Digitone shows wrong octave

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
1

This is my first Elektron device – a second-hand Digitone 1 (Firmware 1.42).

And I have the following problem:

  • new pattern selected
  • then clear pattern – everything is fresh
  • note button – this is how I see the notes I’m playing
  • Key 14 – shows the note A5

But I hear and measure A4 440Hz at the output.

Press A4 on the MIDI keyboard:

  • shows A5
  • I hear and measure A4

I checked:

  • (Sound) Setup/OCTAVE: 0
  • Note/Oct+/Oct- is also set to Octave +0.
  • Settings/System/Mastertune: 440

What am I doing wrong? Does anyone have any ideas?

Is it due to a setting from the previous owner? Is there a way to reset it? Or is it enough to create a new project (I’ve already done that)?

2

There is no fixed definition to the presented range of octaves

Different devices use different numbering so you can see a swing of two octaves depending on Manufacturers

There’s nothing wrong with your device and you can’t change its reference to a different C number but if a deviation to concert pitch is a concern then offset the octave within the sound settings menu (if available)

I’m not entirely sure whether DN1 has this setting, there are a few Elektrons which do let you offset the octave tuning, essentially to allow you to work at the default range of midi notes but to change the pitch register heard, so you hear a bass without offsetting your Midi notes

You’re looking for an ‘octave’ sound setting with a range of +/- 5 iirc … it’s not a sound ‘parameter’

3

elektron calls note 60 (middle C) by the name C5.

don’t get hung up on which octave the note is called by, use the midi note number as a reference.

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4

Thanks for the answers, and I’m glad my Digitone is working fine.

I guess that’s just how it is with Elektron, and I’ll have to get used to it.

I noticed it when connecting a Launchpad to use Multimap. Novation seems to go an octave in the other direction, sending a 72 for C4, which the Digitone then interprets as C6.

Although there’s already a standard that specifies that C4 is 261 Hz and maps to MIDI 60.

5

Midi is not scientific pitch notation, it is Musical Instrument Digital Interface, a protocol which allows different gear to communicate via a standardized set of notes carried in the form of packet messages which are numbered for note values, the octave is not standardized in MIDI and if you feel the system is implemented in error, you will need to contact all relevant manufacturers as well as the MIDI association and ask for further standardization. I am not the correct person to ask for this.

Per wikipedia: In MIDI, notes are numbered from 0 to 127 assigned to C−1 to G9, although this sometimes appears as C0 or other variants as you may have found. This extends beyond the 88-note piano range from A0 to C8 and corresponds to a frequency range of 8.175799 to 12543.85 Hz.

Per the wikipedia article which you linked for scientific pitch notation “For standard A440 pitch equal temperament, the system begins at a frequency of 16.35160 Hz, which is assigned the value C0 .”

If scientific pitch notation begins with a frequency of 16.35160 and MIDI begins at a frequency of 8.175799 then it would seem impossible for these 2 systems to be in perfect alignment.

Beyond that unfortunately I don’t have any other relevant information and that lack of information has never once impeded my ability to make music within this system.

Best luck with your endeavors.

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