# What actually is the "transpose trick"?



## Brian99 (Jul 21, 2020)

I’ve read a few posts that mention the “transpose trick” but was unsure on how to do it. I’m using Logic and when I select a note in the piano roll and choose Edit-Transpose it just moves the midi in the piano roll. When I enter a value in the Transpose area for track in the inspector it doesn’t move the midi but I don’t think it’s actually modifying the pitch of the note being played. I think its just using a different sample. The reason I think this is because I recorded a C1 note of a cello (which is the lowest for the instrument I’m using) and when I enter -1 semitone for transpose it won’t play a note. I would expect it to modify the pitch of C1 to B0. So how actually do you use the “transpose trick”?


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## MartinH. (Jul 21, 2020)

The transpose trick is when you take a Kontakt instrument, transpose it down -2 semitones and set midi transpose +2 semi tones in the instrument options of Kontakt. It will then play different (transposed) samples on the same note than an unmodified instance of the instrument will. That way you can layer it on the same notes without getting phasing or similar. 

If the Kontakt instrument stretches samples further than one for every 2 semitones, you need to adjust the transposing accordingly. 
This can be used to create ensembles from solo instruments for example.


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## Brian99 (Jul 21, 2020)

Thanks for the reply, I didn't realize a change had to be made in Kontakt as well. It's still not working as I expect, or maybe I don't understand. In my example I'm using CSS cellos and have a C1 note in my piano roll. I didn't transpose anything in Logic but instead modified the value in Kontakt for midi transpose to -1 and nothing played. It seems like it's not altering the original sample which is what I thought the transpose trick was all about and instead only looking for the sample specified which in my case is B0 that doesn't exist. What modifications in either Logic or Kontakt would I have to make in order to get the cello to play B0? Or is that just not possible?


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## NekujaK (Jul 21, 2020)

I'm not a Kontakt expert, but can't you simply expand the playable range of your sample in Kontakt's Mapping Editor? Or am I not understanding what you're trying to accomplish...


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## MartinH. (Jul 21, 2020)

Brian99 said:


> Thanks for the reply, I didn't realize a change had to be made in Kontakt as well. It's still not working as I expect, or maybe I don't understand.



_Only _in Kontakt. You don't need to change anything in your DAW.




Brian99 said:


> C1 note in my piano roll. I didn't transpose anything in Logic but instead modified the value in Kontakt for midi transpose to -1 and nothing played. It seems like it's not altering the original sample which is what I thought the transpose trick was all about and instead only looking for the sample specified which in my case is B0 that doesn't exist. What modifications in either Logic or Kontakt would I have to make in order to get the cello to play B0? Or is that just not possible?



At the edges of the playable range you lose the number of semitones you transpose at one side of the playable note range. It can't play a sample that doesn't exist. And you need to transpose by 2 semitones for most libraries to be able to layer. If you just want to extend the range downwards by 1 semitone, transpose down by -1 semitone. If midi transpose +1 semitone up doesn't work, it may work if you instead do the midi transpose in a midi vst plugin that comes in the chain before kontakt, so that you play a B0, Kontakt gets it as C1, and plays it back transposed down to B0.
You'd need to offset the keyswitches by 1 too, unless you're using a midi transpose plugin that allows to exclude the keyswitch range from the transposition.


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## Brian99 (Jul 21, 2020)

MartinH. said:


> If you just want to extend the range downwards by 1 semitone, transpose down by -1 semitone.



This is what I'm really after. I didn't make any changes in Logic and entered -1 in the kontakt instrument options for "midi transpose" and when I play C1 I expect to hear B0 and nothing happens. Sorry for any confusion I'm pretty new to all this!


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## jiten (Jul 21, 2020)

Brian99 said:


> This is what I'm really after. I didn't make any changes in Logic and entered -1 in the kontakt instrument options for "midi transpose" and when I play C1 I expect to hear B0 and nothing happens. Sorry for any confusion I'm pretty new to all this!



Just set the tune knob in Kontakt to -2 (located to the right of the Solo/Mute buttons, above the pan control) and set transpose on the MIDI track in your DAW to +2. That will give you 2 extra semitones of playable range at the bottom. I don't think setting MIDI transpose in Kontakt will let you play beyond the lower end of the playable instrument range, so you'll have to do the MIDI transpose part in Logic to get the lower notes.

Apologies if you already know this, but when people say "transpose trick", it's usually specifically in the context of using multiple instances of the same sampled instrument (to form an ensemble) where you have to be careful of phasing when those instances play the same note (because it's the same audio recordings/samples). So the recommendation is to tune the AUDIO down or up by 1-2 semitones and transpose the MIDI the opposite direction to ensure you're getting new samples even in unison.

As you have realized, doing this causes you to lose (or gain!) playable range at the extremes. Hope that makes things clearer.


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## Brian99 (Jul 21, 2020)

jiten said:


> Just set the tune knob in Kontakt to -2 (located to the right of the Solo/Mute buttons, above the pan control) and set transpose on the MIDI track in your DAW to +2. That will give you 2 extra semitones of playable range at the bottom.



That did it! Thank you very much!


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## Loïc D (Jul 21, 2020)

And try to transpose down if you can. Samples sound better if transposed down than up.


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## devonmyles (Jul 21, 2020)

Would this trick be the same as the option available in the Spitfire Libraries?


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## ScoringFilm (Apr 8, 2021)

devonmyles said:


> Would this trick be the same as the option available in the Spitfire Libraries?


Yes!


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