Have you ever wondered how your guitar tuner functions? Or why certain tuners are more precise than others? Well, we’re about to go through how guitar tuners operate and calculate various pitches!
A guitar tuner detects a signal via a sensor, microphone, or instrument connection. Signal amplification and digital transformation is the first step, visually indicating the chromatic scale’s nearest relative note (chromatic tuners) or conventional tuning (non-chromatic tuners). Because sound waves fluctuate, the guitar tuner analyses a sequence of sound waves and calculates an average.
Keep reading to learn about the inner workings of guitar tuners.
Sound Amplification
The comparatively faint signal provided by a guitar is an obstacle when creating a tuner. To combat this, signal amplification is a priority (raised in voltage and power). A preamp is used to handle the initial weak signal without worsening the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), thus producing a clearer, boosted signal for your tuner to interpret.
Pitch Detection & Processing
Tuners process many sound waves and then compute an average based on the sound waves that fluctuate over time. An analog-to-digital converter transforms the analog sound waves into a value in the form of a number (ADC). The device’s processor determines the frequency and pitch by measuring the waveform versus time.
Fundamental Extraction
The fundamental is the predominant frequency heard when you strike a note on a musical instrument. However, other frequencies can also be heard.
The instrument’s features determine these additional frequencies - for example, a guitar string’s unique mass and vibrating length.
The fundamental frequency is the lowest and determines the pitch of the note. Overtones are the additional frequencies produced, and they are what give an instrument its timbre. That is why your guitar will sound different while playing the same chord as a violin or other instruments.
To accurately detect pitch, the tuner must separate these additional overtones. Lower-frequency notes are harder to retrieve the fundamentals from because there is less distinction between frequencies at the lower end.
The fundamental is extracted using a filtering method based on an algorithm that recognizes the connection between the fundamental and the generated overtones. The harmonic series, for example, consists of overtones that are a fraction of the fundamental. A spectrum analyzer is used in the strobe tuner.
Output Sound
Finally, the detected pitch is evaluated and transformed into a numerical value. By using a digital display or a physical needle, this figure is then used to compare the note’s pitch to the chord’s pitch if it were in tune.
Many tuners provide both non-chromatic and chromatic tuning options and specific instrument settings that account for the various overtones produced by various instruments, which may affect how the pitch is detected, particularly in terms of how the fundamental tone is extracted.
The note is in tune when the pointer is at a 90-degree angle. A graphical representation of a needle is frequently displayed on digital screens, as well as extra information like the alphabet name of the note, how many cents the note is out of tune by, and other data, such as battery life.
