Another means of altering the character of a MIDI recording is to experiment with its pitch, i.e., the property that is determined by the frequency of the waves. In less technical terms, its musical key.

If you have recorded, for example, Frederic Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu in the key of Db major, you might try a transposition to B-major, or lower. [Like electronic keyboards, sequencers have the capacity of transposing keys.] You will recognize immediately that the feel of the music has changed--for better or worse. If there is a noticeable improvement, one reason may lie in increased resonance, and enrichment of musical tone. Some synthesizers will offer a more authentic (less “tinny”) sound after a few semitones have been subtracted. However, some people will argue that transposing a Bach fugue or a Chopin prelude deviates from the composer's intent. But the classical composers did not write for electronic instruments, which have their own foibles, their own strengths and weaknesses.

On some occasion, you will probably want to import a song file into your sequencer, and then modify its pitch to suit your voice range (or that of your girlfriend). Whether the file arrives via a download or as part of a floppy disk, you may want to transcribe it to a more comfortable key--if only for humming along. If the tune you want to work on is an instrumental version, involving multiple tracks, you will want to select all the tracks with notes therein. One possible exception. You may choose to leave the percussion track (usually channel 10) alone, thus preserving the drum sounds.

Again, in terms of pitch, the technique of jumping to another key at the end of a chorus of a popular tune is a traditional device for introducing variety into an arrangement. It may be banal to say so, but all the notable arrangers, like Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini, and Quincy Jones, soon discovered this maneuver. If you undertake such a ploy, you will have to think about how to get into the next key: abruptly; via transition chords; by means of a drum fill; or otherwise. A musical decision.

A final comment pertaining to pitch, namely, the concept of register. We have alluded to this topic previously (in the discussion of instrumentation), but one should take special care about playing an instrument in its normal register, its range of pitch. This is not to imply that an instrument cannot be played, say, an octave above or below its normal range, but, in most sequencing endeavors, familiarity breeds contentment.

Consider saxophones. For purposes of this analysis, identify middle C on the master-controller keyboard as C3. [Sequencers give you the option of assigning a register for your own keyboard.]

Soprano sax: It has a pitch range of 2.5 octaves, but where do you find it noodling around most often? Answer: the upper half of the 4 range and the lower half of the 5 range (as we have defined our keyboard). Alto sax: Pitch range 2.5 octaves. It's usually found meandering around the upper 3 and lower 4 range. Tenor sax: Range 2.5 octaves. Favorite territory: an octave lower--the upper half of 2, the lower half of 3. Baritone sax: A shade lower.

Here's the point: If you record a baritone sax (patch 68) in the mid-range of your keyboard (the 3 range), you will probably want to transpose it down 12 semitones to get that low, husky tone. To express this another way, if you selected a soprano sax (patch 65), then blithely played it in the 3 range, Adolphe Sax (the inventor) might frown.

Among other things, enhancing means getting it right. An acoustic bass (patch 33) scooting up to C4 and beyond begins to sound like a cello (patch 43). A violin (patch 41) has a pitch range of three plus octaves, as does the viola (patch 42), but the latter has a more mellow tone, and might be preferred for playing some notes in a lower register. Can you identify the point at which the flute (patch 74) begins to sound like a piccolo (patch 73)?

Moral: Judgment in pitch selection will contribute authenticity of a MIDI recording.

Copyright © 1995 Eugene A. Confrey, PhD. All rights reserved.