Tuning
an instrument is a task that must be achieved basically every time the
instrument is played. This is especially true with a guitar. Factors such as
weather, temperature, the age of the strings, and even just playing the guitar
causes the guitar to lose its tuning. Originally, tuning was done by the ears
of musicians who would attempt to match each other’s tones, but with the rise
of technology, electronic guitar tuners have greatly simplified this task.
Modern guitar tuners typically clip on to the headstock of the guitar and use
vibrations to determine whether or not each string is in tune. The approach of
this project was to mimic this design through LabVIEW, however instead of using
a clip on tuner, the signal was read directly from the input jack of an
electric guitar into a data acquisition system.
Part Description
|
Model No. / Serial No.
|
Electric
Guitar
|
PRS
Custom 24 SE
|
Operational
Amplifier
|
OPA2277
|
Data
Acquisition System
|
Model USB-6221 / S.N. 1406618
|
I used an OP amp to increase the strength of the signal before sending it into the DAQ with a gain of 10.
After adding a "noise gate" we got it to work very well.
Here is some output that you would see real time.
If given more time, an addition to this project
would have been creating a self-tuning guitar. This could be done by attaching
a servo to the tuning pegs of the guitar, and creating a feedback response
system through the DAQ. If the tone was flat the servo would turn in one
direction, and if it was sharp the servo would turn in the opposite direction
until the desired tone was achieved.
