Microtuner
Encyclopedia
A microtuner or microtonal tuner is an electronic device or software program designed to modify and test the tuning of musical instruments (in particular synthesizer
s) with microtonal
precision, allowing for the design and construction of microtonal scales and just intonation
scales, and for tuning intervals that differ (or not) from those of common Western equal temperament
. The term also indicates a high-precision mechanical tuning device found on some vintage Conn brand brass
and reed instruments (mostly cornet
s and alto saxophones
). These were first introduced with their 1918 catalog and manufactured up until about 1954. Such devices were also offered with some vintage saxophone
s manufactured in Europe by Beaugnier, Dolnet, Hüller, Keilwerth and other famous makers in the same period.
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s) with microtonal
Microtonal music
Microtonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...
precision, allowing for the design and construction of microtonal scales and just intonation
Just intonation
In music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by ratios of small whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval. The two notes in any just interval are members of the same harmonic series...
scales, and for tuning intervals that differ (or not) from those of common Western equal temperament
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
. The term also indicates a high-precision mechanical tuning device found on some vintage Conn brand brass
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
and reed instruments (mostly cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
s and alto saxophones
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
). These were first introduced with their 1918 catalog and manufactured up until about 1954. Such devices were also offered with some vintage saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
s manufactured in Europe by Beaugnier, Dolnet, Hüller, Keilwerth and other famous makers in the same period.
See also
- Computer musicComputer musicComputer music is a term that was originally used within academia to describe a field of study relating to the applications of computing technology in music composition; particularly that stemming from the Western art music tradition...
- Electronic tunerElectronic tunerThe term electronic tuner can refer to a number of different things, depending which discipline you wish to study.In the Discipline of radio frequency electronics an electronic tuner is a device which tunes across a part of the radio frequency spectrum by the application of a voltage or appropriate...
- Microtonal musicMicrotonal musicMicrotonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...
- MIDI Tuning StandardMIDI Tuning StandardMIDI Tuning Standard is a specification of precise musical pitch agreed to by the MIDI Manufacturers Association in the MIDI protocol. MTS allows for both a bulk tuning dump message, giving a tuning for each of 128 notes, and a tuning message for individual notes as they are played.-Frequency...
- Musical tuningMusical tuningIn music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...
- Scala (program)Scala (program)Scala is a freeware software application with versions supporting Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It allows users to create and archive musical scales, analyze and transform them with built-in theoretical tools, play them with an on-screen keyboard or from an external MIDI keyboard, and export them...
- Tune SmithyTune SmithyTune Smithy is a Windows-based shareware application, with freeware features.It is an algorithmic composition tool to make fractal music. It is now also used frequently as a retuning tool for microtonal composition, and for music therapy in conjunction with Barbara Hero’s Lambdoma keyboard...
- Tuner (disambiguation)
- Tuning (disambiguation)
Hardware microtuners
Software microtuners and other microtonal music software
- Echelles et Modes, an educational IRCAMIRCAMIRCAM is a European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde electro-acoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organizationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris...
software (Mac & PC) - L'il Miss' Scale Oven (Mac)
- microtuner Max/MSP object
- http://www.huygens-fokker.org/scala Scala (Windows, Linux, Mac)]
- Tobybear MicroTuner VST plugin (Windows)
- Tune Smithy (Windows)
- Mutabor (Windows, Linux, Mac, Atari) started in the 1980s as scientific project at TH Darmstadt