Using Notation Composer to fine tune your intonation

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I have been in a discussion on a Fiddle Forum about using tools such as Notation Composer to help with intonation.

I disagreed with them because I thought Notation Musian/Composer isn't the best for intonation because I've been using it for almost 2.5 years and I think my intonation should be better and I've been trying recently to wean myself off MIDI based tools and use real recordings more. It's a very powerful tool though and I plan to continue using it for many other things.

Then someone in this thread on Intonation suggested taping down a "Drone" Key on a Key Board (tonic note of that Key) and play along with that to improve your intonation.

It so happens 2 hours later my Fiddle teacher suggested EXACTLY the same thing !!

So in stead of using a KeyBoard I used my "Programable KeyBoard" called Notation Composer and applied the drone suggestion to a Waltz in Notation Composer and I think it's working, but it's too soon to tell. There is something about the constant drone as reference vs the actually melody notes.

I used an organ for the instrument. Piano doesn't have enough sustain (which is my typical favorite MIDI instrument) and violin sounds awful. But the organ sounds pretty good.

http://softronix.com/fiddle/Music/Notation/Pretty_Peggy_Waltz.not (http://softronix.com/fiddle/Music/Notation/Pretty_Peggy_Waltz.not)

And for folks that run on Macs or don't feel like downloading Notation Composer Trial you can get an idea from the MIDI I exported.

http://softronix.com/fiddle/Music/Notation/Pretty_Peggy_Waltz.mid (http://softronix.com/fiddle/Music/Notation/Pretty_Peggy_Waltz.mid)

So perhaps these MIDI tools can be more help for intonation than I thought :)

[Sherry C]

Hi,

Regarding pitch and intonation: it can very well depend on the instrument source sounds, or in other words, the MIDI playback device that you use, as well. The GS Wavetable (the default device that is present on all Windows systems) is not the absolute best by anyone's definition. It will give you "quite close", but if you want a really spot-on pitch, you'll want to have a better instrument library (and watch out for soundfonts - I love 'em, but some need some tuning, which can be done with Viena from www.synthfont.com).

That said, I can understand why the constant reference pitch would be helpful - it gives you a constant anchor. That's a great idea - maybe I'll start incorporating that into my fretless bass practice as well.

Thanks for the tip!
Sherry