Linotune is available for the following platforms:

48MB	linotune.dmg48MB for Macintosh PPC, Intel 32 & 64 bit architectures OS X 10.4 and higher

10.5MB

linotune.zip10.5MB for Windows PCs, laptops and netbooks all versions from XP to 7, except Vista

When you start linotune for the first time, you must be connected to the Internet in order to activate it. You'll then get a one-week free trial including the optional multi-strobe upgrade. Since linotune can be demanding of the computer hardware, you should use the trial period to confirm that it runs well on the intended machine. To run multiple strobes simultaneously you should have a recent Mac or capable Windows 7 machine.

After your initial free trial is over, you can still use linotune for free occasionally. A few minutes of free time accrue for each day that you don't use linotune; after a hiatus of a month, for instance, you can use linotune free for two hours. An extra hour of free use is added when you upgrade to a new version of linotune. If you need linotune more often, please consider purchasing a license.

A User's Guide is included in the above packages; it can also be downloaded separately here:

0.8MB

linotune.pdf0.8MB User's Guide

Posted by lino on 17 May 2012

How do I install linotune? On a Mac: open the disk image (if it doesn't do so automatically) and drag linotune to the application folder, or wherever else you want. Click on application to run. On Windows: unzip the archive and move the linotune folder to your program folder, or wherever else you want. Click on "linotune.exe" inside the linotune folder to run. Do not move linotune.exe out of its folder as it will not work elsewhere - always move the entire folder. Instead, you can create a shortcut to linotune.exe, on your desktop for instance.

Which platform is better? Linotune works equally well on both platforms, but the Mac version looks more polished - so if you have a choice, get that. Linotune is natively developed on a Mac, then recompiled for Windows.

What's wrong with Windows Vista? Linotune does run under Vista, but the audio backend has a very high latency, making the strobe display practically useless. This is an upstream problem with the toolchain I'm using; hopefully it will be fixed at some point. In the meantime, you may want to consider upgrading to Windows 7.

How about linotune on tablets/smartphones? I'm definitely looking into that. An Android port may well become possible soon; eventually perhaps also other Linux derivatives (Bada, Meego). Stay tuned!

What about the iPhone/iPad? Unfortunately that's rather unlikely, since Apple's walled garden for iOS excludes my toolchain. Should linotune ever be ported to iOS, it would run only on jailbroken iPhones/iPads.

Comments (5)

Posted by lino on 13 Nov 2011

next release: 1.6 (May/June 2012) - maintenance.

Still to do:

• lower the attack threshold for pitch tracking
• allow strobe band to turn green for low input levels

already implemented:

• Windows XP: scale/temperament selection uses native file dialog
• Windows: made the machine identification more reliable

Bugs fixed:

• Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion): required re-activation on each launch
• state of 'map' button was not saved between sessions
• 'map' function did not map pitch pipe along with strobe bands
• right strobe band mouse clicks accumulated cents without ever changing note

1.4 (08 Jan 2012) - rewrote core audio processing routines.

Key improvements to the strobe:

• increased stability & clarity of strobe display for problematic (noisy, beating, etc.) inputs
• can accurately compute & display pitch deviations of hundreds of cents
• rolling direction is now far easier to read for large deviations
• much better automatic pitch detection (even handles missing fundamentals!)
• made triggers (for auto pitch, pitch pipe, and single-shot
  spectrum) more sensitive to tones, more robust against noise

Key improvements to the spectrum:

• quadrupled the frequency resolution
• selecting a strobe band zooms the spectrum onto that band
• peak-oriented spectrum suppresses the distracting noise floor
• peaks are placed precisely (not interpolated!), to within a cent

Other improvements:

• extended note range by an octave, up to B8
• increased the size of on-screen note name labels
• more efficient algorithms reduce the CPU load
• frames-per-second (fps) are only displayed when too low
• replaced * mark with a frame drawn around the selected strobe band
• pop-up notice when trying to open a second strobe without multi-strobe upgrade
• give a more helpful notice when the free trial has expired
• keyboard control: enter/return now sets note to C, octave to 4

Bugs fixed:

• deleting all strobe bands crashed the program
• unsigned & 8-bit audio input was not handled correctly
• initial two cents/Hz deviation measurements were incorrect
• state of the "slave" button was not remembered between sessions
• sporadic incorrect initialisation of octave dial for octaves 6 and above
• incorrect spectrum frequency range and label (on mouse hover)
  when the bottom strobe band was not set to the fundamental
• one-second window some time after a pitch detection
  during which another pitch detection could not be triggered

1.3 (10 Nov 2011) - bugfix.

Fixes crticial bug in 1.2 which caused auto pitch recognition to always be an octave too high.

1.2 (06 Nov 2011) - user interface improvements.

Main improvements:

• support for the multi-strobe upgrade
• strobe now remembers its configuration between sessions
• display note names on the strobe bands whenever pitch changes
• allow strobe bands below the fundamental (subharmonics)
• can specify relative pitch of strobe bands in semitones & cents as well as in
  just intonation frequency ratios; can mix & convert between the two modes

Other improvements:

• added direct keyboard shortcuts for all front panel controls
• the concert-A pitch standard is now adjustable in 0.1 Hz increments
• offer a new version (with one-hour free trial) even when the license is expired
• added option to show the list of changes when offering a new software version
• updated the user's guide to reflect all changes

Bugs fixed:

• push buttons on rear panel were not in keyboard focus chain
• return key did not reset strobe band edit and tolerance controls
• pitch pipe indicator got misplaced when adding strobe bands below
• clicking on the right of a strobe band did not work for weaker signals

1.1 (10 Oct 2011) - first release available for purchase.

Main improvements:

• single-shot mode added to automtic pitch recognition and power spectrum
• improved, robust triggers for pitch recognition, power spectrum and beep mode

Other improvements:

• various internal efficiency enhancements
• improved ability to run without network connection
• beep mode now triggers when changing strobe band
• replaced the input level meter with a simple LED indicator
• strobe band frequency ratio: increased maximum value of numerator
• decreased the dead margin around strobe display and controls
• added a window displaying useful information about linotune
• refuse activation if another key is active on the same machine
• updated the user's guide to reflect changes; included table of just intonation ratios

Bugs fixed:

• software version was reported incorrectly
• license and activation screen was not shown on first start-up
• a change of license key was registered only when the 'Quit' button was hit, not 'Activate'
• top of strobe display frame frame was drawn too wide when there are many strobe bands
• there were numerical issues on pitch detection from perfectly noise-free digital sources

1.0 (28 Sep 2011) - initial public release, after a year of development. Free trial.

Posted by lino on 17 May 2012