Direct Note Access - Melodyne

DNA Direct Note Access™ technology allows users to identify and edit individual notes in polyphonic material. This extends the unique access that Melodyne™ has long offered to the pitch, timing, duration, and other parameters of notes in monophonic material.

What is Direct Note Access?

DNA Direct Note Access™ is a development that radically and forever alters audio handling. In the world of digital image processing, it has long been possible with the right software not only to correct depicted reality down to the smallest details but also to create new worlds: images that depict with total credibility something that has never existed. DNA Direct Note Access™ offers Melodyne™ users comparable freedom in audio. Melodyne™ with DNA Direct Note Access™ allows you to intervene in the audio material in unthinkable ways, ranging from subtle enhancements to re-composition.

Celemony Melodyne

The leading software developed by Celemony using Direct Note Access™ is Melodyne. It's easy to forget how much of a revelation Celemony's original Melodyne software was when it first appeared in 2001. The quality of its central pitch/time manipulation engine generated a real sense of excitement among musicians. It offered many new possibilities. Since then, Melodyne has progressed through several stand‑alone versions. Each version refined the existing concept and ironed out wrinkles in the user experience. The whole package was slick and mature when a proper plug‑in version was announced at the end of 2006. It soon proved itself indispensable for my everyday audio‑buffing tasks.

3 Processing Algorithms

When, at the beginning of 2008, DNA Direct Note Access™ was first demonstrated, it created a considerable stir. Three processing algorithms are available: the pre‑existing Melodic and Percussive settings and the new DNA‑powered Polyphonic mode. The key to getting good results is ensuring the software's note detection matches what you're hearing. It's pretty good, but it's not infallible. If it fails to detect the notes correctly, the processing won't work as it should. Fortunately, you can control how Melodyne interprets pitches in the audio via a special Note Assignment mode.

Easy Detection

For polyphonic material, the detection process is more involved and time‑consuming, as befits the complexity of the task. Melodyne needs a precise map of all the notes in a given chord if it will adjust the pitch of one note without adjusting the others. Suppose it detects only one note in a two‑note chord. If you try to shift the pitch, you'll go with both pitches. This is because it doesn't know that there's something it should be left untouched. Although Melodyne, again, does an excellent polyphonic detection job straight away, I've yet to have it guess everything right the first time, so some time spent in Note Assignment mode is par for the course. Furthermore, because (for unspecified technical reasons) you annoyingly lose your Undo history every time you enter Note Assignment mode. It's better to deal with detection problems immediately rather than leaving them until you're halfway through your actual processing.

Additional Resources & Source Texts

• Celemony Melodyne DNA Editor