# US 2008/0184872 A1 · Microtonal tuner for a musical instrument using a digital interface > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2008/0184872 A1 - Document ID: US20080184872A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 11/824,243 - Filed: 2007-06-29 - Published: 2008-08-07 - Earliest claimed: 2006-06-30 - Assignees: Aaron Andrew Hunt - Inventors: Aaron Andrew Hunt; Jordan Dimitrov Petkov - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20080184872A1 ## CPC - G10H 1/44: Tuning means - G10H 1/0075: {with translation or conversion means for unvailable commands, e.g. special tone colors} - G10H 1/02: Means for controlling the tone frequencies, e.g. attack or decay; Means for producing special musical effects, e.g. vibratos or glissandos - G10H 1/20: for transposition - G10H 2210/395: Special musical scales, i.e. other than the 12-interval equally tempered scale; Special input devices therefor - G10H 2240/311: MIDI transmission (G10H2240/056 takes precedence) - G10H: ELECTROPHONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; INSTRUMENTS IN WHICH THE TONES ARE GENERATED BY ELECTROMECHANICAL MEANS OR ELECTRONIC GENERATORS, OR IN WHICH THE TONES ARE SYNTHESISED FROM A DATA STORE ## Abstract A microtonal tuner permits a musician such as an electronic keyboard player using a fixed pitch instrument with a digital interface, to enhance performance expression by producing tones perceptible to humans that vary in discrete values from a twelve tone equal tempered octave. The microtonal tuner uses a digital interface such as a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) and comprises a digital input, a digital message analyzer, a controller, a user input, a user output, a tuning program containing tuning data to create a modified digital message and a digital channel to output the modified digital message to produce a microtonal output. The microtonal output can be any number of notes per octave including tunings such as ¼ Comma Meantone, 19 tone equal temperament, 31 tone equal temperament, Harry Partch's 43-tone tuning, and, 205 tone equal temperament. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A microtonal tuner for a musical instrument using a digital interface, comprising: a digital input for a digital message conforming to a digital interface standard; a digital message analyzer coupled to the digital input to identify a digital message type; a logic controller coupled to the digital input; a user input coupled to the logic controller for modifying user controlled parameters; a user output coupled to the logic controller for communicating microtonal information; a tuning program containing tuning data coupled to the logic controller to create a modified digital message for producing a microtonal output in real-time that varies in discrete values from a twelve tone equal tempered octave; and, a digital channel to output the modified digital message for producing a microtonal output. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The microtonal tuner as in claim 1 further comprising a synthesizer for receiving the modified digital message on the digital channel to produce an audio output during musical instrument performance. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The microtonal tuner as in claim 1 wherein the modified digital message comprises multiple modified digital messages producing multiple microtonal outputs and each microtonal output varies independently in pitch from each other microtonal output. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The microtonal tuner as in claim 1 further comprising a digital channel allocator that dynamically routes the modified digital message to an available digital channel. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The microtonal tuner as in claim 1 further comprising an analog to digital converter for converting an analog frequency to a note digital message. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The microtonal tuner as in claim 1 wherein the tuning data comprises note number and pitch bend data. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The microtonal tuner as in claim 1 wherein the tuning program is preprogrammed with a program selected from the group comprising: ¼ Comma Meantone, 19 tone equal temperament, 31 tone equal temperament, Harry Partch's 43-Tone Tuning, and 205 tone equal temperament. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The microtonal tuner as in claim 1 wherein the digital input, the digital message, and the digital output are all compatible with a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI). ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The microtonal tuner as in claim 1 wherein the digital channel is a single digital channel. ### Claim 11 A microtonal keyboard controller that uses a digital interface, comprising: a keyboard having keys that generate a digital message corresponding to the key that is operated; a digital input for the digital message conforming to a digital interface standard; a digital message analyzer coupled to the digital input to identify a digital message type; a logic controller coupled to the digital input; a user input coupled to the logic controller for modifying user controlled parameters; a user output coupled to the logic controller for communicating microtonal information; a tuning program containing tuning data coupled to the logic controller to create a modified digital message for producing a microtonal output in real-time that varies in discrete values from a twelve tone equal tempered octave; and, a channel allocator that dynamically routes the modified digital message to an available digital channel to output the modified digital message for producing a microtonal output. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The microtonal tuner as in claim 11 further comprising a synthesizer for receiving the modified digital message on the digital channel to produce an audio output during musical instrument performance. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The microtonal tuner as in claim 11 wherein the modified digital message comprises multiple modified digital messages producing multiple microtonal outputs and each microtonal output varies independently in pitch from each other microtonal output. ### Claim 14 A method for microtonal tuning a musical instrument using a digital interface, comprising: programming a tuning program with microtonal tuning instructions; receiving a digital message for a music instruction; analyzing the digital message to determine the music instruction status; identifying a note-on music instruction status; processing the note-on music instruction status through the tuning program; generating a modified note-on digital message for a microtonal note that varies in a discrete value from a standard twelve equal temperament tuning octave; selecting a digital output channel for the microtonal note digital message; and, outputting the modified note-on digital message on the available digital channel to produce a microtonal note that varies in a discrete value from a standard twelve equal temperament tuning octave. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The microtonal tuner as in claim 14 further comprising receiving the modified note-on digital message on the available digital channel by a synthesizer to produce an audio output during musical instrument performance. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The microtonal tuner as in claim 14 wherein the modified note-on digital message comprises multiple modified note-on digital messages producing multiple microtonal notes and each microtonal note varies independently in pitch from each other microtonal note. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The method as in claim 14 further comprising identifying dynamically an available digital output channel to output the modified digital message for producing a microtonal output. ### Claim 18 (depends on 14) The method as in claim 14 wherein the tuning data comprises a tuning table, note number, and pitch bend data. ### Claim 19 A method for dynamic channel allocation of a microtonal message for a musical instrument using a digital interface, comprising identifying dynamically an available digital output channel; selecting a digital output channel for the note digital message; and, sending the digital microtonal note message on the available digital channel. ### Claim 20 A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform microtonal tuning of a musical instrument using a digital interface, comprising: programming a tuning program with microtonal tuning instructions; receiving a digital message for a music instruction; analyzing the digital message to determine the music instruction status; identifying a note-on music instruction status; processing the note-on music instruction status through the tuning program; generating a modified note-on digital message for a microtonal note that varies in a discrete value from a standard twelve equal temperament tuning octave; selecting a digital output channel for the microtonal note digital message; and, outputting the modified note-on digital message on the available digital channel to produce a microtonal note that varies in a discrete value from a standard twelve equal temperament tuning octave. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The microtonal tuner as in claim 20 further comprising receiving the modified note-on digital message on the available digital channel by a synthesizer to produce an audio output during musical instrument performance.