Instruments
Different instruments do not merely produce different notes. They operate across different frequency ranges and produce characteristic harmonic profiles, transients and playing artefacts. Selecting the instrument type configures the detection range and harmonic weighting to match those acoustic characteristics.
Guitar
The guitar produces a rich harmonic series whose character varies with instrument construction, string gauge, pickup placement, and playing technique. A single-coil electric produces a different harmonic profile than an acoustic with heavy strings or a semi-hollow archtop — not just in tone, but in the way harmonics interact during polyphonic detection.
Body resonance is particularly relevant for acoustic guitars. The body cavity amplifies certain frequencies regardless of which strings are being played, adding acoustic energy that tends to produce more detected events per chord than electric guitars. A lower Harmonics setting is typically needed to compensate. For most guitars, customisation beyond the default preset is expected. The default presets provide a starting point, but the harmonic balance of your specific instrument and pickup configuration will benefit from further calibration.
Using a pick gives cleaner onset detection than fingerpicking due to the more defined transient. If you use both techniques regularly, a separate preset for each is worth considering.
Bass Guitar
The bass operates in a lower frequency range where harmonics from different strings overlap more closely. The fundamental of a low note falls within the same octave as harmonics from higher strings, which makes polyphonic detection more challenging than for the guitar range. The Harmonics parameter tends to work at the lower end of its range for bass.
Sustain is longer than on guitar and onset transients are typically softer, particularly with fingerstyle playing. Slap technique produces sharp, percussive transients that behave differently from fingerstyle or pick, and may warrant a separate preset if you use both approaches in the same session.
Voice
Vocals present a different detection challenge from string instruments. There is no hard pluck transient — onsets are defined by consonants, vowel attacks, or breathiness, and vary significantly between singers and syllables. Vibrato introduces intentional continuous pitch variation, which the algorithm treats as a sustained note rather than multiple events.
The Sensitivity parameter is more significant for voice than for plucked instruments. Lower sensitivity reduces false onsets from breath and consonant noise; higher sensitivity catches soft-attacked notes more reliably. Formant resonances — the characteristic vowel timbres of the voice — affect the harmonic profile and may require EQ calibration to stabilise detection across different vowels.
Voice is also the only instrument for which monophonic detection is available. Poly mode uses Transkr's polyphonic algorithm; Mono switches to the algorithm used by Pitch Perfekt, useful when single-note melodic accuracy takes priority over polyphonic detail. The Polyphony preset is intended for polyphonic chant and similar material; when it is selected, Mono is unavailable.
Piano
The piano has a distinctive envelope: a sharp percussive attack followed by rapid initial decay, then a long sustain. This makes onset detection reliable, but complicates note-off detection when sustained notes ring together.
The sustain pedal, when held, allows all strings to vibrate sympathetically — creating additional sympathetic resonance beyond the notes being pressed. Detection accuracy is higher with the pedal released or used sparingly. In the lowest bass register, piano strings exhibit inharmonicity: their overtones are not exactly integer multiples of the fundamental. This deviation from the ideal harmonic series affects low-register detection and may require EQ adjustment.
Violin Family
The violin family — violin, viola, cello, and contrabass — shares the characteristic of bowing: a continuous sound source with no hard onset. Onsets are defined by bow changes, position shifts, or articulation, all of which vary in transient clarity. Vibrato is a fundamental technique rather than an ornament, producing continuous pitch variation that the algorithm interprets as sustained pitch.
The Legato parameter is particularly relevant for bowed playing, where amplitude fluctuations from bow pressure and string resonance can create false note interruptions. Pizzicato produces a plucked transient much closer to guitar behaviour and tends to give more reliable onset detection than arco.
The four instruments differ primarily in range: violin (G3–A7), viola (C3–E6), cello (C2–A5), contrabass (E1–G4 in standard tuning). The default presets account for these differences.
Saxophone
Transkr supports four saxophone variants: soprano, alto, tenor and baritone. Each variant is configured for its respective range.
The Default Saxophone preset provides a starting point for saxophone transcription.
Preset Library
The preset library stores parameter configurations calibrated for specific instruments and playing styles. These provide a starting point. Most instruments will benefit from further customisation — see Model Customisation for the recommended workflow.
- Default presets — Default; Default Guitar; Default Bass; Default Voice; Default Polyphony; Default Piano; Default Violin; Default Saxophone
- Guitar presets — 335 Chords; 335 Melody; Strat Chords; Strat Melody; Classical Guitar
- Westerberg Guitars — Dynatone II; Senkompara Evertune. Calibrated to specific Westerberg instruments, these presets demonstrate what detailed calibration can achieve when the instrument model is matched to a known physical guitar.
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