gStrings - tuner for 1.5

[akim]

Hello everyone,

I have published gstrings - a chromatic tuner app (for tuning your guitar/violin/..) on the market yesterday. (www.cohortor.org/gstrings)

People who ran it seemed to like it a lot (5*), but 2 out of the 20 reviewers gave it a single *, stating simply 'it does NOT work on android 1.5'.
The truth is, it NEEDS 1.5 (cupcake functionality) to run.

The problem is I have no way of getting back with those people to ask them 'HOW' did it not work. Naturally, it seems to work just fine on my device.

I would like to ask for a bit of help from the community - you - to help me figure out the deal with the two nay-sayers.

So if you own a guitar, violin, or any other stringed instrument that you tune occasionally and would like to have a tuner on your android phone, please try gStrings and let me know (gstrings@cohortor.org) if you experienced problems (what kind?) running it.

Your help is MUCH appreciated,

-cohortor.

 

[justjimjpc]

Hello everyone,

I have published gstrings - a chromatic tuner app (for tuning your guitar/violin/..) on the market yesterday. (www.cohortor.org/gstrings)

People who ran it seemed to like it a lot (5*), but 2 out of the 20 reviewers gave it a single *, stating simply 'it does NOT work on android 1.5'.
The truth is, it NEEDS 1.5 (cupcake functionality) to run.

The problem is I have no way of getting back with those people to ask them 'HOW' did it not work. Naturally, it seems to work just fine on my device.

I would like to ask for a bit of help from the community - you - to help me figure out the deal with the two nay-sayers.

So if you own a guitar, violin, or any other stringed instrument that you tune occasionally and would like to have a tuner on your android phone, please try gStrings and let me know (gstrings@cohortor.org) if you experienced problems (what kind?) running it.

Your help is MUCH appreciated,

-cohortor.

Besides your email in the market ... I would suggest in your app a menu(button) "Having Problems ???" (email link displayed for them to contact you)

This may help and is convient for the the user ... You are then able to assist them personally and ask if they are satisfied to go change their rating and comments ..

 

[akim]

justjimjpc,

Thank you for your suggestion. It makes sense. I already have an info screen in the MENU with an email to send feedback/errors to.

Based on the 'it doesnt work' comment I suppose the application didnt even start for them, so they didnt get as far as checking out the MENU. I can only be guessing however..

-cohortor

 

[pacothebandit]

WOW man, that works great, its really precise and accurate!

 

[fogey37]

Dear mr cohorter

Thanks for the app.
I have tried several times to tune my cello
i select cello in the table of instruments
but the frequency of the notes never changes from the
40 to the 60 range pluss or minus 20 or so cycles.
I try the sound and i get a tone
then i tyr to tune the note
nothing really happens
the i go to the tune auto and i can
get my cello to deflect the meter but i never get the 440 or the 220's of the cello range to appear on the scale.
where have i failed

fogey37 / out

 

[akim]

Fogey37,

The frequencies on the scale will never change after picking an instrument under the 'Optimize for' setting. They will change however, when you start tuning using either 'Tune selected note' or 'Tune auto' and the intensity of the input on the microphone reaches the threshold level. At that point the scale is updated to show frequencies closest to the measured pitch.

> ..then i tyr to tune the note nothing really happens
If you try to tune a selected note and the sound you are making is more than 2 semitones off, the needle will stay motionless on either side of the arc. That is, provided that you are making a sound louder than whatever your current microphone sensitivity threshold is set to (you can set this up under settings too).

> ..but i never get the 440 or the 220's of the cello range to appear on the scale.
The same holds true for the 'Auto tune' mode: try setting up the microphone sensitivity and see if that helps.

Please consider reading the documentation on cohortor.org/gstrings for more information about the settings.

cheers,

akim

 

[ravens0ng]

Hi,

I was super excited when I initially saw your app. I play guitar in 3 tunings, as well as Mandolin and Octave Mandolin, so a good chromatic tuner is a necessity for me. After quick tryout though, I couldn't get it to work and gave up on it, since there were many comments about it not working.

I am embarrassed as hell to realize that I never even thought to hit the menu button. I am so used to turning on the tuner and having it tell me what note I am tuning to, with absolutely zero settings. One of the first things I normally do with a new Android app is delve through the settings to see what nice tweaks might be available. It never occurred to me that there might be optimizations for specific instruments required.

I just tried it out again, with my partscaster and after choosing guitar it worked perfectly. Turning the mike all the way down made it sensitive enough to tune an electric guitar while unuplugged (I had the tuner laying on the guitar, so it may have been the vibrations triggering it, rather than sound waves; whatever, it worked flawlessly like this).

I will report back after I try it out on some other instruments.

With all the comments saying that it does not work, I have to wonder how many others thought the same thing, that it would just work without any type of setup at all.

A suggestion would be to have the app open to a menu that lists the different instrument optimizations each time it is launched. A menu setting could allow the option to have it open to a default (user defined) setting, or open each time to the instrument menu.

Thanks for an awesome app, I will be buying the paid version when it appears.

 

[samuelmaskell]

"There are no matches in Android Market for the search: gstrings"

hmm..
I am in canada so I can't see paid apps
but judging from other posts, it's free
so why isn't it showing up?

 

[justjimjpc]

"There are no matches in Android Market for the search: gstrings"

hmm..
I am in canada so I can't see paid apps
but judging from other posts, it's free
so why isn't it showing up?

Try just searching for >>> tune

is should then show up ...

 

[ravens0ng]

The Android market, for some unknown reason, is case sensitive. I find it ironic that the company behind the worlds leading search engine, thought it would be a good idea to have to know the exact spelling of an app to search for it. I pretty much never search for an app by name anymore, using keywords tends to get better results.

Doing a search for gStrings brings it right up.

 

[justjimjpc]

The Android market, for some unknown reason, is case sensitive. I find it ironic that the company behind the worlds leading search engine, thought it would be a good idea to have to know the exact spelling of an app to search for it. I pretty much never search for an app by name anymore, using keywords tends to get better results.

Doing a search for gStrings brings it right up.

But Typical of Linux the KiNg of CaSe SeNsItIvITy ... so believing the search uses linux code to perform searches ....

 

[samuelmaskell]

The Android market, for some unknown reason, is case sensitive. I find it ironic that the company behind the worlds leading search engine, thought it would be a good idea to have to know the exact spelling of an app to search for it. I pretty much never search for an app by name anymore, using keywords tends to get better results.

Doing a search for gStrings brings it right up.

I had already tried it with a capital s.. no luck. You have to select which counties you want the app to be available in when you post the app. Probably didn't select Canada. Or at least that's what I'm told anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm sure you guys know much more about it than I do.

 

[justjimjpc]

I had already tried it with a capital s.. no luck. You have to select which counties you want the app to be available in when you post the app. Probably didn't select Canada. Or at least that's what I'm told anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm sure you guys know much more about it than I do.

If it is not coming up by search for tune or gStrings ... then YES the most likely thing would be country selection by the apps developer ...

 

[akim]

samuelmaskell, justjimjpc,

I have published the app with the 'Locations' option set to 'All Current and Future Locations'.

I have had other users emailing me about Rogers blocking this app from the market in Canada. The same thing happens in Norway. I do not know why this is happening, but you can imagine I am not exactly happy about it.

I have tried contacting Rogers support over the phone, but once they discovered I was not a customer, they refused to talk to me. I have sent two emails to which I have received no answer.

samuelmaskell, or anyone out there with similar problems, just send an email to gstrings@cohortor.org and I will send you the APK file you can install yourself.

If any Rogers customer out there would be willing to help me get an answer from their company, I would be very grateful.

cheers,

-cohortor.

 

[prc93ltda]

hi the problem that i have( and i think everyone else has) is that it doesnt recognize the doesnt like when i play the string on my guitar it does nothing it doesnt move or anything and ive tried to change the mic sensivility and all that stuff but it just doesnt work btw i have a G1 wqith afactory settings no hacks no nothing

 

[shrink57]

Great program. I feel stupid for spending $40 for a standalone tuner a couple of months back. On my Droid, gStrings is more accurate. As for user feedback, I think there are those out there that love sending negative stuff and have no intention of being creative. They have no respect for the time that goes into writing a program and only think of themselves. If a program doesn't work for THEM or do everything they want it to do, it is almost as if they take it as a personal insult. Thanks for your hard work and have a wonderful holiday!!!

 

[mkhopper]

QR code for folks having issues finding the app with a Market search.

Wish people would use these incredibly handy barcode blocks at every opportunity.

 

[Jojosmusic1986]

I play several stringed instruments and LOVE this app. I also play trumpet and was hoping to use it to help me with my warm ups and tuning with that instrument as well. However when I play a G it says F which is more than the half step down from where I am actually playing denoted by the "Bb Trumpet" title. Is there some way to make the tuner work properly for Bb instruments?

 

[ArtfulDodger]

I am a beginning guitar player and have not had the chance to get this apparently home does it automatically know which E you're tuning

 

[Blrfl]

(I assume you mean how does it know?)

The oversimplified answer is that the program looks at what frequencies are produced by whatever you're tuning and compares them to a table of what frequencies the notes should be when in tune. It's pretty much the same thing as a tuner you'd buy off the shelf at a store would do.

When you get the program and run it, you'll see the correct frequency for the note you're tuning at the center of the scale on the screen. E (E2) is 82.41 Hz, e' (E4) is 329.63 Hz. Notes double in frequency between octaves, and if you do the math you'll notice that the high E is four times the frequency of the low E.

--Mark

 

[Guitardoc64]

I like and use the app. Accuracy is excellent! I have compared it to the Peterson VS tuner on my workbench and it's dead-on. I just wish it saved the settings when you exit.

 

[cirtbrethren]

Thank you for such a useful app!

I play drums and am trying to use it to tune my drums, but having some difficulty. I've never used a tuner to tune them, and one strike on a tom will produce quite a few frequencies in a large range. What is the best way to narrow it down to just the main note coming out of the drum? Use "Tune 'x'" ? I haven't tried that yet, just been using auto tune.

Thanks again!

Scott

 

[Hareti]

I play several stringed instruments and LOVE this app. I also play trumpet and was hoping to use it to help me with my warm ups and tuning with that instrument as well. However when I play a G it says F which is more than the half step down from where I am actually playing denoted by the "Bb Trumpet" title. Is there some way to make the tuner work properly for Bb instruments?

But surely that is correct? If, on a Bb trumpet, you play a written G it will sound one whole tone lower, i.e. an F. When we say it is a trumpet in Bb, that means that when you play a written C, it will sound a Bb i.e. one whole tone lower. You seem to be suggesting that the note that sounds should be a half step (semitone) lower than the note that you play, but this is not correct. the difference between a C and a Bb is one whole tone, not a semitone.

Or am I missing something ... ?!

 

[Rgarneau]

I only have one, "e" on my scale so how does it know which one you are tuning?

 

[motorsen]

Hello!

I have a problem with the "gstrings tuner".
The A-note is no longer at 440 HZ, but at 55.0 - what's the problem???
I have tried everything in settings, and even uninstalled and reinstalled the program - but whitout any kind of luck.....

Regards

Johnny Mortensen