---
name: "aubiopitch"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "aubio"
version: "0.4.9-25"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/aubiopitch"
---

# aubiopitch(1)

a command line tool to extract musical pitch

## NAME

**aubiopitch** - a command line tool to extract musical pitch

## SYNOPSIS

```
aubiopitch source
aubiopitch [[-i] source] [-o sink]
           [-r rate] [-B win] [-H hop]
           [-p method] [-u unit] [-l thres]
           [-T time-format]
           [-s sil] [-f]
           [-v] [-h] [-j]
```

## DESCRIPTION

**aubiopitch attempts to detect the pitch, the perceived height of a musical** **note.**

**When started with an input** *source* **(-i/--input), the detected pitch are** **printed on the console, prefixed by a timestamp in seconds. If no pitch** **candidate is found, the output is 0.**

**When started without an input** *source***, or with the jack option (-j/--jack),** **aubiopitch starts in jack mode.**

## OPTIONS

**This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options** **starting with two dashes (--). A summary of options is included below.**

- **-i, --input *source***

  **Run analysis on this audio file. Most uncompressed and** **compressed are supported, depending on how aubio was built.**

- **-o, --output *sink***

  **Save results in this file. The file will be created on** **the model of the input file. The detected frequency is played at the** **detected loudness.**

- **-r, --samplerate *rate***

  **Fetch the input** *source***, resampled at the given** **sampling** *rate***. The** *rate* **should be specified in Hertz as an integer. If 0,** **the sampling** *rate* **of the original** *source* **will be used. Defaults to 0.**

- **-B, --bufsize *win***

  **The size of the buffer to analyze, that is the length** **of the window used for spectral and temporal computations. Defaults to 2048.**

- **-H, --hopsize *hop***

  **The number of samples between two consecutive analysis.** **Defaults to 256.**

- **-p, --pitch *method***

  **The pitch detection** *method* **to use. See PITCH METHODS** **below. Defaults to 'default'.**

- **-u, --pitch-*unit* *unit***

  **The** *unit* **to be used to print frequencies. Possible** **values include midi, bin, cent, and Hz. Defaults to 'Hz'.**

- **-l, --pitch-tolerance *thres***

  **Set the tolerance for the pitch detection** **algorithm. Typical values range between 0.2 and 0.9. Pitch candidates found** **with a confidence less than this threshold will not be selected. The higher** **the threshold, the more confidence in the candidates. Defaults to unset.**

- **-s, --silence *sil***

  **Set the silence threshold, in dB, under which the onset** **will not be detected. A value of -20.0 would eliminate most onsets but the** **loudest ones. A value of -90.0 would select all onsets. Defaults to -90.0.**

- **-T, --timeformat format**

  **Set time format (samples, ms, seconds). Defaults to** **seconds.**

- **-m, --mix-input**

  **Mix** *source* **signal to the output signal before writing to** *sink***.**

- **-f, --force-overwrite**

  **Overwrite output file if it already exists.**

- **-j, --jack**

  **Use Jack input/output. You will need a Jack connection** **controller to feed aubio some signal and listen to its output.**

- **-h, --help**

  **Print a short help message and exit.**

- **-v, --verbose**

  **Be verbose.**

## PITCH METHODS

**Available methods are:**

- **default**

  **use the default** *method*

**Currently, the default** *method* **is set to yinfft.**

- **schmitt**

  **Schmitt trigger**

**This pitch extraction** *method* **implements a Schmitt trigger to estimate the** **period of a signal. It is computationally very inexpensive, but also very** **sensitive to noise.**

- **fcomb**

  **a fast harmonic comb filter**

**This pitch extraction** *method* **implements a fast harmonic comb filter to** **determine the fundamental frequency of a harmonic sound.**

- **mcomb**

  **multiple-comb filter**

**This fundamental frequency estimation algorithm implements spectral** **flattening, multi-comb filtering and peak histogramming.**

- **specacf**

  **Spectral auto-correlation function**

- **yin**

  **YIN algorithm**

**This algorithm was developed by A. de Cheveigne and H. Kawahara and** **was first published in:**

**De Cheveigné, A., Kawahara, H. (2002) "YIN, a fundamental frequency** **estimator for speech and music", J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 111, 1917-1930.**

- **yinfft**

  **Yinfft algorithm**

**This algorithm was derived from the YIN algorithm. In this implementation, a** **Fourier transform is used to compute a tapered square difference function,** **which allows spectral weighting. Because the difference function is tapered,** **the selection of the period is simplified.**

**Paul Brossier, Automatic annotation of musical audio for interactive systems,** **Chapter 3, Pitch Analysis, PhD thesis, Centre for Digital music, Queen Mary** **University of London, London, UK, 2006.**

- **yinfast**

  **YIN algorithm (accelerated)**

**An optimised implementation of the YIN algorithm, yielding results identical** **to the original YIN algorithm, while reducing its computational cost from** **O(n^2) to O(n log(n)).**

## SEE ALSO

**[aubioonset(1)](/aubioonset/1.md),** **[aubiotrack(1)](/aubiotrack/1.md),** **[aubionotes(1)](/aubionotes/1.md),** **[aubioquiet(1)](/aubioquiet/1.md),** **[aubiomfcc(1)](/aubiomfcc/1.md),** **and** **[aubiocut(1)](/aubiocut/1.md).**

## AUTHOR

**This manual page was written by Paul Brossier \<piem@aubio.org\>. Permission is** **granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of** **the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,** **either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.**