Tuning...

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This dialog deals with the Instrument tuning assigned to the current module.

At the left of the dialog you'll find a "stack" of speaker icons with horizontal lines to the right of them. These represent the strings of the current instrument. Although the illustration above is for a normal, 6-string guitar, if another number of strings has been selected in the "Module" portion of the dialog this will, of course, be reflected here.

Left-clicking on any of the speaker icons (or the strings, themselves, for that matter) will cause the note to which it's set to sound. The note will sound longer if you keep the left mouse button held down. This is very handy for tuning your own instrument to the computer.

The name of the note to which the string is set displayed to the right of each string. Next to the note name, you'll find the octave number (according to the American system) displayed within square brackets. Left-clicking on the small arrows to the right of these items allows you to raise or lower the pitch of the string. Keeping [Ctrl] held down while performing this operation will allow you to change the pitch of all of the strings in a single operation.

Farther to the right, you'll find a popup list containing a variety of common (and a few uncommon) tunings. Selecting any of these will automatically alter the setting for each string. If you should select a tuning not corresponding to the current number of strings, TablEdit will change this number after asking you for confirmation.

TablEdit can manage up to four user-defined tunings. The slots for these custom tunings are marked with an asterisk (*) and are located at the bottom of the list of pre-defined tunings. To add a custom tuning to the list, just modify the current tuning to the desired values and click on the custom slot you want it in while keeping [Ctrl] held down. The resulting dialog also allows you to specify a name for your tuning.

Below the tunings popup is a small box labeled "Capo". This allows any capo setting between 0 (no capo) and 15. The addition of a capo affects both the pitch of MIDI playback and the note pitch of the standard notation. The fret numbers of the tablature remain unaffected. Care should be taken to adjust the "Key signature" to reflect the addition of the capo so that the correct accidentals will be used in the stave. If, for example, you've tabbed out a tune played in the key of C but have specified  a capo at the second fret, you should enter a key signature of D major (two #'s) as this is the key that the piece actually sounds in. Tablature readers usually read the capo as if it were the nut of the instrument, notation readers do not. The chords deduced by the "Automatic Chord Diagram" function will remain in the actual playing key rather than being transposed to the playback key.