TuneLab Piano Tuner

FOR ANDROID

1. What is TuneLab Piano Tuner? - basics and definitions of terms used in later chapters. 2. Normal Tuning Procedure - how to tune your first piano with TuneLab. 3. The Tuning Curve - what it is and how to adjust it. . !ll !bout "##sets - four different kinds of cents offsets used by TuneLab. 5. "ver%&ull 'Pitch%(aise) Tuning Procedure - how to make a pitch raise more accurate. *. Calibration Procedure - something you need to do only once when TuneLab is first installed. +. ,istorical Tem&eraments - unequal temperaments for period music, or for modern development -. Wor.ing /ith Tuning 0iles - how to select files & folders for saving tunings $. PT1 Tuning 23am - how to capture a master or e aminee tuning, detune, and score the e am 10. 4&lit%4cale Tuning - how to tune poorly-scaled spinets
2012 Real-Time Specialties (734) 434-2412 .t!nela"- orl#.com 18 May 2012 version 1.1

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What is TuneLab Piano Tuner for Android?

hapter

TuneLab is software that helps you to tune pianos. This form of the software runs on Android devices with at least an ARMv7-A or later processor running Android 2.2 or later. TuneLab is also available for i hone!i ad!i od Touch devices and on "indows laptops. There are other manuals to describe these other forms of TuneLab# and they can be found on our web site at tunelab-world.com. This manual describes only the Android version of TuneLab. Visual Tuning TuneLab is a software program that turns an Android device $phone or tablet% into a professional &lectronic Tuning 'evice# which provides a piano tuner with real-time visual guidance in tuning. The sound of a note as it is played is pic(ed up by a microphone and analy)ed. The results of the analysis are displayed in visual patterns. TuneLab displays two main visual patterns - the phase display and the spectrum display. *oth of these displays indicate if the pitch of a note should be raised or lowered# but each display has its own uni+ue advantages. ,eeing both displays simultaneously gives the piano tuner the best of both worlds. Note Selection Terminology -n this manual we will be referring to notes on the piano by note name and octave number. .or e/ample# A0 is the A above middle 1. &ach numbered octave runs from 1 up to the ne/t higher *. ,o the lowest complete octave on a standard piano is octave 2# and it includes 12...*2. The notes below that are A3# A43# and *3. The highest note on the piano is 15. 6otes that are sharps or flats will always be designated as sharps. ,o# for e/ample# we write A43# not *b3. Phase Display The phase display is the hori)ontal band shown here. This display is used for fine tuning. The blac( s+uares move to the left if the note is flat and to the right if the note is sharp. The closer you get to the correct tuning# the slower the blac( s+uares will move. The goal is to ma(e the blac( s+uares come as much to a stop as possible. -f the piano string has any false beats then the blac( s+uares may appear to move in an irregular fashion# sometimes moving bac( and forth. "hen there is no note playing# or when the note being played is far from the correct pitch# the blac( s+uares will disappear or move randomly. This display is called the phase display because it displays the phase of the sound from the microphone as compared to the phase of an internally generated reference pitch# and is therefore similar to listening to beats. 7sing the phase display gives the most precise measure of the pitch of a note.

Spectrum Display The spectrum display is the graph shown here with the )oom set to 893 cents around the desired pitch. This display can be configured for other )oom levels. This display shows how the sound energy is distributed across the fre+uency spectrum. -f TuneLab is listening to a pure tone# then the spectrum graph will show a single pea(# as shown here. This e/ample was made from the note 1:# which happened to be about ;.5 cents flat. The red line in the center of the display mar(s the correct pitch. The green lines nearest the center mar( the points that are 23 cents above and below the correct pitch. The ob<ective in tuning with the spectrum display is to tune the note until the pea( of the graph is centered on the red line. The spectrum display has several advantages over the phase display. =ne is that it shows where the pitch of the piano is# even when that pitch is far from the correct pitch. The other advantage is that the spectrum display can show several pea(s at once. The picture here shows what you would get when playing a poorly tuned unison. >ere the piano note 1: is being played with one string tuned nine cents higher than the other two strings. -n this display the )oom has been set to its most )oomedin level# 893 cents. *y loo(ing at individual pea(s it is possible to do a rough tuning without mutes? @ou simply tune one of the strings and watch which pea( moves# then move that pea( to the central red line. -n addition to )oom levels of AwideB# 260 cents# 130 cents# and 50 cents, the spectrum display can also be )oomed in on the center 823 cents in the center of the display# while still showing 82;3 cents or 82:3 cents overall. "hen one of these Adual-zoomB modes is selected# the numbers at the bottom of the graph show offsets in cents rather than fre+uencies in >). The picture shown here is of one such setting of the spectrum display showing two simultaneous notes - one at 1: and the other at 14:. This picture also illustrates the use of the AWide spectrum tracesB option in Settings. =ne advantage of the phase display is that it generally provides more resolution than the spectrum display# e/cept in the highest octave where the resolutions of the two displays are about the same. .or this reason the spectrum display is used for rough tuning and the phase display is used for fine tuning. .alse beats can confuse the phase display# though. ,o you may prefer the spectrum display even for fine tuning in the highest octave. -n any case# both displays are availableC so you can use whichever display seems to be giving the clearest indication.

ommand "uttons #main tuning page$ This button switches to the view of the tuning cur e and the de iation cur e. The tuning curve shows a graph of the stretch offset for all notes# and the deviation curve analy)es selected intervals for the bass and treble. =n this page you can ad<ust the tuning curve to achieve an appropriate amount of stretch tuning for the particular piano. ,ee AAd<usting the Tuning 1urveB in chapter 2 for more information on the tuning curve. This button starts a measurement of inharmonicity# which is needed when you create a new custom tuning. After pressing this button# play the selected note and hold it for up to si/ seconds. @ou should have all but one string muted so that TuneLab hears a single string. @ou need to measure at least four and preferably five or si/ notes in order to establish the inharmonicity pattern for the particular piano. After the measurements are made# you can ad<ust the tuning curve to match them# or <ust let the tuning curve be ad<usted automatically. This button turns on loc!ing mode. -n this mode# TuneLab listens to the sound from the microphone and tries to ad<ust the offset to match it. @ou can see the offset changing and you can see the phase display and the spectrum display indicating an in-tune condition. This is used for matching an offset to an e/isting tuning to measure an e/isting tuning or to establish a non-standard offset for a tuning. *e sure to turn off loc(ing mode promptly when the sound stops# because otherwise TuneLab will continue to try to loc( to noise# resulting in a random offset. The offset produced by loc(ing mode can be reset to )ero by tapping on the offset display. This button switches to sound-generating mode. -n this mode TuneLab generates a tone in the spea(er or headphones# rather than listening to the microphone. This is not generally used for tuning# but it can be useful for chipping after restringing a piano. This is the Settings button# and it switches to a list of various settings and configuration actions# such as loading and saving tuning files# doing a calibration# configuring the spectrum display# and controlling auto note switching. This image appears in place of a command button when a mode has been entered that needs to be able to end. This button will stop inharmonicity measurements# loc(ing mode# soundgeneration mode# calibration# and over-pull mode.

urrent Settings Display -n the middle of the main TuneLab display screen in large letters there is a display of the currently selected note and octave. At the top of the screen is a display of various current settings. Most of these fields usually are blan(# but here is an e/ample with most of the fields shownD

>ere is a description of each of these fields# reading down the left column and then the right columnD "uning #ile $ame $gulbransen-spinet% - the name of the tuning currently in use "emperament $ame $Vallotti-Young well% - the name of the une+ual temperament $if one is selected% "uning %artial $4th partial% - which partial $or fundamental% is used for tuning the current note #re&uency $662.79 Hz% - the calculated target fre+uency# ta(ing into account all offsets '((set $7.59% - the main offset# if one is used. =therwise this field is blan(. Split-Scale )rea! $E3/F3% - -ndicates the brea( if ,plit-,cale tuning is in effect. *ustom Stretch $not shown% - the offset $if any% manually programmed for the current note only "uning *ur e Stretch $3.3 % - the stretch offset calculated from the tuning curve "emperament '((set $-!.9 % - the offset from the optional une+ual temperament in effect $ote Switching $"uto up% - tells which form of note switching is in effect Selecting Notes @ou can change the selected note one note at a time or one octave at a time by tapping on one of the four +uadrants of the spectrum display. The two upper +uadrants change the octave and the two lower +uadrants change the note. The picture on the left shows how the spectrum display is divided into +uadrants. The picture on the right shows how the four tapping areas are arranged when the spectrum display has more than a 9D2 aspect ratio $typically in landscape orientation%. @ou can tell which arrangement is in effect because when you tap in the spectrum display the selected +uadrant or side-by-side rectangle will briefly turn light green.

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To directly select any note# first tap on the current note display as shown here on the left. That will bring up a note selection page as shown on the right. =n this page you first select the octave by tapping on one of the buttons labeled A3B to A5B# and then tapping on the desired note on the piano (eyboard. "hen you tap on a note you will be returned to the main tuning page. Automatic Note S'itching ,electing each note manually ta(es time and effort that can be avoided. *y using automatic note switching# TuneLab will switch to the ne/t note when it hears you play it. @ou can configure automatic note switching to switch up# down# or in both directions. -f you are tuning from low notes to high notes# then it may be an advantage to use A+uto upB note switching so that TuneLab will not follow you down the scale as you play notes you have already tuned for test purposes. Automatic note switching may be configured from the Settings page. Automatic note switching can also be turned on or off more +uic(ly by swiping from the current note bo/ to the space to the left $to turn it off% or to the right $to turn it on%# as shown here. ,tart by touching your finger to the current note display $A0 in this case% and then sliding it left or right to +uic(ly turn off or turn on automatic note switching. To select between Auto-7p# Auto'own# and Auto-*oth# using the Settings page. Tuning ur(e Ad)ustment As described in 1hapters 2 and ;# the procedure for generating a custom tuning for a particular piano involves measuring inharmonicity for a few notes and then ad<usting the tuning curve. The default is for the tuning curve to be ad<usted automatically after you measure inharmonicity. *ut you can also ad<ust the tuning curve manually or semi-automaticlly. >ere is the page where you can e/amine the ad<ustment of the tuning curve and change the ad<ustment if you wish. -t is actually composed of two graphs. The upper graph is the tuning curve itself. -t gives the stretch offset for each note from A3 to 15 in cents. A typical piano tuning might be at -23 cents for A3 and E;3 cents for 15. The lower graph is called the deviation curve. -t shows how the current tuning and the measured inharmonicity affect the two selected

intervals shown in the button on the right. The button shown here specifies the 0D2 single octave for the treble and the 5D0 single octave for the bass. *oth the tuning curve and the deviation curve can be )oomed and panned as needed# and the tuning curve can be ad<usted in three different ways# as described in 1hapter 2. Partials &ach note is tuned according to its fundamental pitch or the pitch of one of its partials. The current settings bo/ shows which partial is being used for the current note. The selection of partials comes from a table of partials. This table may be modified from the screen shown here $which is reached from Settings%. The table shows the partial number for each note from A3 to *:. $17 through 15 are assumed to be using the fundamental.% @ou can select any entry in the table by tapping on it. -f the desired note is not visible# then you can scroll the table up or down. The selected entry is indicated by the green highlight. =nce you have selected the entry you wish to modify# tap on the A,B or A-B buttons to raise or lower the highlighted partial number. =nce a particular partial has been set to the desired value# you may want to use that same partial in some following notes. Tap the AdupB button to duplicate the partial value into the ne/t note. -n this manner you can +uic(ly set an entire section of notes to the same partial. The table of partials is stored along with the tuning curve in the tuning file when you save a tuning. ,o it is possible to customi)e the table of partials for each piano that you tune. "henever you begin a new tuning# the table of partials is initiali)ed to the default table of partials. -f you want to ma(e a change to the default table of partials that will apply to all new tuning files that you create# then you can tap on the A store as de(aultB button to ma(e that table the default. artials can also be changed for the current note while tuning by dragging your finger hori)ontally across the spectrum display on the main tuning page. ,wipe from the left to the right to go to the ne/t higher partial. ,wipe from the right side to the left to go to the ne/t lower partial. These on-the-fly changes are not stored in the table of partials and are canceled when a new note is selected# unless you have enabled %ersistent %artials under the Settings# in which case changes made on-the-fly are immediately incorporated permanently into the current tuning.

,nharmonicity -nharmonicity is a measure of the relationship between the partials of a given string# and it is the (ey factor in determining the appropriate stretch for a custom tuning. "hen TuneLab measures inharmonicity for a string# the pitches of all the partials of that string are analy)ed and an inharmonicity constant is generated for that string. The inharmonicity constants are stored in the tuning file when a tuning is saved. @ou donFt need to be concerned with the actual values of the inharmonicity constants that you measureC but if you want to# you can e/amine them and change or delete them. To change or delete an entry in this list of inharmonicity constants# <ust tap on the entry in +uestion and follow the prompts. -t is a good idea to become familiar with what typical inharmonicity readings loo( li(e so you can recogni)e an obviously faulty reading.

Typical -nharmonicity Galues for a :H 5B Iawai Jrand -n a well-scaled piano you can e/pect to see the lowest inharmonicity constants somewhere around octave 2. .rom there the inharmonicity constants increase slightly as you move down to A3 and they increase substantially as you move up to 15. TuneLab uses the specific samples that you collect to interpolate between them to create an inharmonicity model for the entire scale. 7sing this model# TuneLab ma(es all the calculations regarding how partials relate to one another. -(er.pull /ode "hen raising or lowering the overall pitch of a piano by a significant amount# you will find that the notes that you tune first will not stay where you put them by the time you are done tuning. This is due to the interaction of the string tensions# primarily through the bridge and soundboard and the fle/ing of the plate. "hen an entire section of notes is raised in pitch# the result is that the notes that were tuned first will tend to drop in pitch after you tune them. &ven the notes that you tuned last will drop somewhat due to the delayed settling of tension in the wire. =ver-pull tuning mode compensates for this change by setting tuning targets that are a calculated amount beyond the desired pitch. -n this way the change that occurs will leave the notes right where you want them.

-n many cases using <ust one pass with over-pull tuning can ta(e the place of tuning the piano twice. =verpull mode accomplishes this goal by pre-measuring the pitch of the piano before you start tuning. This process is described in detail in the chapter on over-pull mode. alibration @our Android device should be calibrated with TuneLab before you trust its absolute pitch. "ithout calibration# TuneLab assumes a nominal crystal oscillator fre+uency in your deviceHs sound system and ma(es all pitch calculations from that assumption. *y doing a calibration# TuneLab learns how to e/actly compensate for any deviation from the ideal oscillator fre+uencies by comparing to a trusted pitch source. @ou can do a rough calibration using a tuning for(# but a better calibration can be achieved by using a more precise source# such as the 6-,T standard fre+uency services described later. The result of a calibration is a (nowledge of the actual sample rate of the sound system. 6ormally# calibration is done only once when TuneLab is first installed on your device# but you can re-do the calibration at any time if you wish. ,ee the chapter on calibration later in this manual for details on doing a calibration. 1ne2ual #3istorical$ Temperaments *y default# TuneLab assumes an e+ual-tempered scale. -f you would li(e to tune in some une+ual temperament# you can select an historical temperament file to apply to your tuning. An historical temperament is defined by a list of 22 offsets for each of the 22 notes of an octave. "hen an historical temperament is selected# one of these 22 offsets is used# depending on which note is selected. .or any given note# the same offset is used in every octave. The temperament name and the temperament offset for the selected note appear in the 1urrent ,ettings bo/ shown previously. "hen you save a tuning the historical temperament values $and temperament name% are saved in the tuning file. ,ee the chapter on historical temperaments for information on ma(ing and using temperament files. Tuning 4iles A tuning file is a file made by TuneLab on your device to store a particular tuning. -t is stored as part of the TuneLab application. @ou can organi)e your tuning files in folders if that ma(es more sense to you# or you can leave them all in the root folder. =nce you have saved a tuning file# that file can be loaded later to reestablish the e/act same settings you used the first time. >ere is what a tuning file containsD The inharmonicity constants for the notes that you measured. The tuning curve# <ust the way you ad<usted it# or <ust as it was ad<usted automatically. The name of the historical temperament $if any% and all 22 offsets from that temperament. The partials used for tuning and custom offset $if any% for each of the 55 notes. The selection of bass and treble intervals in the tuning curve editor.

Sound 5eneration Although the most common use for TuneLab is in listening to notes and providing a visual tuning aid# you can also use TuneLab as a tone generator. "hen TuneLab is in sound generation mode# the pitch of the sound generated in the spea(er or headphones is the same as the pitch that would have indicated correct

tuning in the listening mode. The pitch is generated for whichever partial is selected - not necessarily the fundamental. ,ound generation is generally used to aid in stringing operations rather than normal tuning.

Tuning loseness ,ndicator Kust above the current note display there is a progress indicator that indicates how close your tuning is to the target pitch. >ere are some e/amplesD

more than one cent off

slightly less than one cent off

half a cent off

nearly perfect

As these e/amples show# the progress indicator starts filling in with yellow when the tuning is within one cent of the target pitchC it fills completely when the tuning error goes to )ero.

/icrophone Le(el ,ndicator To help verify that your microphone is wor(ing properly# and to help you control how loud sounds appear to TuneLab# there is a microphone level bar graph indicator at the right edge of the spectrum display as shown here. "hen the vertical bar reaches the top of the spectrum display# that corresponds to a mic level of 233L. -f this indicator does not behave as e/pected# then you may have a problem with your microphone or with the microphone settings in your deviceHs system.

Chapter
Normal Tuning Procedure

This chapter takes you step-by-step through an ordinary piano tuning (not a pitchraise). We are assuming that you have not tuned this piano before and saved a tuning file, because if you had, then you could skip the initial setup and just load that tuning file now and being tuning. imilarly, if you would like to try a simple tuning using one of the sample tuning files that came packaged with Tune!ab, then you can also skip this initial setup and just load the desired tuning file and start tuning. Initial Setup "egin by selecting New tuning from the Settings page. This will clear out all the tuning parameters that may have been in effect from the last piano you tuned. This includes inharmonicity measurements, tuning curve adjustments, and any custom offsets. #fter selecting New tuning you should not see any tuning file name in the upper left of the screen. Measuring Inharmonicity When creating a new tuning, Tune!ab needs to sample at least four notes for inharmonicity, and preferably five or si$ notes. %ou can measure whichever notes you want. &or e$ample let's assume you want to measure (), (*, (+, (,, (-, and (.. /f you have an automatic measuring se0uence defined, then these notes may be selected automatically when you start a new tuning. /f you would like to define an automatic measuring se0uence, go to Edit Measure Sequence in the Settings. /f a particular note is hard to measure accurately because of serious false beats or lack of partials, then just measure some other nearby note instead. When you measure the inharmonicity of a note you should mute all but one string of the note. 1easuring the inharmonicity of two or three strings sounding at once is not recommended, even if those strings are tuned together perfectly. To measure the inharmonicity of a note, first make sure the note you are about to play has been selected in Tune!ab. 2ow that Tune!ab is showing the note that you want to measure, tap on the measure button shown on the right. This will cause a yellow status bo$ to appear3 This means Tune!ab is waiting for you to play (). The sudden rise in sound level when you play the note is the trigger. /f you don't play the note shortly after initiating a measurement, it is 0uite likely that some e$traneous noise may trigger the measurement period and you will get a false reading. /f this happens, press the stop button (red stop sign) and start over. The stop button can also be used to cancel a measurement if you didn't really want it now. When you play the note and the the trigger is recogni4ed, the status bo$ will change to the following3

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The listening period is about si$ seconds for low notes and progressively shorter for higher notes. /f anything happens to interrupt or interfere with the note during the listening period, then cancel that measurement and try again. #fter the measurement is done, you will see a display like the following3 This page shows the results of the inharmonicity measurement for the note (). 5ere we see that pitches were detected for partials ,, -, ., 6, )7, )), )*, )+, and )-. The offset column shows the offset in cents for the individual partials as compared to what they would be if there were no inharmonicity. 8enerally there is more inharmonic offset the higher you go in the partial series. The amplitude column shows the relative strengths of the specific partials. These amplitudes are not used by Tune!ab, but are presented for your interest. Tune!ab analy4es the pattern of partial offsets and calculates an inharmonicity constant for the string - in this case 7.*-7. /f things look reasonable at this point then you could press the Save button, which will save the inharmonicity constant for the note (). 9r you can select Save,+ which will save the measurement and began another measurement of the same note to form an average of several measurements. This information is presented to you so you can confirm that a valid measurement has been taken. /f you save an erroneous inharmonicity reading, you could throw off the accuracy of the tuning curve that you generate. The only item that is saved is the /5.(on (7.*-7 in this case). This inharmonicity constant is derived from the offsets shown. /f you take several measurements of the same note, then you will see a results page like the one on the left. 5ere we see that the average of the prior readings is 7.*-, and that the current reading is 7.*,6, which will be combined with the average thus far if you choose to Save it. /f you decide that the current reading is the only one that you want to keep and you want to delete all prior readings for this note, then tap on the Delete Prior button. #n e$ample of inharmonicity results for a higher note is shown above and to the right. The higher notes have fewer partials that can be 11

measured. 5ere we see four partials that produce an inharmonicity constant of 7.67.. 9n some pianos the higher notes may not yield an inharmonicity constant at all. Tune!ab needs the offset of at least two partials to calculate the inharmonicity. ometimes higher notes with poor voicing have such weak partials that you don't get the needed two partials. /n that case you can either try a different note, or do without that particular measurement. The measurement results screen shows a lot of data, but the most important measurement is the inharmonicity constant. The graph in (hapter ) shows the typical pattern of inharmonicity constants from a :awai .;<= grand. 9ther pianos may have more or less inharmonicity, but the pattern should be appro$imately the same. :nowing the typical inharmonicity pattern will help to eliminate obviously bad readings. #fter you tap on Save to save the inharmonicity measurement, and if an automatic measure se0uence is defined, then Tune!ab will automatically switch to the ne$t note in that se0uence. %ou still will have to start the measurement by tapping on the measure button, but at least the note will be selected automatically. ee Edit Measure Sequence in the Settings to select which notes to have measured for inharmonicity. Adjusting the Tuning Curve 2ow that the inharmonicity readings have been taken for several notes, Tune!ab can form a model for the inharmonicity of all the notes of the scale, not just the notes that you measured. >sing that model, Tune!ab can predict how various intervals will sound. >sing that model, you want the tuning curve to be adjusted to match the inharmonicity. &or now, we will assume that you are using the default configuration where the tuning curve is adjusted automatically, and the adjustment is based on the selected intervals of .3+ octaves in the bass and ,3) double octaves in the treble. ee the ne$t chapter for more information on how the tuning curve is adjusted, particularly if you want to change the default settings. Saving the Tuning ile #fter all inharmonicity measurements have been made and the tuning curve has been adjusted if necessary, then return to the main tuning page and begin tuning. /f you want to save this tuning file for later recall, now would be a good time to do so. ave the tuning file by using the Save tuning as.. item in Settings. #ssign a name to the file that so that you can recogni4e it in a list of other tuning files. /f you are tuning a lot of new pianos of the same make and model, you may decide to keep only one tuning file that you use for all pianos of that same make and model. /f you have the time, it is best to measure inharmonicity and adjust a tuning curve for each piano. 5owever new pianos of the same model do not vary that much? for all but the most critical uses, a generic tuning may be acceptable. !eginning to Tune " the Tuning Se#uence 2ow that you have a custom tuning file for this piano and and you have saved the tuning file, you can turn your attention to actually doing the tuning. "ecause aural tuning always starts by setting a temperament, an aural tuning se0uences starts in the middle of the scale and works downwards and upwards from there. When using a calculated Tune!ab tuning, you need not conform to this se0uence. %ou can tune in any

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order that you want. The most common se0uence when tuning with an electronic aid is to start with #7 and go up from there. /n any case, the decision on the tuning se0uence is yours to make. /f tuning the bass first, select #7. @lay the #7 on the piano and watch for a peak on the spectrum display. The bass re0uires some special consideration. "ecause you are tuning to a high partial, it is 0uite easy for a wrong partial to mas0uerade as the correct partial if the note is seriously mis-tuned. When in doubt, use aural methods to verify that the note is at least grossly at the correct pitch before trusting the spectrum display or the phase display. 9ne way to confirm that you are tuning to the correct partial is temporarily to select a different partial. /f several partials appear at the same relative position in the spectrum display, then you probably have the partials identified correctly. /f you do not see a very prominent peak in the spectrum display, it is not necessarily a cause for concern. The phase display will work even with partials that are almost too small to see in the spectrum display. Aspecially in the bass, feel free to select a different partial on the fly if you are having trouble getting a reasonable indication on the current partial. %ou can change to a different partial by swiping hori4ontally through the spectrum display. wipe from the left side to the right side to go to the ne$t higher partial. wipe from the right side to the left side to go to the ne$t lower partial. /f you have enabled auto partial selection in Settings, then Tune!ab will search for a stronger partial as you tune and switch partials automatically if one is found. We recommend that for your very first tuning with Tune!ab you leave auto note switching disabled. That way you will not be confused by unintentional note switches. !ater on, you can enable auto note switching to speed up your tuning. &or now you can manually switch notes by tapping a 0uadrant in the spectrum display, as described in (hapter ). $sing your Mutes " Tuning $nisons When you finish the monochord section of the bass and come to the bichords, always mute one of the strings before tuning the other string in the unison. #fter one string is tuned, remove the mute and tune the unison aurally. There are times when machine tuning of the unisons is an advantage, but those instances are usually in the high treble. /n the bass there are many partials that need to be balanced. Tuning these unisons aurally allows you to make the needed compromises to get the best-sounding unisons. #lso, aural unison tuning is faster than using any electronic aid. @roceed up through the bi-chords and into the tri-chords. 5ere you can mute the outside two strings and tune the middle string. Then move the right mute over one note to e$pose the right-hand unison. Tune that unison aurally and then move the left-hand mute over one note. That will e$pose the left-hand unison and also re-mute the right-hand string. /n case your right-hand unison was off at all, it is better to tune the lefthand unison to the middle string than to tune the left-hand unison to the combination of the middle and right-hand strings sounding at once. #lso, having all three strings sound at once increases your chances of having to deal with false beats. o always tuning unison strings in pairs is recommended. Tuning the %igh Tre&le (ontinue tuning through the high treble. 5ere you may have some trouble with the phase display. Aven though Tune!ab has artificially slowed down the movement of the phase display in the high treble, false

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beats together with a short sustain can produce a confusing picture in the phase display. /t is here that we recommend that you direct your attention to the spectrum display. The resolution of the spectrum display is in term of cycles per second, not in terms of cents. Therefore the cents-wise resolution of the spectrum display gets better the higher you go in fre0uency. %ou can see this by noting the coarse look of the spectrum display around #-,,7 in the picture in (hapter ) as compare to the somewhat more precise look of the graph following that one which is based around (6 (at about *)77 54). Therefore, in the high treble we recommend just trying to get the peak to be centered on the central red line in the spectrum display. $sing Auto Note S(itching %ou can use auto note switching to make tuning easier. To enable this feature, use the Auto note switching item in Settings, or swipe from current note display to the right as described in (hapter ). When auto note switching is enabled, Tune!ab will be constantly listening for nearby notes? and when it hears one, it will switch to it. #uto note switching can be enabled for switching up, down, or in both direction. The range of auto note switching is plus or minus +77 cents from the current note. /f you use aural checks while tuning, be aware that auto note switching may occur while you are doing these checks. /f an unintended auto note switch occurs, simply switch back to the correct note manually.

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Chapter
The Tuning Curve

The tuning curve is the source of the TCurve offsets that appear on the main tuning screen. The tuning curve determines how much stretch there is in the bass and the treble. You do not need to look at the tuning curve if you are using a saved tuning file, or if you are using automatic tuning curve adjustment. But it is advisable to take a look at it when making a new tuning. nd you will certainly need to look at it to make manual or semi!automatic adjustments. lso, you will need to visit the tuning curve adjuster to select which intervals are used to adjust the bass and treble portions of the curve, as described later in this chapter. "f the tuning curve adjuster is configured for automatic adjustment, then the tuning curve will be adjusted automatically after every inharmonicity measurement, using the bass and treble intervals you have selected. You can see this in action by noticing that the TCurve offset changes for whatever note is currently selected after you make an inharmonicity measurement #provided there are at least four measurements recorded$. Therefore you can just start tuning after making the final inharmonicity measurement for a new tuning. The rest of this chapter will describe what aspects of the tuning curve can be adjusted and how to accomplish those adjustments. Tuning Curve Variations The tuning curve is variable in four different ways, as illustrated here%

over-all treble stretch

over-all bass stretch

treble shape

bass shape

&ach of these graphs shows the stretch for all the notes from ' to (). The first graph shows three variations of a tuning curve where the thing that is being adjusted is the overall stretch in the treble. The second graph shows three variations of a tuning curve where the thing that is being adjusted is the overall stretch in the bass. The third graph shows variations of the shape of the tuning curve in the treble. The overall stretch at () remains the same, but the way in which it gets there is different. *ne graph shows a stretch that gradually increases as you approach (). nother shows a stretch that goes up very little at first, and then abruptly goes up to the same value for () as before. nd yet another variation is midway between

15

these two e+tremes. *f course there there are infinitely many such variations, but these few have been presented to illustrate the kind of variation we are talking about. nd finally the fourth graph shows variations in the shape of the bass portion of the tuning curve. &very tuning curve generated by Tune,ab is some combination of these four kinds of variations. -o it is not surprising that in manual adjustment mode, you have four different adjustments that you can make. .ere is what the top part of the tuning curve adjustment screens look like in each adjustment mode%

FULLY AUTOMATIC

SEMI-AUTOMATIC

MANUAL

You might notice that these graphs have breaks and do not appear continuous, like the ideali/ed curves shown previously. These breaks represent places where the tuning switches to a different partial. The jumps in the tuning curve are necessary to compensate for the fact that different partials are being used. The jumps in the curve do not represent actual jumps in the tuning, which is in fact still continuous. "n the manual mode on the far right there are four green bands in the background. -wiping you finger up or down in those bands will adjust one of the four aspects of the tuning curve. The left!most and right!most bands adjust the overall stretch in the bass and the treble. The middle two bands adjust the shape of the tuning curve in the bass and the treble. This kind of adjustment gives the most fle+ibility, but it is the most tedious, especially if you don0t know what you want to do to the tuning curve. "n semi!automatic mode only the middle two adjustment bands are active. That is because the overall stretch in the bass and the treble is being adjusted automatically. s before, you adjust the shape of the tuning curve by swiping up or down in the appropriate green band. "n the semi!automatic mode, Tune,ab will adjust the overall stretch to make the deviation curve #described below$ read /ero at ' and (). The fully automatic mode shows a solid green background. "n this mode, just one tap anywhere in that background will cause all four aspects of the tuning curve to be adjusted automatically. Tune,ab will adjust the tuning curve overall stretch to make the deviation curve read near /ero and be fairly flat at the lowest and highest e+tremes of the scale. You can select between fully automatic, semi!automatic, and manual adjustment modes by tapping and holding the adjustment button shown here.

16

Deviation Curve "n order to understand how the tuning curve is adjusted automatically, we first have to e+amine the deviation curve, which is the graph shown below the tuning curve. The deviation curve is divided into a left and a right portion. The left portion shows the outcome of the interval selected for the bass, and the right portion shows the outcome of the interval selected for the treble. The bass and treble intervals are selected by tapping on the interval select button shown here. This particular display indicates that the treble interval is the 1%2 double octave, and the bass interval is the 3%4 single octave. 5sing the intervals shown #1%2 and 3%4$, the left portion of the deviation curve would show how wide or narrow the 3%4 octaves are in the bass. positive number of cents means wide and a negative number means narrow. "n the bass portion, each interval is specified in the graph by the left!most note in that interval. -o for e+ample, the left!most portion of the deviation curve says how wide or narrow is the 3%4 octave formed by ' and 2. -imilarly, the right portion of the deviation curve would show how wide or narrow the 1%2 double octaves are in the treble. "n this case, each interval is specified by the right!most note of that interval. Therefore the right!most portion of the deviation curve says how wide or narrow is the 1%2 double octave formed by (3 and (). (ommon selections for bass and treble intervals will generally give these results%

3%4 in the bass 6 low to moderate bass stretch )%1 in the bass 6 higher bass stretch 1%2 in the treble 6 moderate treble stretch 1%7 in the treble 6 higher treble stretch 7%2 in the treble 6 low treble stretch

The graph shown here is the deviation curve for a particular piano and tuning curve. The selected intervals were 3%4 in the bass and 1%2 in the treble. "t was adjusted in the fully automatic adjustment mode. s we said before, this causes the deviation curve to be near /ero at the e+tremes # ' and ()$ and to be as flat as possible in the vicinity of ' and (). "n this case we see that is so. The 3%4 octave is nearly beatless #neither narrow nor wide$ at '! 2. Then as we move up the scale the 3%4 octave becomes as much as 2.7 cents wide at about (4!(1. Then it becomes 2.8 cents narrow at about 91!98, at which point the left side of the deviation curve ends. ,ooking at the right side of the graph, we see that the 1%2 double octave is beatless at (3!() and remains so for :uite a ways down the scale, finally becoming much wider near 97!91. ;ow, without changing the tuning curve adjustment, we can select the 1%7 octave in the treble, in place of the 1%2 double octave. "f we did that, then the deviation curve would become the graph as shown here. ;otice that where the 1%2 double octave was nearly beatless, the 1%7 octave is very

17

narrow. But the 1%7 octave is much closer to beatless in the region where the 1%2 double octave was wider #in the midrange$. <inally, we can select the 7%2 octave in the treble #still without re!adjusting the tuning curve$ and then the deviation curve looks like this. .ere we see that in region where the 1%2 double octave was just and the 1%7 octave was narrow, the 7%2 octave is wide by up to 2.) cents. This shows how tuning is a compromise. "n actual practice, many of these very wide or very narrow intervals are not very loud in the regions where they are wide or narrow. Therefore a reasonable tuning can be achieved by using either the 1%2 or the 1%7 intervals in the treble for automatic adjustment. -imilarly we could show how the 3%4 and the )%1 octaves differ in the bass. s you can see, there are many possible ways to adjust the tuning curve even if you use the fully automatic adjustment mode. nd after an adjustment has been made, you can temporarily select a different interval just to see how that interval would work out with the current tuning curve adjustment. =e recommend that at first you simply select 3%4 in the bass and 1%2 in the treble and do an adjustment in automatic mode and use it. "f you prefer more stretch in the bass, use the )%1 octave instead of the 3%4. "f you want more stretch in the treble, use the 1%7 octave instead of the 1%2 double octave. Displaying Beats in the Deviation Curve The deviation curve normally shows the condition of the selected intervals in cents. But you can also show beats. To switch to beats, swipe the deviation curve with a >! shaped gesture, as shown here. -tarting on the left side, drag your finger to the right, then to the left, then back to right and lift it off. This will switch the deviation to displaying beats instead of cents. "t can also be used to switch back to cents. =hen beats are being displayed, the background of the deviation curve switches from the light blue shown here to a reddish color. Mode Buttons The following buttons appear between the tuning curve and the deviation curve%

The first button makes it possible to adjust the tuning curve. =e saw earlier that tapping and holding this button lets you select between manual, semi!automatic, and fully automatic adjustment mode. The second button lets you pan the tuning curve graph up and down. "t also enables a two!fingered pinch /oom on that graph. #-uch /ooming and panning is always enabled on the deviation curve.$ The third button shows the details on individual notes in the tuning curve. fter tapping on this button, you will see details about a single note. "n this mode, you can touch anywhere in the tuning curve to select which note0s details are reported. The fourth button lets you select different intervals for the bass and the treble, as described earlier.

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Chapter
All About Offsets

TuneLab uses several kinds of offsets. The offsets are specified in terms of cents. The offsets in effect are all displayed on the right side of the Current Settings box, as shown here. TuneLab combines them to calculate the desired pitch for each note. In normal tuning, only the tuning curve offset is used and the other offsets are all ero. Main Offset This is the offset shown in the upper right corner after the word ! Offset". #hen this offset is left at ero, $% will be %%& ' , and the offset display field will be blank. If you want to tune to a non(standard reference )like $(%%*, $(%+, or $(%-,., then you can ad/ust the offset until you get the pitch that you want. 0ou can change the offset by swiping your finger across the phase display. Swiping to the right increases the offset. Swiping to the left decreases it. The first time you ad/ust the offset you will get a message asking you to confirm that you want to ad/ust the offset. This is to prevent an accidental offset if you happen to brush the phase display. Tap on the displayed offset to reset it back to ero. This offset can also be modified by locking mode, as described later. Custom Offset This is a rarely(used optional note(by(note offset and it is stored in the tuning file. It is sometimes used to record an existing tuning that was done aurally, specifically in the 1T2 Tuning 3xam. It can be used to make note(by(note corrections to the tuning curve. 4ut if you find yourself making many such corrections, then you should consider read/usting the whole tuning curve instead. This offset is not displayed if it is ero, and when present, it appears after the word ! Cust". The space where this offset would appear is also used to display the location of the break when split(scale tuning is in effect. In that case you will see the word !Split" instead of !Cust". The Custom offsets item in Settings lets you set any and all offsets for individual notes. 0ou can also transfer the main offset to the custom offset for the current note by tapping on the display of the main offset and choosing the !Transfer offset .." item in the menu that pops up. 5or use in the 1T2 Tuning 3xam, see the chapter on the Tuning 3xam for a faster way to transfer the main offset into the custom offset for capturing an aural tuning. Tuning Curve Offset This offset comes from the tuning curve for the current tuning. It is calculated based on the ad/ustment of the whole tuning curve, taking into account the selected note, the partial that is selected for that note,

19

and the inharmonicity. The only way it can be ad/usted is to ad/ust the tuning curve as a whole. The tuning curve offset is displayed after the word !Tcurve". Temperament Offset The offset after the word !Temper" is shown only when a une6ual )historical. temperament is selected. 5or normal e6ual temperament, this display field is blank. #hen an une6ual temperament is in effect, this offset shows the temperament offset for the current note, which is the same for all other notes of the same name in different octaves. The -* temperament offsets for a given historical temperament are stored in the tuning file when it is saved while an une6ual temperament selected. Locking Mode Locking mode is entered by tapping on the lock button, shown here. Then TuneLab will show a status box on the left side of the page saying !Locking". #hen you are in locking mode, TuneLab listens to the sound in the microphone and tries to lock to it by automatically ad/usting the offset. It will automatically make changes to the main offset so as to make the phase display stop moving. 7epending on conditions, it may take several seconds for a good lock to be achieved. This function may be used to measure the existing pitch of a note, or to determine a non(standard reference to match an existing tuning. 8ake sure to turn off locking mode promptly when the target sound is no longer available, or else TuneLab will continue trying to lock to random noise from the microphone. Locking mode can be turned off by tapping on the stop(sign button that appears in place of the lock button. Storing Main Offset in Tuning iles #hen a tuning file is saved while a non( ero main offset is in effect, then this offset will be stored in the tuning file. 4ut the stored offset will not be automatically restored when that same tuning file is loaded later. Instead you will see a prompt asking you if you want to adopt the offset that was stored with the tuning file or keep the existing offset in effect. If you respond with !0es", then the offset stored in the tuning file will be loaded. If you tap on !9o", then the offset will be left as it is. In this way you can treat the main offset as something that is tied to the various tuning files or as something that is independent of them.

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#hapter
Over-pull (Pitch Raise) Tuning Procedure

Over-pull tuning is most often used in pitch raising, although it could also be used for pitch-lowering. When large overall changes are made to the tuning of a piano, the notes that you tune first tend to change pitch as you tune later notes. Over-pull tuning mode compensates for this change by setting the pitch a calculated amount beyond the desired pitch. In this way the settling that occurs as later notes are tuned will leave the notes right where you want them. In many cases using just one pass with over-pull tuning can take the place of tuning the piano twice. And even if do use two passes, doing the first pass in over-pull mode will leave the piano closer to the correct pitch than if you hadn t used that mode, and thus the second pass will be easier. Measuring Inharmonicity Before an Over-pull When over-pull mode is activated, !une"ab will not let you measure inharmonicity. !herefore if you want to create a custom tuning for the piano as described in the #hapter $, you would have to measure the inharmonicity and adjust the tuning curve before enabling over-pull mode. %or small to moderate pitch raises, the normal inharmonicity measurements will be sufficient. &owever, for very large pitch raises, the act of pulling the string up to pitch will change the inharmonicity of the strings. %or such pitch raises, you are not going to get away with doing a one-pass tuning anyway. 'o when you do the second pass, discard the old inharmonicity readings by starting over with a new tuning file, and take fresh inharmonicity readings. In fact, you would probably be better off skipping the inharmonicity readings on the first (e)treme* pass and using the Average tuning file, or a generic tuning file from a similar model piano for that pass. !hen only the final pass would need to have custom inharmonicity measurements taken. Ena ling Over-pull Mode If your evaluation of the piano convinces you that the overall pitch change is large enough to need an overpull, then you can begin the process of over-pull tuning by pre-measuring the piano. !his must be done before any tuning has been started, in order to get an accurate measure of how flat the piano was to start with. !his will enable !une"ab to calculate an amount of over-pull appropriate to the particular piano. Pre-measuring for Over-pull Mode If an appropriate tuning file is already loaded, then go to Settings and select Over-pull. It is important to have some reasonable tuning file loaded when the pre-measurements are taken, because the premeasurements are going to be interpreted with respect to whichever tuning file is currently loaded. If you had, say, a no-stretch tuning file loaded, then the pre-measurements would not accurately reflect how flat the piano was from what it should be.

!"

On the over-pull control page, tap on Begin pre-measurements. !his will switch back to the main tuning page with two yellow status bo)es showing. !he right status bo) shows which note you should play, and how flat each note was as it is measured. +ake sure to play each note only once and make sure you stay in sync with !une"ab. It is important that you play the note that !une"ab is e)pecting. &ere is what the display looks like when you first start the premeasurement. !une"ab wants you to play the selected note. After you play the selected note and !une"ab has captured its pitch, then the display will change to the ne)t picture. &ere you see the results of playing ,$ (--../ cents*. !hen you see that !une"ab wants you to play 0$. In this e)ample we have configured the over-pull pre-measurement to pre-measure just the notes of a #-major arpeggio. 1ou can also configure it to pre-measure all white notes or every note (chromatic scale*. 2re-measuring every note gives a more accurate picture of the pretuned state of the piano, but it also takes four times longer than pre-measuring only the notes from a #arpeggio. If you think the piano is appro)imately in tune with itself, then pre-measuring only the #arpeggio notes is probably sufficient. Over-pull Tuning After the last pre-measurement has been made, !une"ab automatically switches to tuning in over-pull mode by selecting A3. !hen the display will look like the picture to the right. !he calculated over-pull offset is shown ne)t to the current note display. In this e)ample, the calculated over-pull would have been more than $- cents, but it is being limited to $- cents by the safety limits in effect. 1ou can tell that from the color of the background. Whenever a safety limit is causing the over-pull offset to be limited, then that offset will be displayed with a pink background, as shown above. If the over-pull offset is low enough to avoid the safety limit, then it will appear with a light green background, as shown in the ne)t picture. 1ou may now tune the piano normally, e)cept that you should tune straight from A3 to #. tuning unisons as you go, and each note will have an over-pull offset added on to it. 1ou should tune unisons as you go because !une"ab assumes that you do that when it calculates the over-pull offset. 1ou can turn off over-pull mode by tapping on the stop button (red stop sign*. And you can resume overpull tuning from the Over-pull section of the Settings menu. %o& Over-pull is #alculated 1ou do not need to understand the e)act formula for over-pull to take advantage of over-pull mode. !une"ab performs the calculation automatically based on all the pre-measurements, and on the setting of the over-pull parameters. !here is no longer any concept of an over-pull percentage, as found on earlier versions of !une"ab. 4or is there a running average of pre-measurements done during tuning. Instead each individual pre-measurement contributes to each individual over-pull amount with a proprietary formula. !his means you do not have to worry about pre-measurements while you are tuning, nor do you have to worry about auto note switching interfering with pre-measurements. If a note is too far off pitch to

!!

trigger auto note switching, then just start tuning it and !une"ab will switch to it when it comes in range of the correct pitch. Over-pull Options !here are some settings that you can change which affect how over-pull operates. !hese options are changed from the Over-pull page in Settings, as shown here. !apping the Begin premeasuring button will start the pre-measuring process from the beginning, discarding any pre-measurements that have already been made. !apping Resume will continue pre-measuring, keeping e)isting measurements. !apping Begin over-pull tuning switches to over-pull tuning mode using whatever pre-measurement have been made so far. !apping on the 5 ?6 buttons just e)plains the action of the nearby buttons. !he first over-pull option is the location of the break between the bass bridge and the tenor bridge. !he e)ample here shows the bass bridge ending at 789. !apping on the adjustment button ne)t to that option will allow you to change the location of the break. !une"ab uses this information in the calculation of the over-pull offset, as well as to :ualify the ne)t two options - the safety limits. !he ne)t two options are the safety limits. !hey set an overriding upper limit on how high the over-pull offset is allowed to go. In the e)ample shown earlier, where the overpull offset was shown as $- cents with a pink background, the actual calculated offset, based on all the premeasurements that were taken, would have been about ;- cents sharp. <ut this is above the specified safety limit of $- cents, so the over-pull offset was limited to $- cents. 1ou can set these safety limits however you want by tapping on the adjustment buttons ne)t to them. <ut you take all responsibility for what may happen with higher safety limits. !une"ab is initially installed with conservative limits in effect. If you want more permissive limits, then you will have to change them. !he last option is the pattern of pre-measurements. <y tapping on the adjustment button ne)t to that option you can select between every note, every white note, and only notes from a #-major arpeggio. <elow these options is a button labeled Edit pre-measurements. !apping on this button will let you view all the pre-measurement that have been made. 1ou will also be able to delete ones that you decide are faulty. If you delete a pre-measurement, then !une"ab will simply interpolate between the neighboring entries to calculate the over-pull offset.

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Chapter
Calibration Procedure

This chapter takes you through the process of doing a calibration. Normally you need to do a calibration only once when you first install TuneLab on your Android device. The results of the calibration are stored permanently on your device and used every time you run TuneLab. You can check the need for a calibration by comparing TuneLab to some trusted source of pitch. A Trusted Source of Pitch To do a calibration you need to have a trusted source of pitch. The most accurate source of pitch that you can get is from the National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST!. This agency of the ".S. government has a telephone service and shortwave radio service that disseminate standard time and fre#uency. The telephone service is free of charge but the call is not toll$free!% and the shortwave radio service may be heard on &.'% '% ()% ('% and &) *+,% if you have a shortwave radio. Another source of accurate pitch is a Sanderson Accu$Tuner% or other calibrated tuning device that can produce a tone. In most areas of the "SA% the telephone dial tone contains an A$--) that might be used for calibration% but this fre#uency is not certified by the phone companies and may be in error. The e.ample described here involves the use of the NIST standard fre#uency service% but you can use other sources. NIST Broadcast (and Telephone) Schedule The NIST standard fre#uency service is available by telephone by calling /)/! -00$1((( in 2olorado. This is a very popular number. 3hat you hear when you call this number is e.actly the same as what is being transmitted by the NIST shortwave radio stations as mentioned above. NIST reports that they get over two million calls per year. In order to use these services effectively% you need to know something about the schedule for this service. The following schedule is followed each hour. It shows what tones are present during each minute of the hour. 3hen a tone is present% it is present for the first -' seconds of the minute and it is silent for the last (' seconds. There are also time ticks every second% but they do not interfere with calibration since TuneLab is able to ignore the ticks.
04 14 24 34 44 54 64 74 84 94 $$$ 5)) --) $$$ $$$ 5)) ')) 5)) $$$ $$$ 104 114 124 134 144 154 164 174 184 194 $$$ 5)) ')) 5)) $$$ $$$ $$$ 5)) $$$ 5)) 204 214 224 234 244 254 264 274 284 294 ')) 5)) ')) 5)) ')) 5)) ')) 5)) ')) $$$ 304 314 324 334 344 354 364 374 384 394 $$$ 5)) ')) 5)) ')) 5)) ')) 5)) ')) 5)) 404 414 424 434 444 454 464 474 484 494 ')) 5)) ')) $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ 504 514 524 534 544 554 564 574 584 594 $$$ $$$ ')) 5)) ')) 5)) ')) 5)) ')) $$$

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Although the --) +, tone in minute 6& is tempting% do not try to use it. That pitch is only present for -' seconds each hour. The difficulty in calling at 7ust the right time and the shortness of the tone make this choice inadvisable. Instead you can use the ')) +, and 5)) +, tones. The telephone service will disconnect you after three minutes% so make sure that when you call you have everything set up and time your call so that you will be assured of at least three minutes of ')) +, or 5)) +, tones. If you happen to be closer to +awaii than to 2olorado% you can receive 338+ by shortwave radio or by calling 9)9! //'$ -/5/ in +awaii. :or more information on both of these sources% see the website4
www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/stations/iform.html

Usin NIST Tones for Calibration To use the NIST standard fre#uency service to do a calibration% start by selecting Do a calibration from the Settings menu. Then select 500 or 600 Hz NIST tones as the reference source. ;o not try to make the call to the NIST with your Android phone. You need to use a different phone because TuneLab cannot be running at the same time as you are making a phone call. <osition the Android device so that its microphone is right over the speaker of the phone that is calling NIST. :ollow the on$screen instructions and make sure the microphone of your device is close to the telephone speaker. TuneLab automatically will determine which tone is currently sounding ')) or 5))! and lock to it. 3hen TuneLab has heard enough it will display a message saying that calibration is done. +ere is what the lower portion of the main tuning page looks like during a calibration. It is similar to locking mode in that the offset is being ad7usted automatically to lock on to the sound it hears. =ut unlike locking mode% there is no note displayed in the current note display. You can cancel a calibration at any time before it finishes by tapping on the stop button red stop sign!. Usin !ther "eferences for Calibration =esides the ')) and 5)) +, NIST tones% TuneLab offers other choices. If you have a precise --) or (15) +, tone source% you can use that. (15) +, was chosen because it is the fourth harmonic of --) +,. :inally% there is a completely general choice where you can enter whatever fre#uency you like. =ut whatever fre#uency you enter% it must be the true fre#uency of the source that you intend to use for calibration. If you have a calibrated 2yber:ork from >eyburn <iano Services! then you can use it as a calibration source by entering the e.act pitch in +,. The e.act pitch of a 2yber:ork is offset from --) by the amount written on the 2yber:ork. The offset on the 2yber:ork is in cents% so you first need to convert that to +,. You can use TuneLab to do that by selecting A- --) +,! and then offsetting it by swiping the phase display% as described in 2hapter (. Ad7ust the offset until it matches the offset written on the 2yber:ork% then read the fre#uency in +, from the lower left of the current settings bo.. It should be near --). :or e.ample% if the 2yber:ork is $).'5 cents% then the fre#uency of that 2yber:ork is -/0.9'9 +,% and that is the value you should enter if you want to use that tone for calibration.

2#

Chapter
Historical Temperaments

TuneLab normally produces an equal temperament. But historically this was not always the norm. Even today there is a strong interest in non-equal temperaments. With a non-equal temperament, different ey signatures have different musical characteristics. !t is said that the classical composers were aware of these differences and wrote their music to ta e advantage of these differences. " full treatment of historical temperaments and their musical characteristics and advantages and disadvantages is beyond the scope of this manual. But if you are interested, there is a lot of published literature on this sub#ect. $or our purposes an historical temperament is defined by a set of %& offsets from equal temperament. These %& offsets are repeated in every octave. TuneLab comes pac aged with a set of historical temperaments that can be applied to any tuning file. !f you now of a historical temperament that is not included with TuneLab, it is easy to add that temperament to your device by entering the %& offsets, as described below. Loading Temperament Files To add a historical temperament to the current tuning, go to Settings and select Non-equal temperaments. This will show you the list of historical temperaments that are currently on your device. !f you see one that you want to use, #ust tap on it. !f you have an historical temperament applied and would li e to remove it from the current tuning, tap on the button that says 'cancel current( at the top of the list. When an historical temperament has been added to the current tuning, then you will see the name of that temperament #ust below the tuning file name on the main tuning page. "lso you will see an offset for each note showing as Temper xx.xx. "s you change notes, the 'temper( offset changes. Making Temperament Files !f you want to use a temperament that was not provided with TuneLab, you can create your own new temperament files by tapping on the 'new( button at the top of the list of temperaments. "ll you need to now is the %& offsets that define the temperament. Enter those %& offsets along with an appropriate name for the new temperament so you can select that temperament by name. Then tap on the 'Save( button at the bottom of the list of the %& offsets. When you ma e a new temperament file, you can then select it into any tuning curve #ust li e the original historical temperaments that came pac aged with TuneLab. )ote that creating a temperament automatically selects that temperament into the current tuning.

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Options for Applying Temperaments Whenever you select a non-equal temperament into the current tuning you will be given a chance to normali*e and+or transpose that temperament before it is applied. These are rarely used features, and normally you would #ust tap on the 'Done( button when presented with these options. )ormali*ing the temperament refers to shifting all %& offsets by the same amount before they are used. There are three normali*ing options, %. The default is to do no normali*ing at all. The %& offsets are used as-is. &. -ou can choose to normali*e the temperament so the offset for " is . cents. This is normally not needed because all the temperaments that come with TuneLab have already been set up to that the offset for the '"(s is . cents. But if you happen to create a new temperament that does have some non-*ero offset for ", then choosing this option will shift all %& offsets so that " comes out to *ero. /. -ou can choose to normali*e the temperament so that the average of all %& offsets is . cents. This is also not normally needed since most temperaments are already presented so that some of the offsets are positive and some are negative and so the average is not too far from *ero. But if you want to ma e that offset e0actly *ero then you can choose this normali*ation option. The reason for this option is that it is easier to tune a piano when there is not an overall pitch change. 1aving a large average pitch change means the tuning li ely to be less stable. !n addition to the normali*ation options, there is also the option to transpose the temperament before it is applied. The default is to do no transposing so that the offset for 2 is actually applied to 2, etc. But if you want to ma e, say, the ey of " sound li e the ey of 2 in Wer meister !!! temperament, then you can choose to 'rotate 2 to "(. This will rotate all %& offsets so that the offset specified for 2 actually gets applied to ", and so on. This is also a rarely used feature, and normally you would #ust accept the temperament as it is by tapping on the 'Done( button.

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Chapter
Working with Tuning Files

It is possible to use TuneLab without ever saving a tuning file. Just make a new tuning for every piano you tune. But if you tune the same piano regularly you can save time by saving the tuning file for that piano. If you save the tuning file then the next time you tune that piano, or some piano that is very much like it, you can skip the initial setup of measuring the inharmonicity and ad usting the tuning curve. !ou will be able to proceed directly to tuning. "ven if it is not the same exact piano, you may want to use a tuning file from a similar make and model piano. Loading Tuning Files To select an existing tuning file #either a tuning that came packaged with TuneLab or a tuning you had saved earlier$, tap on Load tuning file in the Settings. This will bring up a display like the one shown here. !ou have the option of organi%ing your tuning files into folders. &otice that the example shown here has the folder name #'(teinway)$ at the top of the page. The first item in the list is .. (back to previous folder). *nd if there are any folders in the current folder, they will appear at the top of the list with the folder icon shown here. This is how you can navigate up and down through your folder hierarchy #if you have one$. If you don+t want to use folders to organi%e your tuning files, then you can ust store all your tuning files in the root folder. (uppose we wanted to load the tuning file ',oly Trinity sanctuary). Then we ust tap on that name and the tuning file will load. -hile navigating the folder hierarchy, you can delete tuning files and empty folders by tapping and holding on the item you want to delete. If you want to delete a folder, you must delete all the files in that folder first.

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Saving Tuning Files To save a tuning, tap on 'Save Tuning As..) in the Settings. Then a screen will appear as show here. There is a box where you can enter the name of the tuning file. There is also a list of folders #if you have made some folders$. If you would like to add a new folder to store tuning files, tap on the Make new folder button. If you want to place a tuning file into one of the folders shown, then tap on that folder. The name of the current folder you are in is shown ust below the box where you enter the name for the tuning. In the example shown here we are current in the top.level #or root$ folder. If you were to enter a tuning file name right now and press Save, then the current tuning would be saved under that name in the root folder. Let+s suppose that the current tuning is for a (teinway.B, so we will selected the Steinway folder. -e are showing folders that represent piano brands, but you can use folders in other ways, such as categories like (chools, /hurches, ,omes, or 0prights and 1rands. 2r you can choose to use no folders at all and store all your tuning files in the root. *fter tapping on the (teinway folder, the display changes to show the (teinway folder. &ow we see that we are in the (teinway folder, and that there are no sub.folders within this folder. If we wanted to navigate back to the root folder, we could tap on (back to previous folder). But we will ust tap in the box for the tuning file name and enter ',oly Trinity sanctuary) to identify the piano. -hen we do that, the screen looks like the one to the right. 0sing the keyboard, we enter the file name and then tap on Save. This will save the current tuning in the named file and it will be available the next time you want to tune that particular piano, or a piano like it. &ow suppose we want to create a new folder under the Steinway folder. *fter tapping on the 'Make new folder) button the display looks like the one on the left. In the box that pops up you can enter the name of the new folder and tap on 23 to create a new folder with that name. &ote that creating a new folder does not automatically switch to that folder. !ou still have to do that explicitly by tapping on the folder name after it is created.

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Transferring Files To and From your Devi e The tuning files that you save in TuneLab are saved in memory that is internal to your *ndroid device and associated exclusively with the TuneLab 4iano Tuner application. This file memory normally is not accessible externally. But sometimes it is desirable to transfer files into or out of your device. !ou may have tuning files from some other version of TuneLab that you would like to import into your *ndroid version of TuneLab. 2r you might want to export tuning files from your *ndroid device to store somewhere else for backup or to load into some other device running TuneLab. These operations are only possible through the use of external memory on your *ndroid device. There are two kinds of external memory in *ndroid devices. 2ne is the truly removable kind of memory, like (5 cards. The other is a built.in memory that is called 'external) by *ndroid even though it is built.in to your device. !ou can use either kind of external memory to transfer tuning files into or out from your *ndroid device by going to the 'About t is version) page in Settings, as shown here6 The button labeled '!opy to "xternal) will copy all the tuning files, temperament files, and tuning exam report files to external memory. The 'Load from "xternal) button will copy these files from external memory into TuneLab. The box at the bottom that says '/mnt/sdcard) tells which external memory will be used for these transfers. TuneLab starts out by using whatever external memory path the manufacturer of your *ndroid device chose to specify. If you want to change that path then tap inside that box and make corrections with the keyboard. The it will look like this6

The yellow background is to remind you that the change you made is not yet in effect. To complete the change you must tap on the 'Save external memory pat ) button. In addition, the '!opy..) and 'Load..) buttons will disappear until you save the changes to the external memory path. The actual directory used for transfers to and from external memory will be whatever was shown in the box with '/tunelab) added at the end. In the example shown in the picture above, the files will be transferred to and from /mnt/sdcard/tunelab Therefore you should look for your files in the 'tunelab) directory of the external memory. !"

If the preset external path name does not work for you then you need to find out what path name does work. 0nfortunately that procedure is different with each *ndroid device. -hat you need is a file explorer app. 7any *ndroid devices come with some kind of file explorer app already installed. 8or example, in the *cer Tablet the app is call 'And"xplorer). In some other devices it might be called simply '#iles). The reason you need to explore the file system from the *ndroid side and not from a connected 4/ is that the *ndroid file path name is not shown when viewing the file system through an attached 4/. By whatever means you can, find out the *ndroid path name of the external memory you want to use. In most cases it will be the preset path name and you will not have to worry about it any more. But for those devices that have several kinds of external memory you might ust have to do some exploring to find out what the preferable path name is. 8or example, in the *cer Iconia Tablet the two external memory path names are6 /mnt/external_sd /mnt/sdcard #the actual removable (5 card$ #built.in 'external) memory$

&ow that we have established transfers to and from external memory, then next step is to move those files to some other computer. There are two ways to do it.
Transfer #sing $emova%le &edia

If the external memory is truly removable you can ust remove the media and plug it into a compatible media reader, such as an (5 card slot on a 4/. Then you can copy files using the 4/+s explorer or finder utility. 9emember to look in the directory 'tunelab) found in the root of this media.
Transfer #sing 'uilt(in &emory

If the external memory is built.in to your *ndroid device then if you plug that *ndroid device into your desktop computer with a 0(B connection then the external memory will appear in your desktop computer+s files, the same as if you had plugged in a 0(B memory stick. *s before, make sure to look in the tunelab directory of this memory in your desktop computer.

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Chapter
The PTG Tuning Exam

The Piano Technicians Guild administers a series of examinations for the Registered Piano Technician (RPT) classification. One of those examinations is the tuning exam. Certain electronic tuning devices are used to aid in the administration of several phases of this exam. The first step in the tuning exam is the recording of a master tuning. This is normally done ahead of time by a committee of PTG certified tuning examiners. The master tuning is determined on a specific piano! and that piano may then be used to administer the tuning exam for a number of examinees. "lthough an electronic tuning device may be used by the committee to establish a first pass at the master tuning! the final master tuning is normally arrived at after intensive scrutiny and aural ad#ustment by the members of that committee. "s the tuning is finali$ed! the offsets from a no stretch tuning are recorded into %hat becomes &no%n as the master tuning. This tuning is used as a standard %ith %hich to compare and grade various examinees' tunings. (ometimes the master tuning is recorded all at once after the %hole tuning has been established! and sometimes the committee %ill record small sections of the tuning as they are developed in order to minimi$e the possibility of tuning shift before the notes are measured. The second step is the preparation of the piano for the examinee. The preparation involves detuning the piano according to a pattern set by the PTG so that the examinee %ill not be able to benefit from the previous tuning! but at the same time %ill not be overly inconvenienced by having to do a pitch raise in addition to a normal tuning. The PTG specified detuning pattern contains alternating positive ()) and negative ( ) offsets that average out to $ero. Tune*ab Piano Tuner produces that pattern of offsets %hen put into the detuning mode! as described later. "fter the detuning has been accomplished! the examinee may no% tune the piano. The third step is to record the examinee's tuning. This is done in the same %ay as the master tuning %as recorded. The resulting tuning file should be saved under a name that identifies the examinee. The fourth step is to create a grading report that compares the examinee's tuning %ith the master tuning. This report is used by the tuning examiners as a basis for assigning penalty points and for aural investigation of discrepancies. +uring these investigations the examinee is given the opportunity to demonstrate the correctness of his or her tuning through aural verification. ,ased on these demonstrations! the examiner may erase penalty points for some of the discrepancies to arrive at a final point score. -n addition to these comparisons! there is also a separate evaluation of the examinee's ability to set the fundamental of " ../ to his or her o%n reference tone. This evaluation is also included in the final assessment of the examinee's performance.

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Exam Capture Mode This mode of Tune*ab Piano Tuner is used to record the master tuning and to record the examinee's tuning. To enter this mode! go the Settings and select PTG Tuning Exam. Then you %ill see the screen sho%n on the left. 0rom this screen you can s%itch on the Exam Capture Mode. -n this mode the main tuning screen %ill sho% a status box on the right side of the current note display! as sho%n in the box on the right. The offset in cents sho%n in that box is the offset that %ill be recorded for that note. This offset is rounded to the nearest /.1 cents! as specified by the PTG. "lso! in the 2xam Capture 3ode! the partials for each note are no longer ad#ustable. The partials are forced into the selection specified by the PTG for the Tuning 2xam. This captured offset can be modified by ad#usting the custom offset for the current note by first ad#usting the main offset. The main offset can be ad#usted by the same methods as described in Chapter . All About Offsets. That includes s%iping through the Phase +isplay for manual offset ad#ustment! or using *oc&ing 3ode for automatic ad#ustment. 4henever a non $ero main offset is sho%ing in this mode! the bac&ground of the status box is yello%! as sho%n here! %hich indicates that an offset is pending! but not yet transferred to the custom offset for the current note. The transfer can ta&e place using the methods described in Chapter .! but in 2xam Capture 3ode! there is an easier %ay. 5ust tap on the status box %ith the yello% bac&ground. That %ill instantly transfer the main offset to the custom offset for the current note! and at the same time turn the status box bac&ground to blue! indicating that there no longer is any pending offset that needs to be transferred. -f *oc&ing 3ode is used to loc& on to the piano tone! then tapping on the status box %ill not only capture the offset but %ill also turn off *oc&ing 3ode. "ll this is done to streamline the process of capturing a master or examinee's tuning. "fter the entire tuning has been captured! save the tuning file under an appropriate name and then turn off 2xam Capture 3ode. Pre-exam Detuning Go to Settings / PTG Tuning Exam and turn on the s%itch for Pre-exam detuning. This %ill cause the status box to the right of the current note to appear as sho%n here. The reddish bac&ground is to %arn you that detuning is in effect. -t also sho%s the detuning offset that %ould be used for the current note. -n order to ma&e the detuned piano conform closely to the overall stretch of the master tuning! the master tuning should be loaded before s%itching on Pre-exam detuning. "s %ith 2xam Capture 3ode! this mode also %ill enforce the PTG specified partials for each note.

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Generating a Report "fter recording the examinee's tuning! you can generate the report that compares this tuning %ith the master tuning that %as captured earlier. 0irst load the examinee's tuning. -f the examinee's tuning has #ust been captured and saved! then it is already loaded as the current tuning. Then from the PTG Tuning 2xam page! tap the button labeled Generate Report. The first step in generating a report is to select the temperament octave! as sho%n on the right. The PTG Tuning 2xam specifies that the examinee's tuning %ill be offset before comparison %ith the master tuning so that the average error in the temperament octave is $ero. "fter setting the spinner to the appropriate octave! tap on the 6Continue (pick master) button. This %ill sho% the tuning files in much the same %ay as %hen a tuning file is loaded. ,ut no%! instead of loading the file that you select! the selected file %ill #ust be used as the master tuning to create the report. "fter you select the master tuning! the report %ill be generated and sho%n to you at once. 7ou have the option to vie% the report that %as #ust generated. Or you can tap come bac& to that report at a later time. The report has already been %ritten! and it %ill continue to exist in your device under the name of the examinee's tuning file name. -f you %ant to come bac& to vie% this report later! then you can tap on Vie !"d Reports from the Tuning Exam page. This %ill display a list of all stored reports according to the name under %hich they %ere originally stored. 7ou can select any stored report in order to loo& at it again. -f you %ant to delete old reports from your device! this also is the page %here you %ould do that. (imply tap and hold on the report name and follo% the prompt. This Tuning 2xam Report does not automatically ta&e into account the evaluation of the examinee's ability to set " ../ to an absolute standard. That evaluation must be done separately and ta&en into account manually by the examiner. -n order to measure the examinee's " ../ you must turn off any exam mode in order to be able to force the fundamental to be used for " ../! because in the exam modes! the second partial is used for that note. 4ith exam mode turned off! you can simply loc& onto the examinee's " ../ using any tuning file and no offsets. Then from the main offset you can read the examinee's error.

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Chapter
Split-Scale Tuning

10

When a piano has a large jump in the inharmonicity at a break (such as between wound strings and plain strings), it may be desirable to create a custom tuning that has special provisions to accommodate that break. TuneLab has such a provision and it is called Split-Scale Tuning . ! normal TuneLab tuning is based on a smooth "unction that changes gradually "rom !# all the way up to $%. &ut a 'plit('cale tuning is based on a "unction that abruptly changes at the break. !bove the break the tuning is normal, making it a blend o" competing criteria. &ut below the break the 'plit('cale tuning switches abruptly to satis"y just one criterion ( the )*+ octave. ,nsuring that the )*+ octaves are per"ect may compromise some other tuning goals, such as uni"ormly progressive thirds and tenths. &ut the thought is that "or these pianos the beatless )*+ octaves are the only achievable goal. -" you are considering using 'plit('cale tuning, then measure the inharmonicity on both sides o" the break. -" the inharmonicity jumps by more than double, then it might be a good idea to use 'plit('cale tuning. ! high(.uality well(scaled piano normally will not have such a large change in inharmonicity at the break, so 'plit('cale tuning is normally considered only "or lower(.uality pianos, especially spinets. /owever there are e0ceptions. 'ome spinets have a surprisingly smooth inharmonicity change through the break. !nd some grands (like the 1ahama 2/(3) have .uite a bad jump in inharmonicity. 'o it is best to decide to use 'plit('cale tuning only a"ter evaluating the inharmonicity "or the speci"ic piano at hand. Triggering Split-Scale -" you have decided to try 'plit('cale tuning, here is how to do it. 4easure inharmonicity as you normally would, either manually or with the aid o" automatic measure se.uencing. Then a"terward measure the inharmonicity on both sides o" the break. -" the ratio between the two neighboring inharmonicity readings is more than 3.) then TuneLab will enter Split-Scale Mode and the main tuning screen will indicate this mode by displaying the location o" the break, as shown here on the right where readings were taken at ,+ and 5+. -" TuneLab decides to go into 'plit('cale 4ode and you decide you don6t want to use 'plit('cale 4ode, then just go to Edit IH Constants in Settings and delete one o" the two neighboring readings around the break. This will turn o"" 'plit('cale 4ode. -" the inharmonicity measurements have more than one potential break (that is, a place where you measured two adjacent notes) then TuneLab will determine the location o" the real break by seeing which pair o" adjacent notes has the largest jump in inharmonicity. This is use"ul because the standard set o" inharmonicity readings might happen to include a note very near the break so that when you add in two 35

more readings around that break you could end up with three adjacent notes. -" we didn6t evaluate the si7e o" the jump we would have no way o" knowing which pair o" readings you meant to designate the break. 8ormally you use New Tuning to start the process o" measuring inharmonicity. 2o ahead and "ollow that process as usual, letting TuneLab automatically switch through the notes in your measure se.uence (usually $3, $9, $+, $:, $;). Then manually go back to the two notes around the break and make measurements "or those two notes as well. 5or e0ample, i" we measure !#(!) and then go back and measure ,+ and 5+ then the "ollowing set o" inharmonicity readings would trigger 'plit('cale tuning* A0: A1: A2: E3: F3: A3: A4: A5: A6: 0.227 0.060 0.073 0.150 0.090 0.240 0.647 1.920 5.453

(just below the break) (just above the break)

Split-Scale Indicators in the Tuning Curve Adjuster When a 'plit('cale tuning is in e""ect, you can see a yellow vertical line drawn through the deviation graph at the break. 1ou will also notice that the deviation graph to the le"t side o" the yellow line is a "lat line. That is consistent with the "act that 'plit('cale produces per"ect )*+ octaves below the break at the e0pense o" everything else. Intervals Other Than 6:3 in the ass -t is strongly recommended that when you use 'plit('cale tuning you always use the )*+ bass interval in the tuning curve adjuster. &ut i" you should decide to pick a di""erent interval "or the bass, here is what TuneLab will do. TuneLab will create a blend between the interval you select and the )*+ octave in the bass. 'tarting at the notes just below the break the )*+ interval will be optimi7ed. Then as you move lower in the bass, the tuning will be a blend o" the )*+ octave and the other interval you selected "or the bass. 5inally, at the lowest notes in the other bass the interval you selected will be optimi7ed. 1ou can see this e""ect by viewing the deviation curve with another bass interval selected.

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