TUNELAB USER Question

[Robert Scott]

Tom Robinson asked:

>>>>
To use the Calcul8 add on for TuneLab, you must get good IH readings for
the 2nd and 4th partials of F3, A3, and A4. I have been having a problem
getting good IH readings....just on F3.
My laptop routinely fails to read the 2nd partial of F3.  I've tried
everything I can think of, including testing nearby notes, repositioning
mike, changing mike setup, detuning F3, resetting the partial; nothing
seems to work.  I even tried editing the text file created after saving
the IH file.  Anybody have an answer for this?   Is there an easy way to
plug in the value?
<<<<

Tom, the failure to read the inharmonicity of the 2nd partial of F3
could be due to

  1. Very low or very high mic level.  Check the About box for mic range.
  2. Noise coming from the mic (as would happen with a broken shield
       on an external mic).
  3. The absense of the 2nd partial on that particular F3 (hard to
       imagine, but possible with really bad hammers.)  Check the
       frequency spectrum display in the non-zoomed position to
       see if you can observe clear peaks for each of the partials
       that you expect to measure.

Editing the IH file after saving will not help because TuneLab always
writes out a fresh copy of the IH file just before calling Calcul8.
The copy that you edit is not used by Calcul8.  But if you edit the IH
file by hand and then read it back into TuneLab, and then call Calcul8,
it will use your doctored version of the IH file. However, I would not
advise doing this because artificially inserted IH measurements are
not as applicable to the piano at hand as real IH measurements.

I would recommend looking closely at the expanded frequency spectrum
display for clues as to why you are not getting the IH readings you want.


-Robert Scott
 Real-Time Specialties
 (author of TuneLab)