How many semitones per step with an LFO tied to Pitch?

This depends on 3 factors: The modulation amount, lfo x-divisions, and lfo y-divisions.

Given that both the x-divisions and y-divisions (-1) are equal and at constant intervals, your change in semitones is just your modulation amount divided by your lfo x-divisions.

change_in_semitones = modulation_amount / lfo_x_divisions

So if you wanted a western 12-tone scale, all you would need is 12 x-divisions and 11 y-divisions and a modulation on the pitch of 12.00.

This can also be done with the circles under the “pitch” label on the oscillators; it snaps the current pitch to a semitone scale relative to the current note (it can be set to a specific scale by pressing global).

Here is a patch that demonstrates this:
steps.vital (321.1 KB)

Or you could think of it as, the difference in semitones between y grid lines is modulation amount divided by y-divisions.

Thanks for replying! So why is that when i change the x and y divisions the pitches dont change?

It’s a combination of the LFO amount and the steps, when you set the amount to 12 and the steps to 24 you have half a semitone, but setting both steps and amount to 12 you have 1 octave and the notes will snap to the steps.

Did you redraw the LFO to snap to the new grid?

I don’t think changing the step size changes the value, it’s only a visual aid. For it to change you have to change the amount, or the step value.

Which is the step value?

@patrickallers

In my pic above x is set to 8 and y is set to 12. 12 steps of 1 semi tone. But as I said they are just guidelines, the next time you open a project they will be (re)set to 1.(which is a bug)

I feel like we’re overcomplicating the issue here… the thing that’s important is the modulation amount applied to the pitch. This amount changes the “size” of the LFO window (on the X-axis). So, if you set it to 12 semitones, the LFO will be one octave high. If you set the modulation amount to 48 semitones, the LFO becomes four octaves high. If you set it to 3 semitones, the LFO will be 3 semitones high. How you then map the LFO is up to you: if you want to only address semitone divisions, you’d set your X-grid to the same number as the modulation amount.

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OK thanks! This is only response that made sense to me. So when I put the amount on 12 it transpose 12 semitones. So I can set the transpose at any amount. And the full window will be that amount. So if i set it to 12 then setting the LFO half way up with get me 1/2 octave. And if I set it to 24 semitones then half the window will be one octave. Correct?

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Correct!

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