How do I transpose for South Asian Music?

[bizdev@moforte.com]

How do I transpose for South Asian Music?

Western Music and South Asian Music handle transposition differently.

• In western music the root of a scale can be changed to be a different pitch, and the scale will take on the name of the new root. For instance if the root of a major scale is changed from 'C' to 'D' then the scale will be called D Major
• In South Asian Music, the root of the Raga is always 'Sa'. It's common for the instrumental performer to transpose and fine tune their instrument to match a singer.
• In western music it makes sense to transpose a scale by a whole tone by changing the root from 'C' to 'D'. However in South Asian music, if a Raga is transposed by a whole tone, the root would still be called 'Sa' and not 'Re'

In order to transpose a raga, it's best to use the preset or global transposition mechanisms rather than changing the root. Here is a procedure that you can use to do this

• You may wish to change the note names from western to svara note names. You can do this under "Menu > Settings > Note Name Fonts > Svara"
• If you wish to transpose the current preset, look under "Menu > Model & FX >Guitar > Guitar" and you will find a Course Tune (semitones) and Fine Tune control (cents).
• If you need to change these frequently, you can put these two controls on your control surface as sliders.
• If you wish to transpose all presets globally, look under "Menu > Settings > Tuning > Global"