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Sound frequency counter.

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Yes. Thank you.

If I may, Another question. And let's assume you already have a frequency counter (FC).

Let's say you have a single string on your guitar tuned very carefully to middle C (261.626 Hz) and you strum it once.

The output from your guitar is fed straight into the FC, which should display 261.626 Hz, right? Just one note (frequency) being played and just one frequency be displayed by the FC.

OK. Now let's say you have TWO strings, one tuned to middle C (261.626 Hz) and the other tuned to D above middle C (293.67Hz) and you strum them both at the same time.

Now that two string output is fed into the FC. Which frequency will it show?

That's the problem your facing with your proposal.

Hope I got it right this time and not just belaboring the obvious.

you got it right this time. but i want to tune the guitar by tuning string by string. so i dont need 2 or more string at a time.
 
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Ebay has a heap of tiny cheap guitar tuners, I bought one that was basically a keyring, that lights a LED when you have an exact E note. I think it was about $8.

You should really have a look on ebay before spending a lot of time and money building one. :)
 
Ebay has a heap of tiny cheap guitar tuners, I bought one that was basically a keyring, that lights a LED when you have an exact E note. I think it was about $8.

You should really have a look on ebay before spending a lot of time and money building one. :)

But i want to try it myself, basically i think it'll enrich me in electronics and make me fill good (bcz it'll be my equipment which i'll build,) that something help me in playing guitar.... ;)
 
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I have a nice easy to use app on my android phone that is a great one for tuning my guitar :)
its goes with me whereever my phone is :)


Dave
 
Davenn, I have java enebled samsung mobile
 
But i want to try it myself, basically i think it'll enrich me in electronics and make me fill good (bcz it'll be my equipment which i'll build,) that something help me in playing guitar.... ;)

I completely understand.

In this case I'm going to suggest buying a kit. For instance, look at this one on EBay. It will display frequencies from 1Hz to 6MHz.

Note that it's $29.96 USD. You'll end up spending more than that buying the parts separately. And you'll still need a printed circuit board (PCB).

Maybe not exactly building one from scratch (which is by no means easy), but the process of building it would give you excellent experience in constructing an electronic device and you would have something that you built yourself.

And it ships from Hong Kong, a lot closer to you than it is to me...

And, of course, you can come back to ETO with any questions/problems that may arise!
 
Hey Dave...

What's the name of the app?
Is there one for iPhone?

eT

Hey eTech

its called ( dont shoot me Im just the messenger ;) ) gstrings

for the Iphone I have no idea, you would have to do an app search

without hijacking the thread too much.....
what I really like about it is that you can play a piece of music and it will pic out the guitar chords being played
A cool way to get to learn a new piece to play on the guitar

Dave
 
I completely understand.

In this case I'm going to suggest buying a kit. For instance, look at this one on EBay. It will display frequencies from 1Hz to 6MHz.

Note that it's $29.96 USD. You'll end up spending more than that buying the parts separately. And you'll still need a printed circuit board (PCB).

Maybe not exactly building one from scratch (which is by no means easy), but the process of building it would give you excellent experience in constructing an electronic device and you would have something that you built yourself.

And it ships from Hong Kong, a lot closer to you than it is to me...

And, of course, you can come back to ETO with any questions/problems that may arise!

yes. i agree with you that may cost me more. but i can tell you that i have own created frequency counter that counts 1hz to 4Mhz. but my problem not the counter, my problem is to amplify the sound and reduced the noise from the sound. this is main or actual problem of mine you can say. i need help in that area mainly. after that if still i have problem in counting i certainly come to ETO.
 
my problem is to amplify the sound and reduced the noise from the sound
I suggest you do some research on mic/pickup pre-amps and low pass filters. Google is your friend.
 
Alright, I think we're getting there. Maybe. I didn't realize you already had a frequency counter FC).

Please describe:

1. Are you using an acoustic or electric guitar?

2. How, exactly, is your guitar currently hooked up to your (FC)? Can you draw us a picture and post it?

3. Is the output of the guitar hooked to an amplifier that then feeds a speaker? If it is, have you tried hooking your FC to the output of the amplifier (set to a very low volume)?

4. When hooked to the guitar (or amplifier), does the FC display anything at all?

5. If the FC displays something, what is that something? Is it a number that makes any sense?

The reason I ask these questions is that if you're (as you have stated) merely hitting one, at least reasonably well tuned, string, I'm not sure where the "noise" is coming from and how that is affecting the FC.

I'm just trying to get a clearer picture of the possible causes of the problem(s).
 
Alright, I think we're getting there. Maybe. I didn't realize you already had a frequency counter FC).

Please describe:

1. Are you using an acoustic or electric guitar?

2. How, exactly, is your guitar currently hooked up to your (FC)? Can you draw us a picture and post it?

3. Is the output of the guitar hooked to an amplifier that then feeds a speaker? If it is, have you tried hooking your FC to the output of the amplifier (set to a very low volume)?

4. When hooked to the guitar (or amplifier), does the FC display anything at all?

5. If the FC displays something, what is that something? Is it a number that makes any sense?

The reason I ask these questions is that if you're (as you have stated) merely hitting one, at least reasonably well tuned, string, I'm not sure where the "noise" is coming from and how that is affecting the FC.

I'm just trying to get a clearer picture of the possible causes of the problem(s).

1.acoustic
2.condenser mic
3.no, no speaker.
im new in electronics probably with one tear of experience. i'm not so well knowledged with it. my main problem i cant make a good amplifier with condenser mic. ineed help and circuit perticulerly in this ( whose output sholud go to my frequency counter). thats all i need hoe to crate a good ampli.
 
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Alright, I think we're getting there. Maybe. I didn't realize you already had a frequency counter FC).

Please describe:

1. Are you using an acoustic or electric guitar?

2. How, exactly, is your guitar currently hooked up to your (FC)? Can you draw us a picture and post it?

3. Is the output of the guitar hooked to an amplifier that then feeds a speaker? If it is, have you tried hooking your FC to the output of the amplifier (set to a very low volume)?

4. When hooked to the guitar (or amplifier), does the FC display anything at all?

5. If the FC displays something, what is that something? Is it a number that makes any sense?

The reason I ask these questions is that if you're (as you have stated) merely hitting one, at least reasonably well tuned, string, I'm not sure where the "noise" is coming from and how that is affecting the FC.

I'm just trying to get a clearer picture of the possible causes of the problem(s).

1.acoustic
2.with condenser mic
3.no, no speaker.
im new in electronics probably with one year of experience. i'm not so well knowledged with it. my main problem i cant make a good amplifier with condenser mic. i need help and circuit perticulerly in this ( whose output sholud go to my frequency counter). thats all i need how to crate a good ampli withoput noise.
 
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Note that a condenser mic is an expensive old design that is powered from a 48V supply. A newer mic that is inexpensive and very common today is called an electret mic which is a condenser mic with the 48V permanently stored inside on some electret material. The mic also has a Jfet impedance converter inside.

Some shop owners do not know anything about electronics so they wrongly call a modern electret mic a condenser mic.
Lookup Electret Mic in Google.

An opamp can be used as a very simple preamp. A low noise wide bandwidth audio opamp should be used like a TL071.
A 741 opamp has hiss and works poorly above 9kHz.

Two transistors can also make a simple preamp. The first transistor must have a fairly high input impedance with some gain then the second transistor can have lots of gain.

Here is a good preamp circuit for an electret mic. It can drive an impedance no lower than 2k ohms:
 

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  • Electret mic preamp.PNG
    Electret mic preamp.PNG
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How about this one;

View attachment 67289

Simple, powered Condenser mike, u741 OpAmp preamp and 2N2222 NPN tranjsistor amp output circuit with VERY common components and a pot for adjusting output volume.

This shows a 5VDC power supply but you could substitute a 9VDC supply with no changes, other than volume control adjustments, needed.

<EDIT> Oops. Didn't see your post, audioguru. You're right about hiss from the u741, but I figured that with the low level sig needed for the freq counter, it might not matter (what with us not knowing what the freq counter's input specs are).
 
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Hi Cowboy Bob,
Your transistor has no bias voltage so it is a low level rectifier or a high level distortion maker. The coupling capacitor charges on a positive voltage swing from the opamp but cannot discharge on the negative voltage swing so the transistor will be cutoff soon. It is also a frequency doubler.
A lousy old 741 opamp is spec'd to use ONLY a 30V supply so some do not work from a supply as low as 9V and a 9V battery drops to 6V over its life.
 
audioguru,

Good catch on the 2N2222 bias. See below for schematic mod.

One advantage to this simple circuit is that it clips the sine wave, giving the freq counter a "nicer" squared input (not that it cares, I don't think).

I ran the sim from 1Hz to 20kHz without a noticeable distortion that would be a problem for the counter. And no frequency doubling.

View attachment 67298

<EDIT> Used a sig gen as I don't have a Spice model for a condenser mike.
 
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A modern electret mic is probably used (not an older expensive condenser mic that needs a 48V supply).
An inexpensive and very popular electret mic has 48V permanently built into the electret material inside and has a Jfet impedance converter inside that uses a few volts at 0.5mA. When powered through a 10k resistor from a filtered 9V source then the mic and its resistor have a combined impedance of about 2.7k ohms. So your sig gen should have an output impedance of 2.7k.

Why is your frequency as high as 10kHz where a lousy old 741 opamp has hardly any gain?

EDIT: I forgot to say that you do not want the amplifier to clip because clipping will cause the level of harmonics to be the same level as the fundamental. Then the counter will be confused.
 
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