Apple computers and laptops are not only a good work tool, but also a true multimedia center. “Poppies” in music is a category that deserves separate and detailed consideration. In today’s article, we will figure out how to tune a ukulele with your mac.
From early childhood, I dreamed of learning to play the guitar. My first acquisition was a time-beaten, converted into a six-string guitar factory them—Lunachar sky. Hands were torn to hard rock, and the battered Aelita-2 replaced the world of acoustic sound. To get a real hard sound “like that of Hammett or Kruspe,” a real rocker had to have several lotions and effect pedals in his arsenal. Schemes were taken out. The necessary details were soldered from the old TV; the cartridge of the cassette recorder was overloaded … There were many options for achieving a sound that was vaguely reminiscent of what was desired. “Go and buy” was both too simple and impossible.
Today, dreams of becoming a great guitarist rest in a hard case and fall dusty along with a dozen different pedals and analog effects. The advent of Mac computers not only changed the entire world of the PC industry but also dealt a tangible blow to manufacturers of all kinds of distortion pedals, Wah-Wah, overdrive, and another musical stray. Mac will easily make your electric guitar sound in any style and with any processing.
So, do you have a Mac, an electric guitar, and a desire to spend several hours of soulful jam sessions? Let’s see what is needed for this. This article you an know about how to tune a ukulele with your mac.
Table of Contents
What you need to connect
Over a long period, motherboard manufacturers equipped their products with several audio ports at once: one – Audio-Out (usually green) for sound output and speakers or headphones, the second – Audio In (often red) for connecting a microphone and line output from other sound reproducing devices. Apple adhered to the same principle, and the entire line of laptops and computers was also equipped with two ports: a microphone and a line-out port.
With the introduction of the ultra-thin MacBook Air, the company had to take care of maximum ergonomics and the absence of parts that required additional space in the miniature laptop case. They decided to abandon the microphone port by combining two interfaces at once in the headphone port: for recording and for playing sound. Over the next few years, you can find both ports only in the 15 and 17-inch models of the MacBook Pro (until mid-2012), Mac 2011 Mini and iMac, and older Mac Pros. If you own one of these computers, all you need to connect an electric guitar is an adapter from a “big jack” to a mini-jack or a finished cable.
With the skillful handling of a soldering iron, such a cord is easy to make on your own. However, the issue price is, in the worst case, a couple of hundred rubles.
AND
If your Mac is equipped with only one audio port, it will not work without additional purchases. Installed in new laptops and the iMac port, it can be used not only directly to connect headphones or speakers, but also for recording peripherals. By connecting a standard iPhone headset, you get a working microphone and headphones in one set. Alas, if you connect the guitar through the adapter or a “daddy” jack-mini-jack cord described above, you won’t be able to record sound. All the complexity lies in the cunning pinout of the port, and the corresponding adapter will help to solve this problem.
Before buying, be sure to make sure that the adapter is designed specifically for separating the combined audio port into “input” and “output.” In order not to be mistaken with the choice, please pay attention to the design of the mini-jack pin: we are interested in the four-pin version.
Using a similar adapter and cord, connect the guitar to the microphone input. Insert the speaker cable into a free audio output port. When connecting a guitar, you may also need an adapter from a “big jack” to a mini-jack.
Finally
Finally, one of the most reliable and appropriate options for connecting an electric guitar is the use of an external audio card. On the one hand, such an acquisition will require additional financial waste. On the other hand, you get a completely different sound level, devoid of any delays and wheezing caused by an overloaded system. As a bonus for the money spent, you will get the opportunity to connect several musical instruments at once.
Before choosing an external USB audio interface, immediately decide whether you plan to connect a MIDI keyboard, microphone, and additional accessories in the future if the answer is yes.
please note the following models:
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2;
Steinberg UR22;
- PreSonus AudioBox 22VSL;
- Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6;
- Akai EIE Pro;
- Mackie Onyx Blackjack;
- Roland Duo Capture EX UA-22;
- Tascam US2x2.
The proposed list is far from complete but compiled within the budget of 5,000 – 12,000 rubles, which is equivalent to buying a mid-level lotion. By purchasing a USB audio interface, you not only get the opportunity to connect additional audio equipment to your Mac but also join the ranks of connoisseurs of better sound quality. Listening to music through all of the above devices (in the presence of an adequate speaker) is much more pleasant.
Settings
Setting up GarageBand and installing additional software
Apple’s solution will act as an effects processor. This simple and convenient GarageBand audio sequencer is part of both the iLife package and distributed separately in the App Store for 279 rubles. Of course, if music software is not new to you, you can use the more advanced Cubase, Logic, or Protools. Alas, the cost of these professional sequencers is too high, while GarageBand, with a minimum of settings, allows you to connect an electric guitar to a chain of preset effects in just a few steps.
So, regardless of whether you connected the guitar to the Audio-In port using the appropriate adapter or used an external USB interface to connect (presetting the drivers, of course), open GarageBand and make some simple but necessary settings.
On the start screen, select the Amplifiers item.
GarageBand Settings and select as an output :
- when connected using an adapter: built-in output;
- when connected using an external USB audio interface: the name of the interface (in my case, this is Steinberg UR22). If you want to use an external sound card solely for sound input and play it through the standard MacBook port, also select the built-in output. Of course, connecting the speaker system to a USB audio interface, in this case, is not required. Plug the audio cable leading into the speakers into the Mac port.
To set the audio input :
- when connected using an adapter: built-in input;
- when connected via USB audio interface: interface name.
After making these settings, the dialog box can be closed. When connecting using an external USB audio interface, you may need to additionally specify the port into which you inserted the jack guitars. You can do this by double-clicking on the corresponding audio track and opening the Additional information item (“i” icon):
As an Input, select the required port and turn on the Monitor without feedback protection. Before making these settings, just in case, completely turn down the volume. After making sure that nothing is phoning and that no extraneous noise is heard from the speakers, you can return the volume control to its previous position. This completes the basic settings. On the Patch Panel, select the combo amp you want and go ahead with the drive and wind-up rock.
For all its simplicity, the Garage Band audio sequencer is a complete software product that can take a long time to master. We coped with the task that was set as part of this instruction, and ahead of you, there is an immense field for creativity.
Ukulele
How to tune a ukulele easily and effectively
Pitching an instrument is not that complex. You have to intonate it correctly. So as to make a pre-established note be emitted to each string played empty. Tuning or intonation of the ukulele is done by pulling strings. In practice, one acts on the keys related to the single string clockwise or counterclockwise. This operation is done until they reach the desired note. This prevents the sound of the string from increasing, that is, above the tone of the note to be tuned or falling, below the tone of the note to be reached.
The strings of the ukulele are marked with a name that indicates the note that they sound empty without pressing any key. Sol (G), Do (C), Mi (E), La (A). Therefore the usual literal notation is GCEA.
There are several ways to tune a ukulele
Each string is loosened or stretched by a key on top of the fretboard, by placing the keyboard upwards. The key in the lower-left accords the G. The one above the C. The one in the upper right the E, and the one below accords the A. The key is nothing more than a bolt that, by turning, allows you to increase or lower the tone of the strings. In the ukulele, as for the guitar, the screw rotation method is followed, anticlockwise to loosen, clockwise to tighten or pull. You must be very careful not to pull strings a lot during the tuning phase. Otherwise, there is a risk of damaging or letting them leave their accommodation.
It is possible to tune the ukulele with the tuning fork.
If you have one for each ukulele string, you can beat them and tune each string individually. If, on the other hand, you only have one, use it to intone the corresponding string. This will then serve as a reference for the tuning of the rest.
Use an electronic headstock tuner.
Technology also comes to the rescue to tune a ukulele. In fact, an electronic paddle tuner can be used, which can be placed on top of the instrument. With the tuner turned on, an open string is played. The tuner will indicate the tuning status of the note played. It would help if you always acted on the lever of the string that is being tuned by raising or lowering the tone until the indicator of the tuner produces green light. If the tuner hand is lower than the note, the string should be pulled. On the contrary, if the hand is higher than the note, the lever must be loosened.
Tuning a ukulele with a piano
The ukulele notes are played on the fourth octave of the piano. So play the four notes on the fourth octave: Sol, C, Mi, La. And then every single string agrees on that sound.
Experienced ocularists tune by ear. In fact, it is important to know how to recognize the sound of the ukulele notes. For most of these instruments, GCEA conventional tuning applies. In other words, this type of tuning is used for the soprano ukulele: the concert ukulele and ukulele banjo. The baritone ukulele adopts DGBE tuning, as the standard tuning of the last four strings of the guitar. The tuning of the GCEA ukulele is equivalent to that of the guitar with the nut on the fifth fret of the guitar.
Ukulele setting
This page will present materials to help you customize your ukulele. An article on ” How to set up a ukulele.” At the end of the article, there is a “ tuning fork for tuning the ukulele.
Before playing the ukulele, you need to configure it. For the sound of your favorite tunes to be clear. All open strings of the instrument must produce the desired note. Below you will find detailed information on how to tune the ukulele properly.
What is a ukulele system
The instrument is tuning the pitch of open strings for the convenience of playing frequently used chords. Ukulele strings, there are quite a lot. Each of them is designed for a tool of a certain size and type, as well as various performance techniques.
For popular types of ukulele, Soprano, Concert, and Tenor, the suitable system “C-Tuning” – GCEA. To give the ukulele the desired sound, the following tuning of strings is necessary:
