What exactly is pitch and why do you need to know how to pitch your sounds? Here’s the answer…
The pitch function is an essential part of a (subtractive) synthesizer that you can usually find in the oscillators area.
What are oscillators?
An oscillator is a function of a synthesizer where you can generate an audio signal. The audio signal, aka “soundwave” or “waveform”, can be shaped and tweaked to produce a unique sound. So, an oscillator is the absolute starting point of your sound design process. Thus, it’s very important to understand all the settings that come with it, such as the pitch.
How to use pitch
After you have decided which waveform shape you want to generate, you can manipulate it further with the other settings, starting with the pitch. So, an oscillator can be set to a precise pitch by defining the octave, semitone and even some smaller musical intervals. Generally, this basically means specifying the fundamental frequency of the oscillator.
To understand this fully, it’s essential to know a thing or two about music-theory basics. Therefore, if you want to learn more about octaves and notes, but also scales and chords, just get The Ultimate Melody Guide.
Choose your preferred pitch
For now, I invite you to change the pitch settings on your synthesizer and listen how it affects the tone of your sound. In the end, it’s your job to set each oscillator to the right pitch for the type of sound you wish to make. From there, you can tweak the other settings, which we will explore next in the complete “Synthesizer for beginners” series.
Synthesizer for beginners
The “Synthesizer for Beginners” series is a huge collection of quick lessons about sound design and synthesis. Each lesson explains one part of how a subtractive synthesizer works, which is vital to know if you’re an electronic music producer.
Most people have the attention span of a butterfly and therefore miss all the important tips later in my videos and posts. Still, I don’t want you to miss a thing and that’s why you will see these short clips on Screech House. Each short clip explains a bite-sized topic from one of my longer videos. This gives everyone the chance to focus solely on what they need and thereby also saving a lot of time.
Today’s short clip is from the 4-part “Synthesizer Explained” video course. Watch the full episodes here:
Synthesizer explained!
The “Synthesizer Explained” video course is now finally available as an exclusive guide. This easy-to-read book is jam-packed with valuable info about the essential basics of sounds design, including practical tips and bonus cheat sheets.
Since the day of release, many people have already read it. But if you haven’t, click this link to get your copy: Synthesizer Explained.
Make sure to get it now, else you risk being too late, and I don’t want you to miss out.