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Questions and Answers
Direct Note Access explained
Q: Is it possible with Direct Note Access to change individual notes in existing multi-voice (polyphonic) audio recordings e.g. to turn a major chord into a minor?
A: Yes. That’s exactly what Direct Note Access makes possible. You can take a piano or guitar recording, for example, and change any note you wish – even if it forms part of a chord. And the sound is of the highest Melodyne quality!
Q: How should I visualize this intervention in the audio material?
A: The notes are displayed, as is customary with Melodyne, as blobs in an editor. The x-axis represents time; the y-axis represents pitch. Multi-voice (polyphonic) material, which was previously all displayed at a single pitch, is now split up into individual notes by Direct Note Access and these notes are then displayed spread out as separate blobs – each at its own pitch.
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Q: What editing possibilities are available for the notes in polyphonic audio material?
A: With Direct Note Access, after detection, polyphonic audio material appears ‘exploded’ in Melodyne in such a way as to let you see the individual notes of each chord at their actual pitches and edit them using the familiar Melodyne tools. As parameters, you therefore have access to the pitch, position in time and duration of each note as well as its vibrato, pitch drift. formant spectrum and volume.
Q: What applications does Direct Note Access have?
A: Just as with the editing of melodies, the possibilities range from subtle correction to creative refashioning. You can, for example, correct a wrong note within a piano recording, tidy up the timing of the individual notes of a chord and even retune an out-of-tune guitar after the recording has already taken place. You can also transform the entire harmony of a recording, transpose it in accordance with a given scale, or replace individual notes in a chord by others found in a different part of the recording or even played by a different instrument. The ability to change the formants as well as modify the internal evolution of notes yields additionally far-reaching FX possibilities. Finally, Melodyne with DNA is a great tool for transcribing music and ear training as well as for musical analyses and education.
Q: For what type of material is Direct Note Access suitable?
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A: Direct Note Access is designed for single polyphonic tracks. You can use it for the quality targeted editing of a piano, a guitar or a string quartet. Optimum results are obtained with cleanly recorded signals to which as few effects have been added as possible.
Q: How about mixed signals i.e. where you have a piano and a guitar on the same track?
A: Direct Note Access recognizes notes in their harmonic and temporal contexts. It cannot detect which instrument has played which note. So if a piano and a guitar play the same note at the same time, you cannot edit the guitar separately. With Direct Note Access, you can access the note itself, which in this case means the signal of both instruments.
Q: Can I also edit entire songs with Direct Note Access?
A: You can load whatever you like and experiment. Doing so can be interesting and even fun. With complex signals or entire mixes, the note detection can however reach its limits and perhaps not all the notes will be identified correctly. Direct Note Access is designed for the editing of individual instrument tracks in the course of a typical multi-track music production. In this context, the sound quality of the results is outstanding.
Q: Is Direct Note Access also suitable for transcriptions and polyphonic Audio-to-MIDI?
A: Yes. Once the notes have been detected in this way, MIDI export of the audio file with a view to printing out the notes or for further use in another program is naturally an option.
Q: Do you have any videos demonstrating Direct Note Access?
A: Yes. Peter Neubäcker reveals more details in this 14-minute interview. Moreover, we have prepared three videos to explain the basic functions of Melodyne editor beta.
Q: When will Direct Note Access be available?
A: Direct Note Access will be available for the first time in Melodyne editor. Melodyne editor is due for release in Fall 2009. The full version will cost 349 Euro/399 US$. The update from Melodyne plugin will cost 129 €/129 US$. Customers still purchasing Melodyne plugin now will receive the update free of charge. See also the overview of all update options.
Naturally Direct Note Access will also be available in the large multi-track version of Melodyne i.e. Melodyne studio, where the musical possibilities will be far-reaching. However no concrete release date has yet been set.
