why is spectrum labeling 440 hz as "a3"?

[Zerobae]

if you mouse over 440 hz in live's "spectrum", the display reads "440hz - a3" ? what gives? i always thought 440 hz was a4? spectre is on my side, as you can see... am i missing something?

[anamexis]

It's not just spectrum - in all of Live's native MIDI stuff (like editing on the piano roll), all the note names are an octave lower than expected. Entering MIDI note number 60, which we would normally consider a C4, is considered C3 in live.

I have also wondered why this is. I mean, octave numbers are arbitrary, but I feel like A4=440 is the standard.

[shai]

i think there are 2 standards for numbering the scale.

[vicz]

'Yamaha scale' middle C = C4 'Roland (and Ableton) scale' middle C = C3

[sacredgeometry]

this confused the hell out of me for a long time haha dont worry its just labeling standards

[stringtapper]

C3 = middle C is the one of two MIDI octave designation "standards" (there actually are no octave designations in the MIDI standard), the other being C5 = middle C.

C4 = middle C is what's known as Scientific pitch notation and was created by the Acoustical Society of America so that a standard could be maintained for the purposes of research and scholarly writing in the area of acoustics.

The C3 and C4 seem to have become the most widely used designations, probably because Yamaha adopted the ASA's designations, as someone already noted. In Max the number box object has the option to display MIDI note names at either C3 or C4 = middle C.

Logic also uses C3.


(C3 = middle C is equivalent to A3 = A440Hz)

[Zerobae]

interesting... thanks!

[SubFunk]

C3 = middle C is the one of two MIDI octave designation "standards" (there actually are no octave designations in the MIDI standard), the other being C5 = middle C.

C4 = middle C is what's known as Scientific pitch notation and was created by the Acoustical Society of America so that a standard could be maintained for the purposes of research and scholarly writing in the area of acoustics.

The C3 and C4 seem to have become the most widely used designations, probably because Yamaha adopted the ASA's designations, as someone already noted. In Max the number box object has the option to display MIDI note names at either C3 or C4 = middle C.

Logic also uses C3.


(C3 = middle C is equivalent to A3 = A440Hz)

all correct, except logic's default is 'C3' it does give you the choice in preferences...