Middle C C3 or C4?

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

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

Note that (at least in 7.1) the display will NOT change in ultrabeat (possibly other displays as well, haven't check them all). This can obviously get very confusing unless you know! Until I figured it out, I thought my ultrabeat was broken! 🙂

Thanks for the heads-up on Ultrabeat. There are lots of place in Logic where the C3/C4 choice isn't reflected: transformers, transforms, note limit in the parameter box, lots of places actually...

Slightly OT but: official midi specs state middle C (60) as C4. I wish manufacturers would come together and accept this standard. There would be a lot less confusion in the world, esp with software. Oh well...

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?

: - )