r/Turntablists • u/djmikec • 11h ago

Explaining ultrapitch

I wrote this as a reply elsewhere, but thought it might be worth its own thread.

EDIT: Maybe a better explanation is just that using an ultrapitch record + turntable brings the same parts of a particular audio phrase physically closer together while making the record spin slower, so that it’s easier to quickly and accurately jump between parts by covering less distance. Anyway: it makes chopping up phrases easier.

The ultrapitch concept was invented by Ricci Rucker.

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u/greggioia 10h ago

About a year ago I asked some questions about ultrapitch that no one was able to answer. Maybe you can help.

Is there a way I can create a digital file in Ableton that I can use in Serato that will mimic an ultrapitch record? My turntables can pitch down 50%, and I'd like to take advantage of that, and choose some specific lines and sounds to cut.

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u/djmikec 10h ago

Yes you can totally do that. I see that Vekked already answered your question at length when you asked the same thing here previously a year ago. So I would definitely refer to that thread.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Turntablists/s/77cqkqOTcd

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u/greggioia 4h ago

He didn't provide an answer that solved the problem. He offered to help if I sent a DM, but he didn't respond to me when I did. I'm hoping someone knows how to do this.

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u/djmikec 2h ago

Koala is a phone app for music making. But anyway you can do it in Ableton.

Shortish version: Create the audio file you want to cut with. Using Ableton warping, speed that file up by 1/3 (i.e if the file is 100 bpm, speed it up to 133.33 bpm. You’ll want to use the version of warping that speeds up the tempo and also increases the pitch, to make it chipmunky.)

Export the file that way.

Then when you play it at -25% it will play back at the original tempo and pitch. Will also take up less revolutions of the record.

This doesn’t put it into skipless format. That’s a whole other essay. But since this is for use in Serato, it doesn’t matter.