A Standard Reference Audio Tone Generator for Tuning Indian Classical Musical Instruments

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel method for generating the standard reference musical notes for tuning the Indian Classical Musical String Instruments and many other musical instruments that need periodical retuning. Proper tuning of the musical instruments, before public performance, is a must-to-do activity. Even a fine mistuning leads to improper musical notes. In this paper, we have designed an embedded system, using the standard microcontroller 8051, to obtain standard reference frequencies (notes) for three different octaves (saptaks). The output signal is conditioned to obtain near sinewave and reproduced into sound using an audio amplifier. The control program is written in assembly language to select the reference note and an octave. The standard reference note frequencies are measured using 0.5 Hz accuracy digital frequency counter and displayed on an LCD.