Changing the reference pitch causes out of tune (with its self) playback

[Stuart_Zobel]

I’m changing the reference pitch to match a recording for transcription purposes.
I’ve been at A=456 and on playback, it is quite out of tune with itself, chords in particular, and staccato are the most noticeable. there is even an instance of a repeated three note chord where the last instance of is is quite out of tune with the previous ones. The last instance has a staccato mark on it.

I did some testing, and at A=456 the staccato chord goes sharp, but at A=470 it goes flat, and the behavior seems specific to the violin (Halion violin solo combi - I tried pasting the same music to classical guitar and piano and they seems fine) .
When I reset to A=440, everything seems fine again. I have restarted Dorico between pitch changes, and the problem remains. I’m using whatever the default violin sound is.
Version 6.1.10.6078 (Oct 8 2025) - Dorico 6 AudioEngine Version 6.1.0.13

[Christian_R]

Hi @Stuart_Zobel, and everybody.

I noticed two issues: 1) the chord track doesn’t send the correct global tuning, and 2) the Etude Elements doesn’t react to the global tuning.

It is necessary to divide the chord track channel assigning it to a new plugin, and set the tuning directly into the plugin, to have the tuning correction for the chord track.
While using the Sonic Selection piano doesn’t have any issue, for the Piano track.

---

My tries and considerations (I set the global tuning to 430Hz in playback options):

It seems that the Etude piano doesn’t correctly adapt to the custom global intonation (other then 440):

etude doesnt adjust to global tuning.dorico (1.9 MB)

I noticed that there is a discrepancy between the intonation of the chord track : it seems that the chords track doesn’t send the correct custom tuning to the channel. Here I loaded the GM001 Acoustic Grand Piano to the channels of Piano and Chords:

chord track uncorrect tuning when global tuning is 430.dorico (1.9 MB)

---

To correct the issue:

For the chord track you need to load a separate Halion Sonic plugin (from the VST panel), and adjust its tuning directly into the plug-in dialogue:

separate hs plugin for the chord track tuning-tuning changed in hs.dorico (1.7 MB)

You can also load Etude on this extra Halion Sonic plugin, and adjust the tuning in the plugin. (To affect both Piano and Chord Track). But the tuning is only 99% correct to my ears… (while the Sonic Selection GM001 Acoustic Grand Piano is fine):

different halion for tunings (etude) 2.dorico (2.0 MB)

---

I hope it was clear. I think there is some issue here with the chord track, and with the Etude elements, when the global tuning is not 440. (I may be wrong, but this is what I experienced in my tests).

[Stuart_Zobel]

Hi Christian_R, thanks for taking the time to look into this!
The chords I’m referring to are in the part, not the chord track, I wonder if this is relevant, or if it is the same issue that you are describing (I assume by chord track, you are talking about sounds generated from chord symbols?)
In this example, it’s the notes in Vln. A that are out of tune.

[Christian_R]

Ah, ok.
Can you share/upload a cut-down Dorico project that shows the issue?

[Stuart_Zobel]

Nostalgico.dorico (1.7 MB)

[Christian_R]

Thank you for the file, @Stuart_Zobel
Woahhh, that’s really out of tune. The HSO Violin doesn’t handle the global tuning of 456Hz set in Playback Options very well (the staccato is 1 quarter tone too high).

I have much better results leaving the Playback Options/Tuning to 440Hz, and instead changing Halion Sonic tuning directly:

You can alternatively switch to a Playback Template that has only the Halo Sonic Selection (without HSO): it handles the tuning with no problem, even if is much more limited in the articulations, but for transcribing is maybe enough, and at least in tune

I tried also with Note Performer and it doesn’t have any issue with the tuning.

[MarcLarcher]

Sounds like the kind of situation where sample based instruments cannot do the job. Physical modeling handles this correctly.

[Stuart_Zobel]

Thanks for the solution! That’s much better, now the transcription is SO MUCH easier!