What Is key?

In musical terms, a key is a system of related notes based on the tonic (the base pitch) of a major or minor scale. A key signature is a group of sharps or flats placed immediately to the right of the clef sign. The key signature tells a performer that certain notes are to be systematically raised or lowered.

There are fifteen different key signatures—seven with sharps, seven with flats, and one without either. The fifteen key signatures correspond to fifteen different major scales, and to fifteen different minor scales (for example, the key signature for C major is the same as for A minor).

The key signature affects several things in Cakewalk:

The key signature controls how Cakewalk displays notes. In the Event List view and some dialog boxes, Cakewalk converts the MIDI pitch number to labels like Db (D-flat in the key of C).

The Staff view uses the key signature to display notation correctly.

How the notes are transposed when the Diatonic option is enabled.

The key signature affects only how Cakewalk displays pitches for you. Changing the key signature does not affect the MIDI key number (pitch) stored with each note. To actually transpose pitches, use the Transpose command or edit notes individually by using the Piano Roll, Event List, or Staff views.

Note: Groove clips are not affected by changes to your project’s key. Groove clips follow the default project pitch value, specified in Project > Set Default Groove Clip Pitch, and Pitch markers in the Time Ruler. For more information, see Using pitch markers in the Track view.

Frequently you use only one key signature for an entire project, but Cakewalk supports multiple key signatures and multiple meter changes in a project. The default key is C. You can change these defaults by creating your own default template file. For more information, see Templates.