Both hands playing uses wrong octave

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Jarzka
Posts: 12

Post by Jarzka »

Hi again

When playing the attached song with only left or right hand, everything works ok. However, when I switch to play with both hands, synthesia moves both tracks one octave higher. I can still play it with my physical keyboard, but it sounds wrong since I'm really playing it one octave higher. Why does this switch happen?

More detailed explanation:
In the file correct.png, I'm playing with right hand track only. I'm pressing the middle-D key on my keyboards and it works as as I expect.
In the "wrong with both hands", I play the same song with both hands. I'm pressing the same middle-D key on my keyboard, but for some reason Synthesia expects me to play it one octave higher. This sounds wrong.
Attachments
While Your Lips Are Still Red (piano 5).synthesia
(242 Bytes) Downloaded 46 times
While Your Lips Are Still Red (piano 5).mid
(11.28 KiB) Downloaded 47 times
wrong with both hands.png
wrong with both hands.png (291.53 KiB) Viewed 4767 times
correct.png
correct.png (298.41 KiB) Viewed 4767 times
Jarzka
Posts: 12

Post by Jarzka »

I think I realised the problem. There is one extra low note on the left hand track that I'm unable to play with my current keyboard. That's the reason why Synthesia moves everything one octave right to make it possible to play this song. But it still sounds wrong.

Anyway, I removed that one low note and now I can play the song just fine.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Another way to prevent Synthesia's "helpful" behavior in this case is by changing Settings --> Gameplay --> Keyboard Octave --> Manual Only.
Jarzka
Posts: 12

Post by Jarzka »

Hello again. I have a similar kind of problem than last time, only that this time I'm 100% certain that this song can be played with my 36-key keyboard. Still, it seems that Synthesia shifts the whole song one octave down for some reason.

I have included a screenshot of the song and how it shows on FL Studio. As you can see, the left hand track stars just above middle C (C4). This is the correct versio of the song.

When I export this song as mid and play it in Synthesia, it seems that Synthesia shifts everything down one octave, i.e. Synthesia things the left hand track is now played below middle C. If I try to play this left hand track with my keyboard, I can play it with the leftmost keys of my keyboard, but it sounds wrong as it plays one octave too low. To solve this, I can shift my keyboard one octave up. Then it sounds correct, but Synthesia still things the sound is played one octave down (see screenshot). So, in the end, I can play the song with my keyboard and it sounds correct, but Synthesia thinks the song should have been played one octave down.

Any help with this? :( I tried to turn OFF Synthesia's automatic octave adjustment, but it did nothing. Can I shift everything manually one octave up in Synthesia somehow? And why is Synthesia doing this, shifting everything one octave down?

EDIT: If I want use Synthesia's "Watch and listen only" mode, it still seems that Synthesia has shifted everything down one octave. But it still sounds like it's playing using the correct octave. :shock:
Attachments
synthesia.png
synthesia.png (153.29 KiB) Viewed 4413 times
flstudio.png
flstudio.png (117.72 KiB) Viewed 4413 times
Jarzka
Posts: 12

Post by Jarzka »

Answering my own question, based on this Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesia/comm ... synthesia/

So it seems that I can adjust my input octave manually using Z and X keys. Thanks for allowing us to do this, it saved me. <3

And about the automatic octave shift, why it happened, it's probably because "Synthesia trying to be helpful so you can reach more of the song's notes". I believe this is a great feature most the time, but sometimes I think I know better how a song should be played on my specific keyboard, so Z and X keys are truly a life saver. :)
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