Pitch/Key in MAGIX Music Maker Rock Edition 4

RockyRevolt wrote on 9/30/2012, 2:20 AM

I'm trying to figure out the keys/pitches.

I have been using Audacity for years and recording all of my own intstruments, only to find that in my trial, the pitch is referred to by numbers. I'm rather confused by this. If I want to add guitar or sing vocals, what key would I sing / play in? Do the pitches 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7. Refer to 1=A 2=B 3=C 4=D etc or is it 1=C 2= D ... 6 = A 7 = B?
I'm just confused as to what pitch/key these instruments are being played in. I don't have the best ears for pitch, so it would be very helpful if anyone could explain this to me.

I like the software, but this could make it or break it for me. It looks fun and easy to use, and at a good price, but I want my music to be musically correct. I don't want to be singing in G when Pitch 3 could be a C...

Thanks!

Update:
Also, can anyone tell me how to edit the tempo of the whole song/loops/tracks at once? Everything is at 120, and when I try to change it, it just reverts, or I can't get all of them changed. Thanks.

-Rocky

Comments

gandjcarr wrote on 9/30/2012, 2:34 PM

Hi,

I think you may be a little confused about pitch and key.  Pitch is a specific frequency or tone on a note on a scale.  Key really has to do with the group of frequencies or  "pitches" that go together to make the song. The "key" of a piece of music tells you which notes will be in the piece and which will not.  So for example if you use standard A 440 tuning, the A note above middle C has a frequency of 440 hertz.  and all other notes will have a frequency that will be related to that tuning.  If you change the tuning to say A 500, the pitch of all the other notes will need to change to that tuning, but all the notes will be the same in every key regardless of the pitch or tuning you use.

Changing pitch or tuning of stringed instruments is pretty easy and as long as all stringed instruments are tuned the same way, the "key" will adapt and work for those instruments.  However, if you use real physical brass instruments as an example, the key will need to be adjusted based on the tuning or pitch so that those insruments know which notes to play.

I hope this make sense to you, if not, I can go on and give you an example of different tuning or pitch and how it relates to any key.

The ability to change "pitch" in many audio editing products is really there to adjust vocals that are off key so that the pitch of the vocals can be adjusted to sound "on key".  It can also be used to adjust a stringed instrumet like a guitar which has been tuned to something other than A 440 often by accident to bring that instrument back in to "key".

Good Luck

 

Procyon wrote on 9/30/2012, 8:40 PM

gandjcarr - I don't think RockyRevolt is confused about pitch and key necessarily, but she wants to know how to determine the relative key for the other six variations of each soundpool sample.

I don't know about the more recent versions of MMM, but I cannot find a way to definitively determine the pitch/key for the variations (other than by ear, which is difficult for some people).  You can see the key of the default sample (#1) by right-clicking on the name in the media pool window and choosing "Properties".  In MMM-15, there are two tabs in "Properties".  The second tab appears to have buttons that would allow you to select another key or change the tempo, but they are non-functional.

RockyRevolt wrote on 9/30/2012, 9:34 PM

Thanks Procyon.

Yes, I know the difference between pitch and key, thank you for pointing that out, as the first answer did not answer my question whatsoever.

I will look into your suggestion, but it still sounds like I'm pretty much out of luck on what pitch everything is.

Personally, I would think there has to be a way to know what the pitch is. I would think that is the whole porint of a program like this--to get everything together in the right pitch and tempo.

Also, can anyone tell me how to edit the tempo of the whole song/loops/tracks at once? Everything is at 120, and when I try to change it, it just reverts, or I can't get all of them changed. Thanks. I'll edit that into my original question.

-Rocky

smartsmurf wrote on 10/1/2012, 4:35 PM

I'm not sure if this might help you, but there is a standart model in MMM...

(1) C-Dur
(2) D-Moll
(3) E-Moll
(4) F-Dur
(5) G-Dur
(6) A-Moll
(7) B-Dur

there's a wonderful tutorial here at magix.info (which is... completely in German...)

http://www.magix.info/de/was-bedeuten-die-zahlen-hinter-den-magix-samples.forum.72076.html

RockyRevolt wrote on 10/1/2012, 10:31 PM

After doing some research, it looks like it translates to,

C Major

D Minor

E Minor

F Major

G Major

A Minor

B Major

So, from what you've posted, it looks like they do range from C to B as on a piano from 1 to 7, rather than from A to G. 

From the link you provided, I put it into Google translator, and this is what came out:
"Magix does not have its Samples numbered just for the fun of counting. Behind the numbers are hidden the keys in which the samples are. This applies both to the particular style itself and soundpool across. A (3) about behind a sample always means that the sample is in E minor. In general, there are 7 keys that Magix used (in contrast to the music at all 24 keys - 12 major and 12 minor keys). The samples are numbered from 1-7 (sometimes even gibts 6 variants). The Magix keys in brief:

Standard Model

(1) C Major
(2) D minor
(3) E-Minor
(4) F Major
(5) G major
(6) A minor
(7) B-flat major

I call it now, the standard model. This standard model is brilliant, because it puts itself in the full post able to design complete songs that sound automatically always right. One need not know that lies behind (4) F major or behind (2) D minor. All I have to do is, to remember the number.

Suppose you draw a (5) he Gitarrenloop in the Arranger. Then you have to not think about what fits there - you do not even have to seek their own ear, but simply draw one (5) he or Key synth loop in the Arranger - always fits. A (5) Bassloop he do so, and the skeleton is complete (drums & percussion course, have no numbering, since there is no * Pitch * in the true sense are). I change the key after 4 cycles, and moves to one (1)-it loop in the Arranger, makes the same game, and looks up the corresponding numbered loops of the other instruments. Finish the cake. A third harmony to about (2) and then (1), then you already have a chord structure, fashioned from the many hits are (G / C / Dm / C).

The standard model is, as I wrote earlier, soundpool across, ie In principle, any (5) He loop with each (5) he loop of any other styles are combined. Tempi differences (each style has a distinctive bpm) resembles the Arranger automatically, if you have to "Preferences" "align samples automatically tempo" option checked off. Here, however, caution is advised, because the combination of samples of various styles can lead to unsightly sound deterioration when the bpms are too far apart (see my post about sound degradation in speed change).

But there are quite a few pitfalls and exception, must know the one, otherwise it may happen that you suddenly have pott ugly dissonance in your own song, though one has taken the number of matching samples Catholic than the Pope. In the following I will develop a complete list of all deviations from the standard model, the gold can be worth it if you push samples and you should copy so and lay next to the PC in order to prevent that, the song where they are currently working abkackt.

There is, for example, the style "Movie Score". Here in the numbering of the loops agrees not a single number with the standard model! A disaster? Not a disaster, as we shall see. The assignment of the movie-styles (hereafter I will markers all deviations of the samples from the standard model red so clear at a glance is: Warning Maximum danger!) Is the following:


Movie Score (bpm 80)

(1) A minor
(2) B-flat major
(3) C Major
(4) D minor
(5) E-Minor
(6) F Major
(7) G major

But there is a simple trick, how can we combine the samples of the movie-style with all others who follow the standard model. To take a look again at the top of the standard model for a long time and just exactly and compares it with the assignment of key and number in movie score-style."

I guess this answers my question then for what the numbers represent in pitches.

But, would this mean that I can't record something in D Major without it sounding off/weird?

CBY_TLSE wrote on 10/2/2012, 3:31 AM

Hi,

The tempo, key and pitch refer to parameters which are defined in the file BPM.inf for each style.

You can find (depending of the version of the sotware)  this file in Programfile\Magix\MusicMaker??\Basic??\name of the style. (directory where the style is stored)

By example for Flamenco Rumba vol 1, the parameters are :

 

[Tempo]
BPM=120

[HarmonyTable]
Scale=C

Sample1=C
Sample2=d
Sample3=e
Sample4=F
Sample5=G
Sample6=a
Sample7=h

 

Regards