Many of my keyboard notes are out of tune with itself

[aaroncavanagh]

I started working on my singing intonation and noticed that my MODX notes were all over the place regarding pitch. IE: one would be 7 cents sharp, another 5 cents flat, one on pitch, 30 cents flat, 17 cents flat, 9 cents sharp, etc. It seemed like the notes' intonations stayed consistent regardless of the patch, but I'm not swearing to that.

The same thing happened for my Roland Juno, Korg TR, Korg T3, Korg Kross - Although each keyboard had it's own unique set of intonation problems. Even my Logic sounds are out, although they seemed the best of all that I tried.

This really surprised me. My accordion was way better than all of these digital devices HaHAHA

Any thoughts about why the manufacturers can't make a digital instrument in tune with itself? I don't suppose there is a correction for this is there?

Thanks.

 

[happyrat1]

Have you checked this out with a Digital Concert Tuner or are you basing this on what you hear alone?

These discrepancies should be impossible with a modern CPU sound generator clocked with a tuned quartz crystal oscillator.

These things should more or less be within a 100th of a cent with modern electronic designs.

Did you ever experiment with non standard or legacy tunings with these boards?

Otherwise the only other possible cause is a software glitch in the board's operating system which should be fixable with a firmware upgrade.

Gary

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I agree with Gary/@happyrat1 about nonstandard tunings. If those values you mentioned are accurate, they sound like the kinds of variances I'd expect from certain types of tunings. Or perhaps you're using such a tuning system for your singing but the keyboard is using equal temperament, making them "off" from what you're expecting.

 

[aaroncavanagh]

Thank you Gary/@happyrat1 and Michael/@SeaGtGruff
for taking time to write.
You gave me enough clues to go back and discover that the main tuner app I was using was using something called "Just" tuning and not "Equal temperament".

That solved the problem.

You helped me a lot by removing any confusion about the wisdom of improving my vocal intonation by matching pitches on the keyboards.

And it makes me feel better about those thousands i spend on these keyboards over the years too

All the best to you. Good luck out there!

Terry Cavanagh

 

[SeaGtGruff]

You're welcome!

That's what I was thinking-- "just," which is "just intonation":

Just intonation - Wikipedia

There are many versions of just intonation tuning, because it uses ratios of integer numbers, such as 3:2 or 9:8, and different systems of just intonation use different ratios for specific musical intervals. The oldest version is Pythagorean tuning, based on the octave and the perfect fifth.