Method for tuning a pipe organ and a reed pipe tuning device
OwnerPriit Humalinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides a method, system and tuning devices for reed and flue pipes for automatically tuning or checking the tuning of a pipe organ. The invention enables the tuning of the reed pipes to the same pitch as flue pipes if the fluctuation of temperature and humidity has caused a change in the pitch of the flue pipes, and to restore the tuning of the reed pipes in case of random loss of tuning. The invention allows to reduce the tuning time and to tune the pipes that require more frequent tuning (i.e. the reed pipes) unobtrusively to the organist and listeners during the playing of the organ. It is possible to employ the method of the invention on all pipes of an organ or only on a selection of them.
Claims13
A method for tuning a pipe organ, which comprises the following steps, performed at least on one reed pipe of the organ:
- a) attaching a reed pipe tuning device (113) to a reed pipe (117) of an organ, the reed pipe tuning device (113) comprising an accelerometer (102), a microcontroller (104) and a tuning mechanism configured to move a tuning wire (119) of the reed pipe (117);
- b) storing a value of a desired vibration frequency of the reed pipe (117) in the microcontroller (104) of the reed pipe tuning device (113);
- c) making different pipes of the pipe organ sound by a user of the pipe organ;
- d) by using the accelerometer (102) and the microcontroller (104) of the reed pipe tuning device (113), repeatedly measuring vibration in the reed pipe (117) to which the tuning device (113) is attached and comparing measured amplitudes of frequency components corresponding to the stored vibration frequency with the stored amplitude, until a vibration that has matching amplitude along at least one axis is detected, and measuring the fundamental frequency of the detected vibration;
- e) based on the difference between the value of the measured vibration frequency of the reed pipe (117) and the value of the desired vibration frequency, controlling the abovementioned tuning mechanism, and adjusting the vibration frequency of the reed pipe (117) to be equal to the value of the desired vibration frequency by moving the tuning wire (119), whereas the tuning mechanism comprises an inertial armature (105), on which at least one electromagnet (106, 107) and two anvils (114, 115) are mounted, the two anvils being attached on different parts of the tuning wire (119) of the reed pipe (117), wherein the inertial armature (105) is configured to move the tuning wire (119) for controlling the vibration frequency of the reed pipe (117) by selectively knocking one of the two anvils (114, 115).
A pipe organ reed pipe tuning device (113), which includes:
- at least one soundwave oscillation sensor (102);
- a reed pipe tuning mechanism comprising at least an actuator;
- and
- a microcontroller (104), configured to control the reed pipe tuning mechanism and connected to the at least one soundwave oscillation sensor (102), wherein
- said reed pipe tuning mechanism further comprises an inertial armature (105), on which the at least one actuator (106, 107) and two anvils (114, 115) are mounted, the two anvils being attached on different parts of the tuning wire (119) of the reed pipe (117).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.