[LAU] Default (instrument plugins) tuning frequency

Ralf Mardorf ralf.mardorf at alice-dsl.net
Mon Jan 2 16:07:41 UTC 2017


On Mon, 2 Jan 2017 11:31:51 +0000, Yassin Philip wrote:  
>Huh. I beg to differ ; specially on the high strings, my guitars and 
>bass have to be tuned accordingly. Let me rephrase that: If I get 
>everything tuned, all harmonics OK, flashing strobe lights aligning
>and all, on this guitar, and then, on the tuner (GXTuner on the master
>bus) change from 440 to 441, it *does* matter much. Both perceivably
>(it's somehow worse that being plain out of tune) and visually, on the
>tuner's display.

Guitars are tricky. The distance between the frets is equal for the 6
strings. To correct intonation the most used compromise is to ensure
that the string has got the correct pitch when played open and when
played at the 12th fret and when playing the flageolet above the 12th
fret. For electric guitars this could be done by independently changing
the distance of the bridge for each string. However, while the pitch
then is correct for the open string and the 12th fret, the pitch for all
other frets is never correct. Detuning a synth for even around a few
Cents, even 1 Hz, could make a difference, as well as detuning the
guitar, too make the guitars tuning correct for e.g. fret 5 or 7 of a
string, instead of the open string and 12th fret.
In my experiences some guitar tuners are a PITA and some guitar tuners
are very pleasant. They aren't all the same. In my experiences when
using a pleasant guitar tuner a guitar that is in tune when playing the
open string and the string at the 12th fret, sounds good at 440 Hz with
most synth tuned at 440 Hz, too. Some synth allow to chose the
temperament. I noticed that while my guitar, DX7, Matrix-1000 and
several other synth fit good when all were tunes at 440 Hz, my MT-32
with self made sounds, not the presets, often fitted better to them,
when tuned at IIRC 439 Hz or something like that. If you even drop the
low E string to D, you already need to adjust the distance of the
bridge. When changing the distance, you usually need to adjust the
high of the string, too. If your guitar has got a Strat alike classic
whammy bar and you have mounted the springs in a way, that the whammy
bar does not seat on the body, minimal different tension of the
strings, cause e.g. by open tunings, makes the intonation, all your
adjustments that fit to a standard E, A, D, G, B, E tuning, null and
void.

Anywway, assuming your Linux install shouldn't be fishy, the default
for all virtual synth and plugins I ever used is 440 Hz.

Regards,
Ralf


More information about the Linux-audio-user mailing list