Automatic note switching for digital aural musical instrument tuning

摘要

Methods and apparatus determine tuning frequencies for an instrument, such as a piano, by sounding at least three musical notes of the instrument. The sounded notes are recorded and digitally filtered to generate directly partial ladders representative of the sounded notes. The partial ladders are equalized with respective to a reference frequency or one another to determine tuning frequencies for the sounded notes. Tuning frequencies for the remaining notes of the instrument are then determined from the equalized partial ladders. Tone generators which produce the musical notes, such as strings on a piano, are then adjusted to conform the musical notes which they generate to the tuning frequencies. Preferably, the tone generators are adjusted using a display which provides highly accurate macro and micro tuning information in a single display by graphically and dynamically displaying pitch differences of the musical notes generated by the tone generators relative to pitches of the tuning frequencies. Reference to the display facilitates adjustment of the tone generators to make the pitch differences substantially zero. Automatically note switching is preferably performed as is pitch raise tuning using a table of pitch raise overpull percentages for the musical notes of an instrument to be tuned.