A simple tool to pitch-detect your kicks and percs (Looking for feedback)

The Lounge General Discussion
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Hi everyone,

When you download sample packs and end up with hundreds of kicks without the pitch in the file name, it’s a nightmare. I recently realized how much of a difference it makes when I tune my kick to the root note of my track, so I’m trying to stay disciplined about it now.

I looked around and asked people, but I couldn’t find a good tool to help me (classic tools like Mixed In Key are made more for tonal sounds). So, for the past few days, I’ve been working on a small Python app to solve this.

Basically, you drop a folder full of samples, and the app analyzes them and predicts the pitch with different confidence levels (strong / probable / poor / no pitch found). You can choose between three frequency ranges (kick / percussion / high perc) so the app knows where to look for the root note.

The results appear in a table where you can:

Play samples directly from the list.

Use “Piano Mode” to play notes with your keyboard and compare by ear (C key = C note, Shift+C = C#, etc.).

Check the “Spectral View” to see the frequency curve of the selected kick.

With these features, you can easily double-check any doubts and edit the “note” column manually. Then, just right-click on one or more samples, select “Rename files”, and boom: the pitch is added to the file names! I basically built the exact tool I needed.

I now have a V1 that works well for me. I’m looking for interested people to test it and give me some feedback. I’m not a developer, so I’m figuring things out as I go.

If anyone has ideas for future features, I’d love to chat—I’m working on this solo and would be happy to discuss it!

The app is called PPF (for PitchPercFinder).

Thanks! :slight_smile:

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Does it have ability to play a tone so it’s easy to then play the sample and compare audibly ?
And do octaves ?

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Yes, that is what I mean when I say “Use Piano Mode to play notes with your keyboard and compare by ear”. Octaves yes sure, I have keep the Ableton way w & x to go down or up. And when you are in spectral view, you see where the app has place the pitch detected, and if you play a note, you see that perfect tone as well, so you can compare visualy … I hope that is clear, maybe I should make a video to show how it works

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I’d be interested in helping to test this :blush:

Not sure if your app could do this but kick fundamentals are much easier to read when pitched up an octave, so I would guess that if your app could non destructively pitch the sample up by an octave to analyse the tuning - it could potentially have a much higher accuracy rate.

Just an idea anyway, and thought to mention in case it’s useful

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This is an interresting idea ! Actually it seems even obvious, I used to +12 pitch all of my kicks when I did that by ear into ableton. But I wonder : is that easier just for biologic reasons (something about how we hear things, ear / brain etc) ? Or for digital devices as well … I will test that thanks for the tips

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Yes, our ears are most sensitive in the speech range. That’s also helpful for creating bass lines - just shift it up an octave or two. The lower the pitch, the less accurate you are able to differentiate between the different pitches. But that also means that you’re able to put a “wrong” note into a bass line for some color and it won’t break the whole thing.

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I have made test, actually for a machine it doesn’t help : to read the sample higher, it has to plays it 2 times faster, and so has less time and less information …

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Another method to hear better the pitch, especially of kicks, is to temorarily add overdrive (to the max). Then the sound has a lot more overtones and the pitch is easily decipherable.

(Off-Topic: However, I like to tune my kicks off, since this gives songs more energy.)

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How do we try your app out? Thanks

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I don’t want to drop it wildly here, I am still working on it. Maybe for those who are interested, you can mail me with in the subject something about “PPF” ? schklowsky@gmail.com