I’ve got a question for the forum. I’ve been using the Ghosts with a MIDI keyboard (Akai Mini via a Kenton MIDI host). Great fun! However: while the Strings engine works fine, the pitch on the Tubes and Bars is something like 25-50 cents sharp. Any idea what’s going on? Anyone else experience this?
Hey there. Glad you’re having fun with Ghosts.
I don’t think the Tube and Bar models are actually playing the wrong pitch. What’s probably happening is that you’re hearing the upper partials in the sound. The Tube and Bar models are based on modal resonators, and with those kinds of sounds, the upper partials are often “stretched,” meaning they don’t line up as perfectly with the main note as you might expect.
When the TONE knob is set high, those brighter upper partials get louder, so the whole sound can start to feel sharp or slightly out of tune. It can also confuse a tuner, because the tuner may be reacting to those strong upper partials instead of the actual low note.
If you turn the TONE knob down and the DECAY knob up and listen to the lowest pitch of the sound, the pitch of the fundamental should be spot on.
If you want Tubes and Bars to feel more in tune overall, try lower TONE settings and higher DECAY settings. You can also experiment with the POSITION control, since that changes which overtones are emphasized.
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Thanks, Jaak. I appreciate that you’ve modelled these instruments down to the inharmonic overtone series.