tool Palate. I use the C and M keys to access these tools. The Scissors tool will cut a Pitch Segment. The Mute tool glues Pitch segments together. Positioning the mouse cursor at the right or left hand edge of a Pitch segment gives you a <-> tool that lets you change the position of the break between Pitch Segments.

Pitch Segments are what gets copied and pasted when you export as MIDI. Pitch Segmentation is critical when applying Pitch Scaling, either manually (Option-drag a Pitch Curve) or by choosing Scale Expression from the Audio menu>Audio Pitch Correction.

When dragging Pitch Segments, they will snap to the nearest pitch. Holding the Command key as you drag the Pitch segment allows you drag without snapping, allowing you to detune a note.

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Knowing key commands speeds up the workflow. C= Pitch Segment Cut, M=Pitch Segment Heal, P=Pencil Tool

More to come I'm sure!

Magic Dave

[Archer]

Thanks for the useful tips Magic!!!

I find this feature also has tremendous potential in the field of sound design. Very, very nice

<small>[ July 08, 2005, 09:05 AM: Message edited by: Archer ]</small>

[aaronlyon]

Pitch automation is a major kick in the creative pants! Here is my excercise from last night.

I wrote this chorus for a female voice, then tried to sing it myself for the demo. The notes are a bit out of my range, and I sang it very poorly. Judge for yourself:

http://superconductormusic.com/pub/unicornation/bsrs-nopitch.mp3

Then I used DP 4.6's Pitch Automation to fix my bad vocal. See screenshot:

http://superconductormusic.com/pub/unicornation/pitch.gif

Becuase this chorus is about voices from outer space, I option-dragged the pitch curve totally flat, so all variation was removed. Then I quantized the pitches and manually cleaned up where needed. Finally, I restored the vibrato at the end of each phrase by selecting that part of the pitch curve and pressing Delete. So simple!

Here is the fixed chorus:

http://superconductormusic.com/pub/unicornation/bsrs-pitch.mp3

The quick, robotic snaps between notes are great here, becuase of the song's outer space vibe, and are totally intentional. It's also easy to leave the transitions between notes sounding very natural. Some audio artifacts are easily audible when the voices are soloed, but with the huge wash of reverb from DP's Plate plugin, you can hardly hear the artifacts.

Genius, I tell you!

-aaron

[aaronlyon]

BTW, all this stuff mentioned by MD is very well explained in the DP 4.6 Update Notes that come with the update. Nicely done, MOTU.

-aaron

[Archer]

Right, but it seems that MD is the first source mentioning how to print pitch automation. Very useful if one plans to spare CPU power

Greetings

[jem.b]

thanks for the tips....

[dix]

You'll notice that the update notes say that Delay Compensation must be on when using Pitch Automation.

Does this mean Delay Compensation can be turned off now? ...it must.

[magicd]

dix,
You've been able to turn off delay compensation since it was added in with DP 4.5.

Setup menu>Configure Audio System>Configure Studio Settings

The only reason I would even think about turning off delay compensation would be if I had a project created in an older version of DP that had manual compensation added to tracks and I didn't feel like getting rid of those adjustments. Otherwise, leave it on.

Magic Dave

[Jeffintosh]

How about exporting the MIDI data to another app, can this be done?

Say like, record a vocal or clean guitar line, convert
to MIDI then import that MIDI data to Reason.

Copy and paste?

[magicd]

Copy and paste of MIDI works within DP. If you want to export MIDI to another program, you would paste into a DP track, then export as a Standard MIDI File.

Dave

[Jeffintosh]

Thanks Magicd,

Depending on how accurate the audio to MIDI conversion is,
this will open up a whole new dimension in writing techniques for me.

Excellent stuff!

jeff

[sruhs]

I must be missing something. When I drag the pitch segments I hear no difference in the pitch. What am I doing wrong.javascript:void(0)

[Mario-C.]

same thing here, I drag and drag and nothing happens
is there any thing you have to check to get that pitch shift happening ?

[Henry Robinett]

Magic Dave - thanks! I have been waiting and waiting for was certain segment of this guitar solo to finish analysing. There are 5 notes, one of which I want to correct, that have no pitch segment or pitch curve. And it looks as though DP is done analysing. What do I do now? It may be because this is a live track. There's reverb on the guitar and may be slight backgroung mic leakage. 2.7 Dual G5 10.4.1.

[Splinter]

MD:

I'm curious as to when DP is using CPU cycles for pitch automation. Is it all the time once the track is set to "Pitch"? Is it only when pitch correction is happening? I know how to turn it off on a track, but what is it that instantiates it or uninstantiates the pitch automation. It's a wonderful feature I just don't want it to be running in the background and be unaware of it. I'm not sure I understand how it works.

I've been playing with it on some vocals. On one continuous file I set the automation view to Pitch. DP analyzed the file and drew in the pitch info. I made my changes on a few parts. Now, is DP using CPU cycles throughout the track even though I only fixed a few parts or is it only using up horsepower when it is correcting pitch. I'm trying to get a better handle on things.