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Middle C C3 or C4?

Help!

I bought a Korg Pad Kontrol drum midi device that transmits notes an octive higher tham Logic reads. So when I hit C3, Logic notes it as C2!

Eventually I found I can alter the Display in preferences between Yamaha C3 and Roland C4, so now C3 is C3 on the piano roll, but my point is:

I'm no midi expert by any means but does it make any difference at all if I flip from one to the other between takes? So if I record a bass drum, will it stay a bass drum if I change the Middle C setting?

MAcbook Pro 2.16, G5 iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.8), Logic Pro, Final Cut Studio

Posted on Jul 11, 2007 10:32 AM

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Posted on Jul 11, 2007 10:40 AM

hi, it's only for display.
shouldn't change anything.
DR9.
7 replies

Jul 11, 2007 3:31 PM in response to antenna45

When it comes to MIDI there are two different standards for how notes are labeled. Middle C, being a benchmark, can either be C3 or C4, but regardless, they represent the same exact note, viz:

On any MIDI keyboard, assuming that any transpose feature isn't activated, Middle C outputs note #60. Korg has opted to use the name "C4" to designate this note. Yamaha and other companies call it "C3". But play a Middle C on any keyboard and you're outputting note #60.

So the Korg Pad Kontrol doesn't actually transmit notes higher than Logic reads. It outputs the right notes. It's up to you to adjust Logic's preferences and/or keep track of this. And it won't make a difference if you flip that pref between takes.

Just to be complete about it, it's not just Middle C that gets renamed by this choice of naming convention.

MIDDLE OCTAVE NOTE NAMES for the same notes:

Korg: C4, C#4, D4.....B4 next octave starts at C5...
Roland: C3, C#3, D3....B3 next octave starts at C4

Jul 14, 2007 7:47 PM in response to linuxuser

linux,

Thanks for the clarification on the MIDI spec and what it says about Middle C.

Seems there's all kinds of confusion about what Middle C should be denoted as numerically, i.e., C3, C4, etc.

For example, I've got a book of soprano (regular Bb) clarinet fingerings in which the (acclaimed) author denotes C3 as the note one octave above the note that sounds a Middle C. That makes Middle C = C2!

Now, if C2 = middle C for the soprano clarinet, what should that same fingering be called on bass clarinet? Hmmm... I don't know the answer myself.

And if C2 = middle C for the soprano clarinet, surely then a note 3 octaves below that -- easily accomplished on bassoon, contra, trombone, etc. -- wouldn't be called C-1, would it (he asked rhetorically)?

On the piano keyboard, Middle C is the 4th C from the bottom, and so it makes sense to call it C4. Yet if we look again at the soprano clarinet, C2, being the designation for the note that sounds Middle C, is the first C on the clarinet, not the second. There isn't a C lower than that one.

It's quite a mess, isn't it?

: - )

Middle C C3 or C4?

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