Why is Live's root note set at C3?

Share what you’d like to see added to Ableton Live.
Post Reply
MonoTeksist
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:29 pm
Location: The Ableton forums
Contact:

Why is Live's root note set at C3?

Post by MonoTeksist » Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:10 pm

In al the previous DAW's I've used, playing a sample at its root note would be C4, yet Live has it set to C3.
Is there any reason for this to be the case and can I change it?

Thank you.




PS: I got my Komplete Kontrol A49 today :D. I really like the semi-weighted keys (haven't used it too much yet) and I'm thinking of picking up a piano playing course. I'm dabbling in movie soundtrack/epic musicmaking more now, a huge shift from electronic music.

scg
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2023 10:14 pm

Re: Why is Live's root note set at C3?

Post by scg » Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:36 pm

MonoTeksist wrote:
Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:10 pm
In al the previous DAW's I've used, playing a sample at its root note would be C4, yet Live has it set to C3.
Is there any reason for this to be the case and can I change it?
Are you asking why middle C (MIDI note 60) is named differently across different music hardware/software? If so, it's just a matter of differing conventions. It varies between DAWs, and in some DAWs it's user-configurable, but I'm not aware of an option in Ableton for this.

MonoTeksist
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:29 pm
Location: The Ableton forums
Contact:

Re: Why is Live's root note set at C3?

Post by MonoTeksist » Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:35 pm

scg wrote:
Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:36 pm
Are you asking why middle C (MIDI note 60) is named differently across different music hardware/software? If so, it's just a matter of differing conventions. It varies between DAWs, and in some DAWs it's user-configurable, but I'm not aware of an option in Ableton for this.
I'm not too much into technical jargon so I don't know what you mean with middle C but with every other DAW, playing a sample's root note would always be C4. It's not a big thing but I find it kinda odd.

scg
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2023 10:14 pm

Re: Why is Live's root note set at C3?

Post by scg » Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:55 pm

MonoTeksist wrote:
Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:35 pm
I'm not too much into technical jargon so I don't know what you mean with middle C but with every other DAW, playing a sample's root note would always be C4. It's not a big thing but I find it kinda odd.
Middle C is just a specific C, around 262 Hz. One system calls that C3, another system calls that C4, and I think some might even call it C5. I don't think every other DAW besides Ableton calls it C4 - for example, whether to call it C3 or C4 is a preference in Logic, and even when Logic is set to C4, it somewhat inconsistently uses C3 in some places. And, I think I've heard of DAWs that use C5, at least by default. But, it might just happen to be the case that whatever other DAWs you've used have used C4.

In any case, it's more or less arbitrary. It can be inconvenient, because it gets in the way of communication, but it's just something you get used to after a while.

MonoTeksist
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:29 pm
Location: The Ableton forums
Contact:

Re: Why is Live's root note set at C3?

Post by MonoTeksist » Tue Mar 28, 2023 5:13 am

scg wrote:
Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:55 pm
Middle C is just a specific C, around 262 Hz. One system calls that C3, another system calls that C4, and I think some might even call it C5. I don't think every other DAW besides Ableton calls it C4 - for example, whether to call it C3 or C4 is a preference in Logic, and even when Logic is set to C4, it somewhat inconsistently uses C3 in some places. And, I think I've heard of DAWs that use C5, at least by default. But, it might just happen to be the case that whatever other DAWs you've used have used C4.

In any case, it's more or less arbitrary. It can be inconvenient, because it gets in the way of communication, but it's just something you get used to after a while.
Thanks for clearing that up somewhat, Live seems to have quite a few quirks that regularly bug me a bit, like eg when you're doing automation in session view and click on a dot to change its value you always end up changing all the dots in the clip, so I (usually) swear, click somewhere else than on the automation line and go "Why does Live always auto-'select all' the dots???". Grrrrrr. And several other automation weird goings-on.

Post Reply