Ableton Forum

Hi,

Is there an easy way to convert MIDI files to different keys? For example I have some MIDI files in the key of E Minor, how could they be converted to A Minor? Is this possible without manually working out all the intervals..

Thanks.

Ableton's Scale device? Might work, never used it.

use the cursor to to draw a box around the notes,don't touch the note it self but rather just under the lowest one, they will get dark red, as opposed to red, then simply drag down or up to the "A" of your choice.

OM

^^ I know close to nothing about music theory but I'm pretty sure he'd need to move some intervals around like he mentioned.. So they don't all just move relative to eachother (like move everything up 2 notes, or down 3 notes), some of the notes would be shifted around a bit, is that right OP?

Thanks for the advice, I'll try out the scale plugin.

outershpongolia wrote:^^ I know close to nothing about music theory but I'm pretty sure he'd need to move some intervals around like he mentioned.. So they don't all just move relative to eachother (like move everything up 2 notes, or down 3 notes), some of the notes would be shifted around a bit, is that right OP?

Actually, if the OP is trying to do a straight transposition (i.e., E minor to A minor) then there is no need to alter any of the intervals - dragging all of the notes the same distance up or down will transpose the entire file.

If the issue was transposing notation, then some of the note names might have to be adjusted (i.e. E# renamed to F, or Db renamed to C#) but the actual interval relationships remain the same.

sounddevisor wrote:

outershpongolia wrote:^^ I know close to nothing about music theory but I'm pretty sure he'd need to move some intervals around like he mentioned.. So they don't all just move relative to eachother (like move everything up 2 notes, or down 3 notes), some of the notes would be shifted around a bit, is that right OP?

Actually, if the OP is trying to do a straight transposition (i.e., E minor to A minor) then there is no need to alter any of the intervals - dragging all of the notes the same distance up or down will transpose the entire file.

If the issue was transposing notation, then some of the note names might have to be adjusted (i.e. E# renamed to F, or Db renamed to C#) but the actual interval relationships remain the same.

That's very helpful. Thanks

sounddevisor wrote:

outershpongolia wrote:^^ I know close to nothing about music theory but I'm pretty sure he'd need to move some intervals around like he mentioned.. So they don't all just move relative to eachother (like move everything up 2 notes, or down 3 notes), some of the notes would be shifted around a bit, is that right OP?

Actually, if the OP is trying to do a straight transposition (i.e., E minor to A minor) then there is no need to alter any of the intervals - dragging all of the notes the same distance up or down will transpose the entire file.

If the issue was transposing notation, then some of the note names might have to be adjusted (i.e. E# renamed to F, or Db renamed to C#) but the actual interval relationships remain the same.

There ya go, see I don't know music theory more than what note each key on the keyboard is, so it was a shot in the dark.. But if you were goin from A major to A minor then you'd need to shift some stuff around, right?

outershpongolia wrote:
There ya go, see I don't know music theory more than what note each key on the keyboard is, so it was a shot in the dark.. But if you were goin from A major to A minor then you'd need to shift some stuff around, right?

Yes, that's right - going from A major to A minor (or, more broadly, from any major to minor with the same note name) you would need to change some of the interval relationships. That's because those interval relationships are what really define the "quality" (i.e. major, minor, dominant, etc.) of the scale or key. And that's why the "transpose by dragging all notes" method works - because transposing keeps all the interval relationships the same, just changes which one you are starting from, if that makes sense.

Of course, if you are keyboard-centric and visually oriented, it gets more confusing because those relationships look different in different places on the keyboard - C to E is the same interval as C# to F, but it looks very different. So transposing on the keyboard looks confusing because the pattern of white and black notes shifts as you change keys, even though the intervals remain constant.

And there you have today's theory lesson - hope it's helpful! I may have plenty to learn about Ableton Live, but all those years of lessons and music school have to be good for something, right?

Thanks again to everyone. I've still much to learn and I'm amazed at how simple it turned out to be.

sounddevisor wrote:And there you have today's theory lesson - hope it's helpful! I may have plenty to learn about Ableton Live, but all those years of lessons and music school have to be good for something, right?

Haha, I'm the opposite, I replace musical knowledge with being able to be like "hey check out these crazy sounds I can make with my laptop!"

The only advantage is I can have a great sounding mp3 recorded mixed and somewhat mastered better than most of my friends who can rip on guitar but have no idea how to set their tone levels on their amp..

To each their own, and thanks for the theory lesson!

sounddevisor wrote:

outershpongolia wrote: Yes, that's right - going from A major to A minor (or, more broadly, from any major to minor with the same note name) you would need to change some of the interval relationships.

melodyne is doing it corectly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zeLKMHxbN8 5:20 and up. that example is showing copying not moving but it is clearly visible that not all notes keep the same distance while moving - i wonder if there's a way to do the same in live.

Yes, a scale snap feature like Sony Acid would be nice.

Thank You. Your information is looking to be quite useful for me. I will also forward this link to myfriend also.

RajahP wrote:Yes, a scale snap feature like Sony Acid would be nice.

I haven't done much with it, but wouldn't the "scale" MIDI effect pretty much do this?