I have recently started getting some complaints that the settings menu isn’t working properly. Turns out that some people are running extremely aggressive task killers, and these task killers are killing individual activities of DaTuner as it switches between these activities.
Until I release a fix, if you have this problem, please disable your overly aggressive task killers. They do not help battery life anyway…
I seem to have dug myself into a hole with the custom instruments branch. DaTuner wasn’t written to support custom instruments and retrofitting it to support them has proven to be a lot of extra work. Since the effort has taken so many months, every time I pick up the torch again, I have to figure out where I left off last time.
The recent upgrades on the version of DaTuner on Google Play were incremental and therefore didn’t take too much time. (I also should give credit to http://www.yougli.net/android/a-photoshop-like-color-picker-for-your-android-application/ for providing the original source code for the color picker dialog. I had to optimize it quite a bit because the original performance was sub-optimal and it wasn’t scaleable for different screen sizes. The new optimized and scaleable ColorPickerDialog source code is here.)
Active Uninstalls > Active Installs!
As for the last update – one of the main things in it was that there is now a filter that will only update the displayed note if there is a certain % of identical note readings in the past few analysis, and another which puts hysteresis between the turning off and on of analysis. This should alleviate the “noisy display” problem that many were complaining about on Google Play. If you want to turn these off, they are in the advanced menu (set % identical notes to 0 and hysteresis to zero.) [ have noticed, though, that active uninstalls has picked up a lot, and I am curious if people think the latest update has broken DaTuner in some way. Please email me (the email is published in Google Play and in the DaTuner app) or leave a comment here if you have found that the latest version of DaTuner doesn’t perform as well as it used to!
There hasn’t been too much to report recently, aside from the recent upgrade which improved responsiveness of DaTuner significantly.
One major feature that I am currently working on is the addition of (customizeable) instruments, which will allow for custom tunings that will automatically set (per instrument):
- reference frequency
- cent offsets
- note lists
- symbol, superscript, and subscript for each note.
It is a big change and will take a while longer, but here is a preview of the format of the settings file. Please send me an email with any feedback on this format!
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- This file includes definition for some common instruments.
Use it as a template to create your own. The tunings are very
flexible, and can configure, per tuning:
- the reference frequency
<Reference>443</Reference>
If reference frequency is not specified, then the global reference
frequency is left unchanged.
- transposition
<Transpose>-1</Transpose>
If transposition is not specified, then the global transposition is
set to zero (C->C).
- Custom note lists
A custom note list can be defined on a per-tuning basis.
If a custom note list is not defined, then the tuning will be
fully chromatic.
Each note in the note list can be specified in several ways:
- Example 1: A note list defining only notes in the 2nd octave:
<Tuning name="Second octave">\n" +
<NoteElement note="C2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="C#2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D#2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="F2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="F#2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G#2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A#2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B2"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
- Example 2: A note list containing just the notes in a standard 6-string guitar,
with helpful labels for beginners.
<Tuning name="Standard 6-string">
<NoteElement note="E2" symbol="6" superscript="E2" subscript="82.4Hz" ></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A2" symbol="5" superscript="A2" subscript="110.0Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D3" symbol="4" superscript="D3" subscript="146.8Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G3" symbol="3" superscript="G3" subscript="196.0Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B3" symbol="2" superscript="B3" subscript="246.9Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E4" symbol="1" superscript="E4" subscript="329.6Hz"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
- Example 4: A temperament can be defined throughout the entire chromatic scale by
leaving out the octave specification in the "note" tag:
<Tuning name="Young temperament">
<NoteElement note="A" cents="0"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B" cents="2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B#" cents="-4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="C" cents="6"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="C#" cents="-4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D" cents="2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D#" cents="0"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E" cents="-2"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="F" cents="4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="F#" cents="-6"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G" cents="4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G#" cents="-2"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
- Example 3: Instead of note, specific frequencies can also be defined.
( if frequency and note are combined, note will be ignored. )
<Tuning name="Common EQ freqencies">
<NoteElement frequency="16.125" symbol="16.1" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="31.25" symbol="31.3" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="62.5" symbol="62.5" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="125" symbol="125" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="250" symbol="250" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="500" symbol="500" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="1000" symbol="1k" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="2000" symbol="2k" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="4000" symbol="4k" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="8000" symbol="8k" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement frequency="16000" symbol="16k" superscript="Hz"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
-->
<Tunings>
<Instrument name="Guitar">
<SubInstrument name="6-String">
<Tuning name="Standard">
<NoteElement note="E2" symbol="6" superscript="E2" subscript="82.4Hz" ></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A2" symbol="5" superscript="A2" subscript="110.0Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D3" symbol="4" superscript="D3" subscript="146.8Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G3" symbol="3" superscript="G3" subscript="196.0Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B3" symbol="2" superscript="B3" subscript="246.9Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E4" symbol="1" superscript="E4" subscript="329.6Hz"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
<Tuning name="Drop-D">
<NoteElement note="D2" symbol="6" superscript="D2" subscript="73.4Hz" ></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A2" symbol="5" superscript="A2" subscript="110.0Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D3" symbol="4" superscript="D3" subscript="146.8Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G3" symbol="3" superscript="G3" subscript="196.0Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B3" symbol="2" superscript="B3" subscript="246.9Hz"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E4" symbol="1" superscript="E4" subscript="329.6Hz"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
</SubInstrument>
<SubInstrument name="12-String">
<Tuning name="Standard">
<NoteElement note="E2" symbol="12"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E3" symbol="11"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A2" symbol="10"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A3" symbol="9"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D3" symbol="8"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D4" symbol="7"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G3" symbol="6"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G4" symbol="5"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B3" symbol="4+3"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E4" symbol="2+1"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
</SubInstrument>
</Instrument>
<Instrument name="Ukelele">
<SubInstrument name="4-String">
<Tuning name="A4-D4-F#4-B4">
<NoteElement note="A4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="D4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="F#4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B4"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
<Tuning name="G4-C4-E4-A4">
<NoteElement note="G4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="C4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A4"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
<Tuning name="G3-C4-E4-A4">
<NoteElement note="G3"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="C4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="A4"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
<Tuning name="D4-G3-B3-E4">
<NoteElement note="D4"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="G3"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="B3"></NoteElement>
<NoteElement note="E4"></NoteElement>
</Tuning>
</SubInstrument>
</Instrument>
</Tunings>
I finally managed to reproduce and fix the bugs that were occurring for many people after upgrading DaTuner, so please try the latest versions on google play and let me know if it works for you!
Pro:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.applicaudia.dsp.datuner_donate
Beta (testing the Pro version with ads, updated often):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bork.dsp.datunerbeta
Lite:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bork.dsp.datuna
Just heard from a customer that all of her problems with DaTuner were solved with an uninstall and reinstall. This *shouldn’t* be necessary but I have just figured out how to test “upgrades” so if you find your DaTuner installation is not working, please uninstall and reinstall it fresh!
Thanks for your patience!
/Chris
Edit: I am working on a final “stable” version of DaTuner which I will release soon. I will release first under the “beta” tag so if you want to help out, download DaTuner beta! Thank you!
…There is some stuff in the works that might allow me to spend more time on my apps… Well app (singular, as of today). It might be a month or two before this kicks in, but I have so many ideas for music and audio related apps and would love to actually have the time to spend on them… At the moment I barely have time to maintain DaTuner… One day I can quit my day job… 
…I like ellipses…
Just found this Japanese site, testing DaTuner vs. some other Android tuner apps:
http://www.usamimi.info/~hermit/cgi-bin/sb/log/eid482.html
Google translate doesn’t entirely succeed in translating it to English, but it looks like we do OK!
The free pro version of DaTuner is gone from the market. Experiment failed.
EDIT: The Pro(free!) version is gone from the market and won’t be coming back.
So, about a month ago I posted the road-map for DaTuner. Well, I haven’t had much time to work on it, and so far almost nothing on the road map is complete. This is because the PRO version is now available in a FREE flavor.
This has been a work in progress for a long time and was taking a lot of my “extra” hours since the layout of the app had to be tweaked to allow for the ad without consuming too much of the display.
I hope that the addition of an ad-supported version will provide the additional revenue that will allow me to dedicate more time to actually completing the roadmap! So, in a roundabout way, it might help the items on the roadmap come to fruition faster, even if they have been temporarily held up as I worked on the ad-supported version.
So, now that that is complete, time to get back to the road-map!
I would love to have the time to make another app for Android but the demands of life are too great at the moment so I will have to settle for incremental upgrades to the one I have (until it starts pulling in enough $$$ to justify more focus on it.)
Because my app time is so limited, each upgrade takes a week or more of part time work to implement and test.
This is my current road map:
1.) Provide the capability to select the note list to tune to [ie. 6-string guitar (submenu: standard, drop d, etc.])
2.) Enhance the auto-sensitivity mode so it increases the dB threshold gradually if many “noisy” samples are being captured, decreases gradually in presence of silence. Add a button for turning auto-sens on and off to the left hand side of the screen. This will allow auto-sensitivity threshold to be manually adjusted via touch on the sens. bar, just like the earliest versions of DaTuner.
3.) An enhancement to the pitch pipe that I don’t want to put here because it’ll be a big secret until it is released.
4.) Add a configuration screen to allow addition of custom temperaments and custom instruments.
5.) Allow configuration of reference frequency via a long-press on the screen.
Edit March 5, 2012: The second part of 2.), the button to toggle between manual and auto, is now complete, and is currently available in the new PRO FREE version.
