With or without an audio degree, you wouldn’t be the first musician to come to me, never having been told what key tracking is and what it’s for. Let’s think about what makes the filter of a synthesizer different than an EQ. Adjust the cutoff frequency of either to shape a note.
But if you’ve ever noticed, a lot of synths don’t specify a specific frequency as a cutoff. That’s because where an EQ is static, a synth is, by nature, dynamic. Playing notes above the cutoff results in silence.
This EQ is only configured for one note. Your synth may not even have key tracking enabled by default, but if you want the timbre of this sound to be consistent up and down the keyboard, your filter cutoff needs to follow your keyboard. Keyboard tracking is useful for more than just filters, and you can adjust it to follow, multiply, or even invert the direction of the keyboard.
Pitch, envelope intensity, and all sorts of other parameters are suitable targets for this important parameter. And unless you’re learning from creatives who function between the worlds of musician, engineer, and producer, it’s one of many details that may never be mentioned outside of a Beat Kitchen residency. I hope I’m wrong, but either way, if someone who belongs in one, share this post.
(upbeat music)
