[ntp:questions] Using NTP to calibrate sound app

Ben Bradley ben_u_bradley at etcmail.com
Mon Feb 11 20:02:08 UTC 2013


On Mon, 28 Jan 2013 08:43:13 +0000, David Taylor
<david-taylor at blueyonder.co.uk.invalid> wrote:

>On 27/01/2013 22:43, unruh wrote:
>[]
>> I agree that 1% is pretty bad-- that is 1/6 of a semitone, which is
>> clealy preceptible. However 1 cent, 1/100 of a semitone, is the limit of
>> audibility, and it is VERY hard to tune a piano string to 1 cent (pin
>> slippage and adjustment, frequency coupling between the various strings which play the
>> same note, anharmonicity of the string)-- it is not even clear what that
>> means for the above reasons. 1 cent (NOT 1 percent-- a cent is 1/100 of
>> a semitone) is about 1.0006 frequency ratio (.06%).
>
>I read your "1 cent" as "1 percent".  I hadn't heard of "cent" in that 
>context.  Maybe it's more common in the US?  Mind you, I'm a listener, 
>not a player.  You learn something every day!

   I'd think it's worldwide, but mainly among musicians and musical
instrument tech folks - "one cent" being one hundredth of a semitone
is a universal measure in tuning musical instruments. Cheap electronic
guitar tuners (the ones with an old analog meter with a needle, or
newer LCD simulations of same, or even two-digit digital displays)
display the frequency error in cents.

>
>Cheers,
>David



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