buzz forums

Hello folks! I seek your guidance once more.

I'm encountering a very strange problem with Buzz.
My VSTs are operating normally, but when I use a native Buzz generator, the actual pitch does not match the note I type in the sequence. I confirmed this using a tuner, and in fact everything is sounding a half-step higher than it should be.

The problem seemed to come out of nowhere, and if there is a setting somewhere you can adjust these things, I have yet to find it. I seem to remember some sort of "global tuning" setting, but that may have only been in Old Buzz, and I was under the impression that was meant for much finer adjustments, so I figure it wouldn't be so easy to accidentally get a half-step too high....

So I'm hoping someone out there has had the same experience? Or knows something I am missing? All production is at a halt until this is fixed, and at this point I'm pretty much stumped.

Thanks in advance!

Some older buzz machines are unfortunately hardcoded to work at a sample rate of 44.100 kHz. Running any higher rates throws off the pitch, just as you describe.

Changing the sample rate in the audio driver settings fixed the problem! Thank you very very much!! I would have never thought of that.

Happy to help
If you have the CPU power for it, I'd recommend sticking to 96 kHz though and ditch/find replacements for the older buzz generators that only supports 44.1.
Some buzz machines actually sound better at 96 vs 44.1.

There's some info regarding sample rate on the buzz wiki (scroll down a bit)
http://www.robotplanet.dk/audio/preparation_for_mastering/

I seem to remember there being a workaround for the hardcoded generators problem. Something to do with Polac's wrapper? Not sure.

What you could do is load the hardcoded generator in pvst with oversampling enabled. Before that set your soundcard lets say to 88200Hz. Then set the oversampling factor in pvst to 1/2. Pvst will run the generator at 44100Hz then, all other machines at 88200Hz. Cannot remember that I posted this workaround here or at buzzchurch.