[78-L] What key is that in?

[Doug Pomeroy]

Hi Mal,

There are some inexpensive programs which help identify the 
pitch of an audio sample, but I don't have a list of them.
I don't think any of them identify the key nor the chord names.

One "professional" processor is called "Capstan", made in 
Germany by Melodyne. Another is "Retune", made by CEDAR, 
in England.

These two ask what the pitch should be (usually 'A' at 440 Hz), 
and then process a file and show where the pitch deviates, which
allows manual editing.

Capstan shows what the computer "thinks" is right, and allows
the operator to make manual corrections where the program 
can't figure out what to do - so it's not "perfect" but it can produce 
excellent results when used by an engineer who has a good sense 
of pitch.  It may need help dealing with singer's vibrato (!), and It 
doesn't work with spoken-word audio, and of course applause 
drives it crazy!  But it's only $4000, which is not expensive for 
what it can do (and it can be rented for a very reasonable fee).

Another process, by a different company, is called Plangent 
Processes, which works only with tape recordings by analyzing 
the very high bias frequency which is recorded along with the
audio in all modern tape recorders (you need the original tape, 
not a copy).

Doug Pomeroy
Audio Restoration and Mastering Services
193 Baltic St   
Brooklyn, NY  11201-6173
(718) 855-2650
audiofixer at verizon.net


> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 19:16:21 -0500
> From: Mark Bardenwerper <citrogsa at charter.net.invalid>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] What key is that in?
> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Message-ID: <5394FCD5.7000809 at charter.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> On 6/8/2014 5:59 PM, Malcolm Rockwell wrote:
>> It just occurred to me... how come there isn't an app or a plug-in for
>> Audacity (or any other audio file modifying software) that determines
>> the pitch of a file? I'd think doing a quick average of the first few
>> seconds could determine the key that the start of the piece is in. Then
>> there might be an option that would allow the listener to shift the
>> records pitch digitally to raise or lower it so it's in tune to a set
>> pitch (like A440).
>> Another neat trick would be having the ability to show key changes
>> within a piece. Maybe like this Part 1 = C; Part 2 = G; Part 3 (1) = C;
>> Part 4 = Am; Part 5 (1) = C, and so forth. Note that in my example Parts
>> 1, 3, and 5 have the same key and melody.
>> Just a thought.
>> Malcolm