In digital music processing technology, quantization is the process of aligning a set of musical notes to a precise setting. This results in notes being set on beats and on exact fractions of beats. The most frequent application of quantization in this context lies within MIDI application software or hardware. MIDI sequencers typically include quantization in their manifest of edit commands. In this case, the dimensions of this timing grid are set beforehand. When one instructs the music application to quantize a certain group of MIDI notes in a song, the program moves each note to the closest point on the timing grid.
The purpose of quantization in music processing is to provide a more beat-accurate timing of sounds. Quantization is frequently applied to a record of MIDI notes created by the use of a musical keyboard or drum machine.
Quantization in MIDI is usually applied to Note On messages and sometimes Note Off messages; some digital audio workstations shift the entire note by moving both messages together. Sometimes quantization is applied in terms of a percentage, to partially align the notes to a certain beat. Using a percentage of quantization allows for the subtle preservation of some natural human timing nuances.
The phrase "pitch quantization" can refer to pitch correction used in audio production, such as Auto-Tune.
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