Forgive me if this is a completely dumb question, but I usually play things by ear and don't pay any attention to the value of the octave I'm working in (C0, C1 etc). 

But tonight while working with Scarbee Funk Guitarist and having to pay close attention to key mappings to get the chords I want out of the instrument, I noticed that what Kontakt calls C0, Sonar calls C2. 

I actually noticed this in Battery as well some time ago. The key values that Battery has each drum cell mapped to, are actually 2 octaves lower than the value I have to use in Sonar to get the same note. 

I thought that octave labeling was universal...guess I was wrong! Is there any way to change Sonar's note labeling, or I am I forever going to have to subtract 2 octaves when mapping things to Kontakt? 

you could use transposition, or alternatively set base octave for pitches in sonar preferences to -2. nope, octave ranges are not universal. 

I can't seem to find the base octave setting?

There is a midi plugin called transpose. You should be able to put that on the midi track fx bin and set it to transpose down 24.

Tom Riggs


There is a midi plugin called transpose. You should be able to put that on the midi track fx bin and set it to transpose down 24.

I guess I could do that, yes (although I'd have to transpose it up not down). 

sharke


I can't seem to find the base octave setting?

I can't tell you exactly where it is as I'm miles away from my DAW, but this setting is in there somewhere - you just have to find it!

You can find the Base Octave for Pitches setting in Preferences, Customisation, Display (not sure why it's there)
Simon

I had this same issue a long time back. 

 The thing that not a lot of people know, is that all software/hardware companies don't stick to an agreed standard of what the base MIDI notes are. This is the cause of much frustration. 

 So Sonar's C0 = Native Instruments Battery C2 - Yamaha could be C1 etc etc. 

It's all very misleading. Took me ages to discover all of this way back. 

 I've been looking for a chart I found back at that time that showed all the manufacturers notes in a translation chart. It was brilliant. Alas, now I can't find it. 


 If anyone has the table or knows where it is, please chip in! 

I too found this with Battery 3, but as others said above, different companies have different ideas on what C1 or C0 is.

What I usually do is to adjust the transposition in the console channel strip, although sometimes I do it within the properties page for the instrument - most seem to have a knob or data entry box to allow transposition.  If you do it on the midi track channel strip, there is a little slider below some text that reads 'Key+'.  Just drag the slider right or left as needed.

I mostly do this so that the normal range of playable notes for the instrument lays out on my 76-note midi controller so that the notes play near middle C on the keyboard, or down a octave if it is a bass, or up an octave for a violin, etc.  

Sure would be nice if manufacturers got together on this, 

Bob Bone

Here is what the Sonar doc says on this:


MIDI note ranges can vary amongst manufactures. Specifically, it is the MIDI base octave for pitches. Some ranges may begin at -C2 while others might begin at C1. A common side effect can be observed when sequencing with drum instruments. For example, the instrument might internally label a drum sound "Kick1" as being located at C3, where as the MIDI sequencer (i.e.,Kinetic, SONAR, etc) appear to trigger that note using C4.

Different MIDI note ranges DO NOT transpose the note event between applications. In other words, the instrument will sound the same whether played in project5, Kinetic, SONAR or any other MIDI sequencer application. 

When using SONAR, a convenient solution for aligning MIDI notes to the instrument's advertised values is to set SONAR's MIDI Base Octave For Pitches. You can do this in options- Global-MIDI Base Octave For Pitches.  

This page last updated: 11/5/2009