Two weeks ago I bought AR and after syncing it with A4 I found that it is difficult to tune AR synth voices for playing correct pitches. I.e. when I want to use synth voice of BD “classic” track as a bass sound, I set sweeptime parameter to 0 and change tune parameter to 0 too, assuming that this is C note, but it sounds out of tune (much lower than C); if I change Tune parameter to +1 it sounds higher than correct C, thus I can’t set correct pitch to find perfect C while turning Tune knob of Synth page. In the same time when I load waveform (i.e. saw C4) to sample slot and Tune parameter of Sample page is set to 0 – pitch of the sample is correct – C4 – and I can play it chromatically. I checked it with Politune 2 tuner.
Guys, could you please confirm that you have the same issues?
If yes, how do you set up correct pitches?
Is it hardware design or something else?
Do I need to do calibration procedure? Is it risky in some way?
I recall this came up in another thread (though I can’t find it to link offhand). The values for the tune on the synth voices aren’t exactly set to semitone increments. It’s also not consistent between one synth machine to the next. The low drums IE: BD, BT, SD have a way smaller freq range than the higher ones like CP. I feel I can barely even see 1 octave out of the BT. As far as I can tell the tune on ALL synths isn’t locked to the traditional notes we would normally see on like the A4 or other elektron synths.
The tune is more of a “range” or frequency that sounds good when used as a drum. I’m guessing elektron might have done it that way to create more of a percussive sound that morphs a bit like drum skins. I notice even with no sweep values on the BT machine it will always sweep a little depending on what your decay value is set at. It also varies depending on what note you are playing. Low notes kind of go “bwwwwomp” and high notes are short and kind of “thunnnk”. HAHA Hope yall like my descriptors!
Why is it like this ? Who knows! Why did elektron not make easily tune-able drums ? No idea! But I do know it’s quirky and fun and I spent about 10-15minutes last night with a ableton spectrum analyzer to tune my bass drum and snare. Mostly because it was BDFM and had a sweep which makes the freq zip all over and the SD had a sample which was playing at a totally different frequency than the synth part. Isn’t that the kinda stuff we like about hardware synths though … if I didn’t want to tinker I could sit at my laptop and make robotic drums in WAY less time.
To summarize: Quirky drums are naturally more organic.
