Is there a way to change the temperament/micro tuning of vari audio or other aspects inside Cubase? If not, it would be really cool to be able to change the micro tuning.
I never really thought much about how perfect 4ths and perfect 5ths actually aren’t perfect at all in equal temperament. They are not the 3:2 and 4:3 ratios. The only perfect ratio in equal temperament is the octave. For some reason I had it in my head that p4’ and p5 ratios were not affected by equal temperament. Now I want to do more music with perfect ratios.
And it would also be cool to have micro tunings for more exotic and interesting scales too.
Have you tried Hermode tuning in Cubase? Probably won’t have an effect on Variaudio, but it’s worth checking out.
Doing this in midi would be more practical than trying to re-tune audio material.
Most Halion instruments included with Cubase or not, can be microtuned using the midi microtuner insert, and comes with built in presets.
In order for machines to play in Just Intonation, where all intervals resolve to Integers (whole numbers) a reference pitch is needed, plus, it has to be computed dynamically, as the reference pitch changes over time… That’s what Hermode tuning does.
I’m a bit confused. Just intonation would result in integer ratios, but the actual result of those ratios would rarely be integers themselves.
Also I do understand that the the tones would change depending on a reference note, but what do you mean by “the reference pitch changes over time”. Are you saying that the computer is incapable of remembering the reference frequency or that typically a human will want to manually change the reference frequency frequently?
I’ll look into it though. At first glance, I don’t understand what exactly it’s changing.
What I’m trying to say is that if you play a chord you want tuned to pure intonation, one of the notes has to be designated as the reference, and the other notes would be tuned to it.
Like in a string quartet playing a Cmaj6 chord: cello plays C; viola, E; violin 2, G; violin 1, A. The four players will adjust pitch according to context. One scenario could be that since the cello is playing open C and can’t adjust that pitch, the others will make the adjustments necessary to be in tune.
In Cubase’s implementation of Hermode tuning, a track can be designated by the user as the reference. iirc, if you don’t designate such a track, the algorithm will do it on the fly.
Oh okay, I see. So it doesn’t just change the chromatic tuning altogether. It changes individual note pitches based on what it perceives to be a reference note?
This might require a more complex answer, as I have no clue have complex the algorithm is, but how does it determine which note is the reference note on the fly?
It works with any VST plugin that correctly processes the pitch commands Cubendo sends. This is also true for the microtuner. The plugin author must explicitly implement these commands.
I don’t know. But if it does, it’s not as simple as the program picking a note and sticking with it. This is a complex subject that’s been studied since the monochord was invented maybe around 3000 B.C.
The author of the Hermode tuning that exists in Cubase wrote a great essay with examples about this: Hermode Tuning
