SparrowTone is a free tuner for the bagpipes and is designed by Ethan Wang. It has three displays, each for letting you tune a certain part of the bagpipe: a line graphic display showing pitch history, a chanter graph showing the average pitch of each note, and a simple graphic display specifically for tuning drones in a band setting.
Navigating the display
The green line indicates your pitch for 100 readings. The dot indicates your current pitch. The dark green rectangle indicates your pitch range. The white line below the middle line indicates your average pitch.
Tap the – or + to decrease or increase the calibration. To set the calibration to the current pitch, read the average with a timer, or manually set the calibration, tap the calibration ‘483.1 Hz’. A menu will pop up showing the 3 ways to calibrate.
On the top right, to open the menu display, tap on the icon with the three lines.
Each note is given a linear graph showing its average pitch. The farther away the line is from the middle, the further out of tune it is. Once a note is tune, it will become green, and the text on the left side will start to become greener. This essentially indicates that the note is in tune and that you may move on to the next.
On the bottom of the graphs, there is a button ‘Reset Averages’. If you want to reset the graph, you may tap the button to reset all the averages for the notes.
You can either play a tune and tune once finished, or play each note and tune them accordingly.
The last display is mainly to easily tune drones in a band setting. Holding your phone over the drone, the screen will start to turn green. Once the screen is green enough for your liking, you can move on to the next drone. If you want to reset the greening, tap on the screen to set it back to red. This is useful for moving on to the next drone.
Navigating settings
The settings menu holds a number of customisable settings to fit the tuner to your liking.
In Tune Range – Sets the range of what is in tune. A lower number makes the tuner more specific.
Graph Range – Sets the range of the graph. If you want to be more specific, set it lower.
Calibration Countdown – Sets the time to wait for calibrating with a timer.
Calibration Time – Sets the time to hold Low A for calibrating with a timer.
Volume Threshold – Any frequency below the volume threshold will not be picked up.
Tuning Scheme – Some bagpipes are tuned in other ways. You can set it to Equal Temperament if playing with other instruments.
Show Pitch Range – Shows the range of pitch on the line graph
Show Average Pitch Line – Shows the line that indicates the average pitch on the line graph.
