User Manual
Contents
1. Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl User Manual Hohner Harmonica Tuner Em EnjoyMusic Reeds Quality Freeze www hohner de Page 1 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 1 Preface The Hohner Harmonica Tuner was developed by Dirk s Projects in collaboration with Hohner Musical Instruments and is designed to enable harmonica owners to tune their own instruments The tuning process is easy to learn and is clearly explained in the tutorial video The tuner software can tune not only single reeds but also double reeds tuned in tremolo This unique feature enables one to set the desired beats easily and accurately Beats are very hard to tune when tuning both reeds separately from one another With this tuner both reeds can be measured simultaneously together with the sounding beats making it very easy to tune the beats The current version of the software supports equal temperament only Future versions will support additional temperaments as well as additional languages New features like these will be announced through the news letter Subscribe to the news letter on the website http www dirksprojects nl Click on the News button www hohner de Page 2 H3NHOH Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl Table of contents www hohne2. select the sound input to use www hohner de Page 9 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl The resulting signal from the selected input is shown in the graph at the bottom The tuner works best when the input signal is as strong as possible but it should stay clear of the top and the bottom of the graph to avoid distortion The strength of the signal can be controlled by moving the Sensitivity slider When a microphone is selected and its signal is too weak the check mark Microphone boost can be set to amplify the signal more If you have a stereo input with a Balance Slider you ll have to set the slider in the middle The button Windows Recording Control for the selected device opens the sound input configuration screen of Windows This screen is normally not necessary sometimes a hum 50 or 60 Hz is audible on the input This is generally caused by either bad earthing or a poor power supply It can be taken out by checking one of the hum filter boxes Not using these filters can result in unwanted detection of certain tones e g G1 49Hz A 1 58 27Hz or B1 61 74Hz www hohner de Page 10 H3NHOH Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 7 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 8 The tuning process with the Hohner Harmonica Tuner Automatic pitch detection The Hohner Harmonica Tuner automatically detects the pitch of the soun
3. aU ET Uu ET ZW JU eu JU BE i l I i d l I EnjoyMusic Reeds Qualit TES FLAS SOHHEE Enlarge the tuner to a full screen To get full visual access to the tuner window enlarge the window clicking the square box top right of the window see below This is especially helpful when your screen is positioned at a distance A Hohner Harmonica Tuner Harmonica Tuner g gt www hohner de Page 15 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 10 The accuracy of the tuner The maximum accuracy in Hertz and in Cent The accuracy of the Tuner is better less than 0 1 Hertz waves longer than 10 seconds The accuracy in Cent gradually changes over the range of the tuner because a Cent is a relative unit The interval between two successive semitones in Hertz increases as the pitch gets higher while the interval in Cent is by definition always 100 Some values of the accuracy of the tuner in Cent C1 5 2 Cent C2 2 6 Cent C3 1 4 Cent C4 0 6 Cent C5 0 4 Cent C6 0 16 Cent C7 0 08 Cent C8 0 04 Cent So in Cent the tuner gets therefore more accurate as the pitch gets higher Detectable pitch differences The smallest pitch difference detectable by the human ear is approximately 2 Hertz The accuracy of the tuner of 0 1 Hertz is many times better This high accuracy is necessary to measure the beatings between two reeds A difference in beating of more than
4. approximately 0 1 Hertz is already detectable by the human ear Automatic calibration The tuner uses the sound card for its measurements To compensate possible errors in the sound card the tuner carries out an automatic calibration Manual calibration such as those often possible on conventional tuners with a screw for example is not necessary Because of this the measurements of the tuner are always accurate enough The internal accuracy The tuner shows the measured errors with 1 or 2 decimal places digits behind the comma The tuner calculates with 7 decimal places internally Immediately before an error is shown it is rounded off to 1 or 2 decimal places 11 System requirements The Tuner runs optimally on machines starting from the Pentium II 1 GHz On less fast machines the tuner also works fine but will react more slowly The tuner runs under Windows 2000 XP Vista and 7 and uses a microphone input www hohner de Page 16
5. ding tone The detected tone will be displayed in the Tone Name Window Once the detected tone is stable the word Lock will appear Now the detected tone will not change to another one anymore After a few seconds of silence the next tone can be tuned Tuning with the Hohner Harmonica Tuner 1 Startup the Hohner Harmonica Tuner on your computer Then connect and set up the microphone It s recommended to place the microphone on a rubber pad or a cushion so it won t pick up vibrations from the floor 2 On your screen check in the upper left corner if the right microphone input is selected E Dirk s Projects Harmonica Tuner 3 Ensure a quiet environment with minimal ambient noise In particular continuous monotonous sounds such as the sound of a fan or an aquarium pump will make accurate measurement more difficult 4 Use the button Reeds to specify if you are tuning a single reed or a tremolo reed pair If 2 reeds are sounding simultaneously the number of reeds must be set to 2 If only 1 reed is sounding the number of reeds must be set to 1 5 Now you can begin the actual process of tuning your harmonica Play the reed you want to tune and observe the red needle in the bottom part of the window When the needle gives a www hohner de Page 11 H3NHOH Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl stable reading on zero the reed is in tune In practise however a r
6. e have to be disabled www hohner de Page 8 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 7 Using the tuner for the first time Tool tips Hovering the mouse cursor above a button or a window will show a tool tip A tool tip is a small text box with explanation about that particular button or window Select the sound input To be able to use the tuner it is necessary to select and configure the desired sound input channel Generally this will be a microphone When you start up the tuner for the first time the configuration screen is shown automatically Select and contgure the sound input fo use Select Ihe recording device Recording device Creshve Seund Blache PC 004 Calbrate the selected device The A4 frequency Hz Windows Recording Control for the selected device 4400 afe 44n Select the sound input on the recording device Stereo Mix Phone Line Aux Volume Video Volume Linie In o Sensib bor 50Hz Hum filter Bn B Hz Hur filter Enh nose reduchon Check the signal strength al the sound input here The left part of the configuration screen above is important for selecting and configuring the sound input At select the recording device you select the sound card The different sound inputs of the selected sound card are enumerated at select the sound input in the recording device Here you
7. eed can never be tuned perfectly and this is not really necessary either It can be hard to get a really stable reading too The scale behind the needle is calibrated in Cents 100 Cent at key B1 corresponds to 3 57 Hertz 100 Cent at key C8 however corresponds to 241 92 Hz This is why higher tones need to be tuned more accurate expressed in Cent than lower tones C8 should not deviate more than 0 1 Cent but B1 may deviate by up to 3 Cents 6 Ifthe pitch is too high scrape a little material from the base of the reed in front of the rivet pad If the pitch is too low file a little material from the upper surface at the reed tip Study the tutorial video on the website carefully to learn the details of tuning a reed 7 After tuning all the reeds on your harmonica should be perfectly in tune and ready to be played However don t forget that even with the Hohner Harmonica Tuner you still have to develop a feeling for handling the tuning tools to achieve a completely satisfactory result www hohner de Page 12 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 9 The tuner s features The input signal The sound signal the tuner uses for its measurements is shown in waveform at the top of the tuner window The height of the wave indicates the strength of the input sound If the sound becomes too strong for the wave to fit the window it will be scaled down The name of the sound inp
8. epresented by a moving red needle bottom part of the window In 2 reeds mode the deviation of the second reed is shown in window Cent 2 and is represented by a second red needle The two sounding reeds produce beats which are shown in the window Beating When tuning the two reeds of a tremolo reeds pair always tune one reed using window Cent 1 or the red needle When tuning the second reed always use window Beating This is the only way to tune the beats accurately Never use window Cent 2 or the second red needle The desired beats Every tremolo reed pair needs to beat at a specific speed The lower tones need different beats than the higher tones You can specify the desired amount of beats in the tuner settings screen Menu Tuner Settings The desired beats for the detected tone are shown in window Desired When tuning the second tremolo reed try to equate the measured beats window Beating to the desired beats window Desired The A4 frequency The A4 frequency used by the tuner can be set in the settings screen Menu Tuner Settings All other tones are adjusted accordingly Freeze the tuner www hohner de Page 14 H3NHOH Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 O i Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl The movement of the tuner needle numbers and graphs can be stopped to enable easier reading Just click the Freeze button Hitting the spacebar will do the same JU JU
9. ner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 5 Anumber of important terms Frequency the number of waves per second of a tone pitch Sound the total range of wavelengths that can be perceived by the human ear Tone sound with a fixed pitch Note notation indicating a tone with a specific pitch and length Scale ascending or decending sequence of tones in a fixed order Pitch the perceived frequency of a tone This is the fundamental frequency Fundamental tone or tonic the perceived pitch The lowest tone of the collection of tones that make up a sound Overtone a tone in a sound that has a higher frequency then the tonic The overtones are multiples of the tonic Beat ing interference beats heard when two tones with a small difference in pitch sound at the same time Interval The difference in pitch between two tones Semitone the smallest musical interval in western music An octave consists of twelve semitones In equal temperament all semitones are evenly divided in frequency On a piano the interval between two adjacent white keys is one semitone if there is no black key in between If there is a black key in between two adjacent white keys then the interval between the two white keys is two semitones In that case the interval between the white keys and the black one is one semitone The interval between a tone and the same sharp tone for example C and C is always one
10. r de Page 3 H3NHOH Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 O A Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 2 How to tune a harmonica A harmonica is tuned by filing or scraping small amounts of material from the reeds that need adjusting A reed s pitch can be tuned up or down using special tools The images below show the Hohner toolset that is used to tune a harmonica min il ee Oe www hohner de Page 4 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 3 The trial version The trial version is meant to help you get a good idea of the possibilities offered by the tuner The trial version can be used to tune all the reeds of your harmonica Some features are only available in the full version like tuning the beats of tremolo reeds and using the tuner in full screen mode The trial version needs to be activated each time it is started It therefore needs an Internet connection The full version does not need to be activated each time it does not need an Internet connection The full version can be purchased on the website http www dirksprojects n 4 Extension modules The tuner can be extended with modules These extension modules add extra functionality At this moment there are no extension modules available yet Check the Internet site for new extension modules http www dirksprojects nl www hohner de Page 5 H3NHOH Hohner Harmonica Tu
11. s placed to the instrument the smaller the influence of the background noise in relation to the sound of the instrument A shorter distance will improve measurement accuracy Digital effects Some microphones are supplied with software so called drivers which can modify the sound signal by using digital effects These are effects such as echoes hum filters stereo enhancement direction sensitivity and noise suppression These effects can distort the recorded sound as a result of which the tuner will not function properly so they need to be disabled before you start On the other hand microphone settings such as boost sensitivity volume gain and balance are of no consequence Conclusion An external microphone with a cable connected to the computer is the preferred configuration because it can be easily placed in a suitable location This means that a simple microphone connected to your computer s soundcard will suffice The frequency range of many cheap microphones is often not known A high quality dynamic microphone will give better results especially in the lower frequencies Generally speaking a USB microphone will too In that case the internal sound card of the computer is not used which can be an advantage The much more expensive condenser microphones are perfectly usable but they won t give you a better tuning result At all times digital effects in the microphone softwar
12. semitone Octave the difference between two tones where the second tone has twice the frequency of the former 1 Octave 12 Semitones www hohner de Page 6 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl Tuning or temperament the way in which the combination of frequencies for a specific range of tones on an instrument are selected In Western music equal temperament is the most popular Other temperaments include just intonation the Pythagorean tuning mean tone temperament and the 31 tone equal temperament Chromatic scale a chromatic scale is a scale that contains all twelve semitones within an octave c c d d e f f g g a a b the white and black keys of a piano Half tone and whole tone steps a half tone step is equal to an interval of one semitone such as the interval between two adjacent white keys on a piano without a black key in between A complete tone step is equal to an interval of two semitones such as the interval between two adjacent white keys on a piano that do have a black key in between Diatonic scale a diatonic scale is a scale with half and whole tone steps C major c d e f g a b the white keys on a piano or the buttons on a diatonic accordion C minor c d e f g a p Hertz unit for frequency 1 Hz 1 wave per second Cent logarithmic unit for the difference in pitch with respect to a tone in the scale 1200 Cent 1 Oc
13. tave 100 Cent the distance between 2 successive semitones in an equal temperament Frequency spectrum all frequencies that occur in a sound The frequency spectrum can be presented in the form of a graph www hohner de Page 7 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl 6 Choice and placement of the microphone The accuracy of the microphone For the tuner only the frequency of the measured sound is important The volume does not matter The sensitivity of the microphone is therefore not important The accuracy of the measured frequency is This is however easily sufficient in any microphone Externally connected or built in A built in microphone such as those found in most laptops is not always suitable It picks up more background noise than an external microphone connected to the sound card The housing of the laptop picks up sounds and vibrations and passes them on to the microphone The cooling fan of the laptop is an important source of extraneous noise A built in microphone is also often not able to measure the lowest frequencies Another disadvantage of the built in microphone is that it is impossible or difficult to position it optimally in relation to the instrument An external microphone which is connected to the sound card with a cable can simply be placed in the desired location The distance from the microphone to the instrument The closer the microphone i
14. ut that is chosen in the settings screen Menu Tuner Settings is also shown in this window In this window you can check if the input signal is present Hohner Harmonica Tuner Harmonica Tuner The detected tone The detected tone is shown as a character with an octave number and if applicable a sharp sign in the tone window of the tuner bottom right The frequency of the A4 is shown in the top left corner above this character Once the detected tone is stable the word Lock will appear Now the detected tone will not change to another one anymore After a few seconds of silence the next tone can be tuned The frequency spectrum of the detected tone The frequency spectrum of the detected tone is displayed graphically in the frequency spectrum window The horizontal axis represents the frequency and vertical axis represents the amplitude A sounding reed causes a peak in the frequency spectrum and the red waveform represents the frequency spectrum of the detected tone The tuner detects the peak in the red line and marks it with a blue vertical line The vertical grey line indicates the frequency from the scale of the detected tone www hohner de Page 13 Hohner Harmonica Tuner V5 0 Copyright Dirk s Projects 2004 2012 www dirksprojects nl Un The deviation of the reed s frequency The reed s deviation from the target frequency is shown numerically in window Cent 1 and is also r
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