Blog » 432Hz DAWs, Virtual Instruments, Plugins & Software Tools

Reading Time: 4 minutes December 2, 2014

432HZ: DAWs, VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS, PLUGINS, SOFTWARE TOOLS

In this blog article I will place various information about 432Hz virtual (software) instruments, plugins, packages and more, for various DAWs, as well as useful software tools.

  • SCALA (tool for creating temperament presets that can be used with various software and hardware).
  • MELODYNE (DAW and plugin for working with non-standard Concert Pitches and Temperaments).
  • ABLETON LIVE (Info about how to setup this DAW for 432Hz music production).
  • LOGIC PRO (Info about how to setup the midi instruments in this DAW for 432Hz music production).

SCALA – MICROTUNING

Scala is a powerful software tool for experimentation with musical tunings, such as just intonation scales, equal and historical temperaments, microtonal and macrotonal scales, and non-Western scales. It supports scale creation, editing, comparison, analysis, storage, tuning of electronic instruments, and MIDI file generation and tuning conversion. All this is integrated into a single application with a wide variety of mathematical routines and scale creation methods. Scala is ideal for the exploration of tunings and becoming familiar with the concepts involved. In addition, a very large library of scales is freely available for Scala and can be used for analysis or music creation.

With Scala you can create script and “dump” files that can be used to tune a large number of keyboards, synthesizers, virtual instruments and plugins to be able to use 432Hz tuning. This software could be hard to work with for those people who do not have much experience with micro-tonal music.

Source: http://www.huygens-fokker.org/scala/


MELODYNE – MICROTUNING

432-Tuning is more then just the change of the Concert Pitch (from 440Hz to 432Hz) but requires a change of Temperament as well (as explained in the article “432 Tuning: Basics”). Melodyne is perhaps the most “flexible” DAW when it comes to using temperaments other then the standard. Melodyne is available as DAW as well as editor (plugin) as well and is compatible with DAWs such as Avid Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase / Nuendo, Ableton Live, Sonar, Studio One and Digital Preformer.

Melodyne is a software application for OS X or Windows with which you can edit audio in a more musical way than was ever thought possible. In Melodyne, you work with notes – and not with a meaningless wave form. You don’t just see where the music gets louder or quieter but also where notes begin and end and at what pitch they lie.

You can modify each note and thereby influence directly the intonation, phrasing and dynamics – and do this not only with vocals and monophonic instruments but with polyphonic instruments such as pianos and guitars as well.

Source: http://www.celemony.com/en/melodyne/what-is-melodyne

The videos below provides information on how to use different Temperaments and Concert Pitches. They are not a turorials about 432-tuning in particular, but 432Hz as Concert Pitch is being mentioned in the 2nd video (03:46 – 04:00).



ABLETON LIVE

A “how to” video to setup Ableton Live for working with Concert Pitch 432Hz by Isaac Cotec (www.subaqueousmusic.com):

NOTE: the video on the left only explains how to change the concert pitch. In the video on the right it the (Pythagorean-based) “Scale of Fifths” is mentioned.

432 Essentials for Ableton Live

If you have been wanting to dive into making music in 432 tuning or get your feet wet in micro tonal music then this is the pack for you.  This Ableton Live pack was created by Ableton Certified Trainer Isaac Cotec to give you easy access to making music in 432. The pack is full of custom instrument and an example Live Set.

There is also a PDF included in the pack that walks you through making music in 432. It goes through setting up live instruments and third party VST’s.

The Live Pack includes:

  • 43 432 instruments
  • 34 instruments in Scale of Fifths
  • 1087 Samples!
  • Instruments in easy to manipulate instrument racks
  • Information on how to create your own instruments
  • Get all updates for free
  • 1 Example Live Set Template
  • PDF on 432 tuning and Scale of Fifths

Live Pack is made using Live Suite 9 but can be used with Live standard minus a few operator instruments in the live pack.

The PDF takes you step by step into making music in 432 as well as the Scale of Fifths. The PDF is avalible for free download below.  Here are a few images as examples of what is in the PDF showing you where the settings are in Live Instruments to change the tuning to 432.

Source: http://subaqueousmusic.com/shop/live-packs/432-essentials/


LOGIC PRO – MICROTUNING

In the video below some instructions how to change the Concert Pitch for all your midi instruments. This video does not explain how to change the temperament (Software Instrument Scale), but you can find it just below the Software Instrument Pitch section of the same tab.

Most people using the 432-Tuning (Concert Pitch + Temperament) prefer to use Pythagorean Temperament or 5-Limit / Just Intonation. You should be able to select those from the pull-down menu after selecting the option “fixed”. In case you like to use a slightly altered version of an existing temperament (like for example the “Scale of Fifths” by Maria Renold), then you could select “user” and tune the notes of the scale individually. 

Logic Pro web site: https://www.apple.com/logic-pro/


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