The Main Window

The main window of TuneX consists of the following 6 sections:

1. The main toolbar

This contains the tools and help drop-down menus, the standard-tunings drop-down list, the on/off switch, and the always-on-top button.

Standard-tunings drop-down list
This lists the pre-defined standard tunings.  When the user selects a standard tuning from this list, the corresponding notes are marked on the piano keyboard.  This is useful in relating the actual played pitch to the desired one.
When the user hovers over an item in the list, information about that item is displayed.  The list of standard tunings can be edited by the user.

On/off switch button
When the switch is turned off, TuneX stops listening to sounds and analyzing them.  It is worth mentioning that accurate pitch identification consumes a lot of processing power.  Therefore, the on/off switch is useful in conserving battery power on portables, and in saving processing power for desktops that run many concurrent applications.

Always-on-top button
This controls whether or not TuneX should always be on top of all other windows.
 

2. The sound-level indicator

The sound-level indicator shows the level of the sound picked by the microphone.  It has a threshold thumb that can be dragged up and down.  Sounds below the threshold level are considered by TuneX to be noise, and are not analyzed for pitch identification.  It is advisable that you set the threshold level to be slightly lower than the sound level picked from your instrument.
 

3. The gauge section

This displays information about the identified pitch, and it consists of the following parts:

Frequency: the frequency of the identified pitch in Hertz.

Note: the name of the closest chromatic note to the identified pitch.

Cent-deviation gauge:  indicates how many cents the pitch is above or below the indicated note.

Sound-level value:  a value representing the sound level.  It ranges from 0 (no sound at all is picked by the microphone) to 100 (the maximum sound energy that can be picked).

Threshold-level value:  a value representing the level at which the threshold thumb (of the sound-level indicator) is set.
 

4. The piano keyboard

This is an 88-key piano keyboard, from C1 to C8.  It serves the following purposes:

• Whenever a pitch is identified, the key that corresponds most closely to the pitch is highlighted.
   
• The standard tuning selected from the standard-tunings list is marked (as red dots) on the piano keyboard.  This makes it highly visual for the user where the actual sound pitch is relative to the correct one.
   
• By clicking on any of the keyboard keys, the user can see the frequency of that key according to the current setting of the tuning parameters (A4 frequency, temperament, and stretch table).
   

5. The pitch-purity indicator

The pitch-purity indicator shows the degree of harmonicity of the sound components.  Low harmonicity is usually indicative of noise rather than a musical note.
 

6. The status bar

The status bar shows the current setting of the tuning parameters.

 

Pitch Identification and Reporting

The sound indicator has a threshold thumb that can be dragged up and down by the user.  The pitch of the sound picked by the microphone is identified and reported only if the sound level is above the threshold level.  This is so in order to avoid overwhelming and confusing the user by a torrent of meaningless pitches that correspond to noise sounds.  To get the clearest results, adjust the threshold to be just a little lower than the sound level picked from your instrument.  Besides, to minimize the effect of noise, place the microphone as near as possible to the sound source of your instrument.

When the sound level is below the threshold, the pitch-related indicators (frequency, note name, cent deviation, piano key, and pitch purity) are frozen and dimmed.  This display effect is useful in the following manner: assuming the threshold is properly adjusted, then when you play a note, the sound level peaks to a little above the threshold level and the pitch is identified and reported.  When the sound of the note fades away, its level drops below the threshold and the pitch indicators are frozen at the detected pitch.  The proper adjustment of the threshold would ensure that the played note's sound level drops below the threshold before the ambient noise becomes the dominant part of the sound.

Pitch identification and reporting in TuneX is optimized for instrument tuning, rather than for tracking pitch changes.  The pitch is identified about 8 times per second.  However, the pitch is reported only twice per second for better error correction.  An exception to the cooling off of pitch reporting occurs when there is a sudden rise in sound level.  In this case the new pitch is reported immediately since this condition usually signifies a note onset.