What unit is Pitch measured in?

Hi guys,

A bit of an odd question, but I can't find anything about this. I'm prototyping a music app with my cousin, and part of this app involves manipulating the pitch of instrument samples. That would be simple in itself, but we need to use something called Just Temperament, which requires very particular frequencies.

To do this, I need to know what unit the Pitch setting is measured in. So, for example, I set the Pitch of a sound effect to 1.2. But 1.2 'what'? Cents? Hz? Does anyone know? This is key to getting the project working, so I would sincerely appreciate any help you can provide. Thank you!

Comments

  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    edited November 2014

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  • SocksSocks London, UK.Member Posts: 12,822
    edited November 2014

    @CriticalGames said:
    To do this, I need to know what unit the Pitch setting is measured in. So, for example, I set the Pitch of a sound effect to 1.2. But 1.2 'what'? Cents? Hz? Does anyone know?

    1.2 would be 120% of the original pitch (the pitch of the actual audio file).

    So, if 1 is the original pitch, then 2 is an octave above that and 4 is an octave above 2 and 8 is an octave above 4 (and so on . . . )

    Basically doubling the value raises the pitch by an octave, so from that you can extract tones, semitones and cents.

    The actual percentage change between adjacent semitones is 105.94631% . . . . so if the imported sound is C, then changing the pitch to 1.0594631 will move it up a semitone to C# . . . and then 105.94631% of 1.0594631 - which is 1.12246206026161 will move it up another semitone to D . . . and so on)

    But, as you are using just temperament you probably won't need that as the maths is so basic you can just calculate the numbers in your head.

  • CriticalGamesCriticalGames Member Posts: 45

    That is a huge help! Simple Apps and Socks - thank you both very much! I really appreciate it :D

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