Using the Tuning File Wizard - edwardkort/WWIDesigner GitHub Wiki

The Tuning File Wizard

In WIDesigner, a Tuning associates musical notes with fingerings (open and closed holes) for a wind instrument. WIDesigner give you a lot of control over how you want the instrument to play. Making use of that control, however, can prove challenging--there are a lot of pieces that make up a Tuning.

The Tuning File Wizard guides the process of creating a Tuning from reusable components in seven steps.

Use the File menu to launch the Tuning File Wizard, File-->New Tuning...

Pages of the wizard typically support operations such as the following:

  • Add, modify and delete entries in a list of elements.
  • Merge subcomponents from files or prior pages.
  • Save the list of elements to an XML file.
  • Load a previously saved list from an XML file.

WIDesigner comes with sample files that you can load onto specific wizard pages to facilitate the creation of new tunings: the symbols folder for page 2, the temperaments folder for page 3, the scales folder (NAF Study only) for page 5, the fingerings folder for page 6, along with a tunings folder with completed tunings.

In addition to copying entire subcomponents from prior pages, most of the tables in the wizard allow you to copy and paste columns of names or numbers to and from spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel.

1. Introduction

The first page of the wizard explains the purpose of each of the remaining pages in the wizard, much like this wiki page.

2. Scale Symbols

A scale symbol set identifies the symbols or names that identify each note in a tuning. Each symbol may be any arbitrary text string. On this page, you may load a symbol set saved in a file, load one of the conventional Western symbol sets, or create a new set of your own.

For example, to create scale symbols for a high D whistle, we might start with the standard set, "Scientific symbols, sharps only," delete all the symbols below D5 and all the symbols above D7, delete the sharps except F# and C#, then delete F5 and F6. For an instrument in a different key, we'd want to build a different set of symbols, say starting with Bb4 for a B-flat whistle.

3. Musical Temperament

A musical temperament defines the relative frequencies of each note in a scale. This page expresses relative frequencies as the ratio of each note's frequency to the reference note of the tuning. Again, you may load a temperament from a file, load the ratios of one of the standard sets, either 12-tone Equal Temperament or 12-tone Just Intonation, or define a temperament from scratch.

For our high D whistle tuning, we can start with 12-tone Just Intonation, delete all but the first two octaves, and delete the ratios for chromatic notes that are not in our chosen scale. This temperament is delivered with the WIDesigner sample files as WhistleStudy/temperaments/JustIntonation_diatonic_temperament.xml. At this point, the temperament is not dependent on the key--we can use the same temperament for pretty much any key of whistle.

4. Scale with Intervals

This page combines the symbols of a scale with the temperament ratios that go with them. Load scale symbols from the scale symbols page or from a file, select the desired symbols, and drag them to the Symbol column in the centre. Load frequency ratios from the temperament page or from a file, select the desired ratios, and drag them to the Interval column in the centre.

For our high D whistle, we pull the list of symbols, starting with D5, from the symbols page, select all the symbols and drag them into the centre Symbol column; then pull JustIntonation_diatonic_temperament.xml from the file, select all the ratios, and drag them to the centre Interval column. This gives us a scale with relative frequencies.

5. Scale with Frequencies

This page translates the frequency ratios of a temperament to absolute frequencies. Load a scale with intervals from the previous page, specify which of the notes is the reference note of the tuning, specify an absolute frequency for that reference note, and click on "Create scale with frequencies."

For our high D whistle, we can specify D5 as the reference note, with a frequency of 587.33 Hz, or we can specify A5 as the reference note, with a frequency of 880.00 Hz. While these two choices will give slightly different frequency scales with Just Intonation tuning, the notes in the two scales will differ by only 2 cents, close enough for practical purposes. Now, we have our scale with absolute frequencies. This specifies what notes we want our whistle to play.

6. Fingering Pattern

A fingering pattern identifies the pattern of open and closed holes for each note. To define a new fingering, first specify the number of toneholes the instrument has. Click on "Add/Remove Closable End" if the end of the bore can be closed for specific notes, as in an overtone flute or uilleann pipe. Click on the buttons in each fingering pattern to denote the closed holes. Use the Insert buttons to add fingering rows for each note.

Because creating a new fingering from scratch can be a tedious process, we encourage you to start with one of the sample fingering files delivered with WIDesigner, and save any fingerings you create for later re-use. For example, the file WhistleStudy/fingerings/diatonic_whistle_fingering.xml gives a standard 6-hole fingering pattern for a two-octave diatonic scale plus flattened sevenths. Like a temperament, a fingering pattern can apply to any key of whistle. For our high D whistle, diatonic_whistle_fingering.xml would be suitable for a D scale with C-natural and C#. You may want to edit the fingering patterns to use your preferred fingering for high C-natural or high D.

7. Tuning: Scale with Frequencies and Fingering

This page combines the symbols and note frequencies of a scale with the fingering patterns that produce them on specific instruments. Load a scale symbols from the scale-with-frequencies page or from a file, select the desired notes, and drag them to the Symbol column in the centre. Load fingering patterns from the fingering pattern page or from a file, select the desired fingerings, and drag them to the Fingering column in the centre, making sure the right notes get attached to the right fingerings. Give the finished tuning a name and description, then click on the Save button to save it to an XML file. After you close the tuning wizard, you can use File-->Open... to open your finished tuning file.