HotPaw inTuna - Guitar Edition

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Help File for the inTuna Concert A Strobe Tuner :

A strobe tuner is a highly accurate way to determine whether a musical instrument is in tune, and to assist with tuning the instrument.

The animated strobe window gives a highly accurate and responsive indication of the input sound frequency, relative to Concert A pitch (440 Hz). When the waterfall waveform patterns line up vertically in the strobe window, this indicates that the frequency, or a strong harmonic of the frequency, matches the reference, in this case 440 Hz. When the patterns shift to the right or left, this indicates that the frequency is sharp or flat. The waterfall waveform patterns in the strobe window are highly responsive and pitch sensitive. Very small shifts in frequency will cause visible shifts in the pattern.

On the left side of the strobe window is a volume indicator bar. Above the strobe window is an estimate of the audio frequency and pitch in Hz. For certain types of sounds, the strongest frequency band picked up by the microphone is often a harmonic of the perceived pitch.

The Setting Configuration view allows you to adjust the Concert A reference frequency by a +- 10 Hz, or to make smaller adjustments in Cents (100ths of a semitone).

The audio input will shut off after 10 minutes to conserve battery power. You can use the play/stop buttons on the bottom to reenable/pause sound input.

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version 1.0.0
Copyright 2008 HotPaw Productions
http://www.hotpaw.com/intuna
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Also look for the full feature HotPaw inTuna Guitar Tuner in the App Store

The HotPaw inTuna Strobe Tuner, Guitar Edition, is an iPhone application that uses the built-in microphone on your iPhone to allow you to accurately tune your guitar via a visual display. It includes both a tuning indicator and a waterfall strobe window.

The 6 position tuning indicator allows you to see at a glance which string pitch the tuner is currently analyzing. Below the tuning indicator, a waveform is displayed in abstract form within a waterfall strobe window to allow extremely precise final tuning.

A waterfall strobe tuner is far more accurate than a guitar tuner with just a needle, or even a basic LED strobe tuner. With a waterfall strobe tuner, slight differences in frequency between the pitch which the microphone detects, and the ideal equally tempered pitch, will cause the abstract waveform to waver or move sideways as it cascades down the strobe window.

Also included is a pitch frequency readout in Hz and cents. Configuration options include support for 6 popular guitar tunings, and Concert A reference frequency adjustment. Touching the one of the note names on the display will play that reference pitch though your earphones.

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A Short Users Manual for the HotPaw inTuna guitar tuner

Place your iPhone where it can hear you pluck your guitar strings, and tune your guitar by watching the inTuna display. The display will show several different indications about whether the pitch you are playing is sharp or flat.

Start the inTuna application and place your iPhone near your guitar with the microphone facing your guitar. Pluck one string at a time and watch the inTuna display. The height of the bar on the right indicates the volume the microphone is detecting. Make sure the correct indicator for the string you are tuning is displaying the pitch marker. You should see the marker move to the left or right of center for pitches that are flat or sharp. Try to center the marker by tuning up an down. For precise tuning, try to make the bars in the lower strobe window stand still; they are very sensitive to the slightest frequency change. At the bottom of the screen is the frequency measurement in Hertz and Cents (1/100ths of a semitone).

If guitar resonance or background noise is causing inTuna to detect notes other than the one which you are trying to tune, try turning off Auto String Detect mode in the Settings view. When Auto String Detect mode is off, tapping on a note name on the main display will lock frequency detection to only that note; background tones will be ignored.

If you have earphones plugged in, you can hear a reference pitch by tapping on the note names on the main display.

With many guitars, tuning up to the correct pitch from slightly below the correct frequency works best. Try to make sure only one string at a time is sounding, as harmonics from other strings might capture the displays attention.

Alternate tunings and adjustments to the reference Concert A frequency are available in the Setting view, which is brought up by tapping the "Settings" button.

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inTuna - Guitar Edition
Version 2.0.1 Added Audio Session callbacks to properly handle incoming phone calls
Version 2.0.0 Added New Guitar Skin. Fixed tone generation, tuning accuracy & "jumpy" indicator issues.
Version 1.0.1 Corrected Application Name
Version 1.0.0 Initial release

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Contact Hotpaw Productions

Website: http://www.hotpaw.com/rhn/hotpaw

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