C3 or C4?

johnfromberkeley

Trick question!

wim

Yes.

Montreal_Music

I don't C the point.

wim

Let me check my notes ...

GeoTony

Not sure it's as black and white as that...

rs2000

Can also be C2 if you want. Free to decide.

AlmostAnonymous

Personally I use Dbb. Changes the feel of the song just enough.
Dbb3 and Dbb4 is still a mixup.

uncledave

60 is middle C. Go with the numbers, forget the noise.

Seriously, this Wikipedia article on Scientific Pitch Notation gives some explanation. But I guess gear designers (and app devs) make their own choices and we just have to roll with it.

rs2000

Yep.
What I find interesting in the wiki article posted by @uncledave is this:

Scientific pitch (q.v.) is an absolute pitch standard, first proposed in 1713 by French physicist Joseph Sauveur. It was defined so that all Cs are integer powers of 2, with middle C (C4) at 256 hertz. As already noted, it is not dependent upon, nor a part of scientific pitch notation described here. To avoid the confusion in names, scientific pitch is sometimes also called "Verdi tuning" or "philosophical pitch".

So middle C is C4 is 256 Hz? Really?

espiegel123

@rs2000 said:
Yep.
What I find interesting in the wiki article posted by @uncledave is this:

Scientific pitch (q.v.) is an absolute pitch standard, first proposed in 1713 by French physicist Joseph Sauveur. It was defined so that all Cs are integer powers of 2, with middle C (C4) at 256 hertz. As already noted, it is not dependent upon, nor a part of scientific pitch notation described here. To avoid the confusion in names, scientific pitch is sometimes also called "Verdi tuning" or "philosophical pitch".

So middle C is C4 is 256 Hz? Really?

It was “proposed” as a standard. But that proposal did not become a standard.

LinearLineman

I prefer C thru, but I’ve always been very transparent about these things.

johnfromberkeley

@LinearLineman said:
I prefer C thru, but I’ve always been very transparent about these things.

I like C-food, especially major C-food

AudioGus

I C what you did there.

Samu

And Bleass apps use C5 as the middle C…

For me C-Vitamins

mojozart

60

wim

C-3PO

cuscolima

timforsyth

This post reminded me of something I'd often wondered but never looked up, such as why isn't there an E#.

Why is A 440hz?

https://globalnews.ca/news/4194106/440-hz-conspiracy-music/amp/

jolico

TNT 🧨

Artj

😆
Although I have to use both, I see the perfect logic for C0 for middle C, then C1 and C-1 for octave up/down and wish it becomes standard.

Of course C3PO for the coolest!

ecou

Do is the middle key. That's what Re told mi.

espiegel123

@timforsyth said:
This post reminded me of something I'd often wondered but never looked up, such as why isn't there an E#.

….,

E# exists. Every note has multiple names and the one used is context-dependent.

timforsyth

E# exists. Every note has multiple names and the one used is context-dependent.

Interesting, I hadn't considered a sharp or flat as a simple modifier. I had always assumed they were targeting the black keys for.some reason and you know what they say about assumptions

wim

Back in the pre-historic days of keyboard production, the white keys were made of carved bone and the black keys were made of obsidian which was chipped to shape in the same way arrows and spears were made. The simple tribal word for obsidian was the word later to evolve into the English word "sharp". Thus the black keys became known as the sharp keys. The difficulty of removing the sharp edges of these black keys caused players to avoid using them as much as the less injury prone white keys.

As the black keys became used less and less, keyboard makers gradually began substituting easier to work dark woods such as sugar pine, spruce, basswood or ebony. These new keys were much easier to smooth and players happily remarked how "flat" they had become.

This was a gradual transition, and old linguistic habits die hard, so we have a legacy of ambiguity to this day in the naming of the notes represented by these black keys.

espiegel123

@timforsyth said:

E# exists. Every note has multiple names and the one used is context-dependent.

Interesting, I hadn't considered a sharp or flat as a simple modifier. I had always assumed they were targeting the black keys for.some reason and you know what they say about assumptions

Sharps and flats indicate that a particular note is raised or lowered by a half-step. The result doesn’t have to be a black key.

In “correct” notation, what you call a note depends on key and context. For example, an augmented chord is the root, the note a major third above it and the note a major third above that (which is an augmented or raised fifth of the root). A major third is four half-steps

For A augmented, that is A C# and E#

Why E# and not F-natural? Intervals are named by the number of note names. A third is three note names . So, A to C is three names (a, b, c). In A the C that is four half-steps from A is C#. Three note name from C# takes us to E (c, d, e). Four half-steps above C# is the note we usually call F. But since the chord has an E, we call I E# (e plus one-half step).

timforsyth

@espiegel123 thanks for the great explanation! I'm trying to untangle years of self taught, never studied, music theory.

hisdudeness

@johnfromberkeley said:
Trick question!

middle C = 261.6 HZ
Calling it it C3 or C4 does not matter

It’s just a standard messed up by Roland and yamaha

Thanks to Logic ,which allows you to
Choose and Work with any standard