Pianoscope 3.1 Visualizes Temperaments

Frank Illenberger

I've just submitted version 3.1 of pianoscope to the Apple App Store. It should go live within in the next 24 hours. The new version is all about temperaments.

By popular request, the Standard Edition now allows to create your own custom temperaments. In addition to this, eight new temperaments are coming with the new version:

Neidhardt Große Stadt 1724
Neidhardt Dorf 1732
Rameau 1737
Marpurg III 1776
Hummel Viennese 1829
Bach / Lehmann 2005
Meantone 1/3 Syntonic
Meantone 1/6 Syntonic

On devices running iOS 17 or later, you can now graphically visualize offsets and beat rates of intervals in the major triads of any temperament. You can find the new function in the temperament details panel.

When you tap on the Major Triads row, the following dialog opens:

The diagram shows all major triads from C3 to C4. Major thirds are shown in red, minor thirds in orange, and fifths in blue. By default, it shows the cent offsets of the first coincident partials of the intervals. The horizontal guide lines provide a reference with the interval offsets of a Pythagorean and an equal temperament.

If you place and hold your finger on one of the interval bars, you can read the exact numerical values of the offsets.

Tap on the ellipsis button in the toolbar for a menu with additional options.

By default, all triads are arranged horizontally in the order of the circle of fifths. By selecting the menu item Chromatic, you can also arrange them in semitone steps from C3 to C4.

Select the menu item Beat Rates to switch the display from cent offsets to beat rates in hertz.

If you choose the menu item Beat Synchrony, the diagram shows the ratios of the beat rates of minor to major thirds.

If you swipe your finger up or down in a diagram, you switch directly to the next or previous temperament from the list of all temperaments.

Mehdi

Amazing work! custom temperaments is really essential for any tuner since they might want to experiment with different styles. The temperament visualisation is also very helpful! Thank you very much!

Abraham Lee

Great work, Frank!

Rick

No update yet for me to 3.1

Frank Illenberger

Rick As of today, it is still queued for review at the Apple Store. It seems Apple is having loads of updates to review in the wake of the iPhone and iOS updates next week.

Frank Illenberger

Now version 3.1 is finally online in the AppStore.

MilanDka

A new version of the application is available. 👍

Edit: Great work, Frank.
Is there any way to edit individual intervals directly in the graph, for example by moving them up or down? Ideally, it would allow adjusting beats or cents. Right now, I have to leave the graph and edit a specific note only in cents, and then I can come back and see what effect it had in the graph. I still believe that maintaining beat consistency is the most important thing. I would also expand the graph up to A4. Currently, you end at C4, and I would prefer to start at F3 rather than C3.

Frank Illenberger

MilanDka An interesting idea. I need to think about this. When dragging an interval, it would however not be clear whether you want to change the offset of its upper or its lower note. And intervals with zero beats don't have a bar at all. So there would be some issues to tackle with this idea.

MilanDka

I didn’t think it might be unclear which note you want to shift. Then the only option would be that for each column—after clicking—there would be a small pop-up menu where you could select the note and adjust it in beats or cents. I think that would be doable.
The question is whether it would be practically usable. That’s actually more of a reflection for your post. Probably, since the intervals are hard-coded here, it wouldn’t be possible to make it work.