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This blog is not about the band Tool, it's about a tool for musical keys.
Hello, fellow TL musicians!
I now updated my tool to a new version which is now available for beta testing.
Program manual
• Support for English, as well as German language / notation (can be toggled.)
• Enter any key, press Enter or click the Ok button. You get full information, including relative keys, important notes like leading tone and triad chord notes.
• The first key of the tonic is shown on a keyboard.
• You can also click on the keyboard octave image to select a new key.
• Support for minor keys either with lower case letter or with adding an "m" (can be toggled)
• You can also use the selection boxes to choose how many flats or sharps you want to have.
• Click a related key to use it as new key.
• The enharmonic equivalent is also shown. D# for example can be simplified to Eb. A new option allows to show an equivalent which is not fully optimized..
• With "+" or "-" key one can transpose the current key by half tone steps.
• Now you can also see the full scale like in the screenshot. This is disabled by default to avoid too much clutter on the screen. The scale can be reduced to a pentatonic scale.
Points of the beta test
I tested the program for myself, but would be interested in feed-back. The file name is German and means "musical key."
• Is the layout clear enough to be used without much trial and error?
• Can the program handle complicated keys?
• Are the toggles (German/English, Minor notation, enhamonic) working back and forth?
• Do you encounter any errors, or any design faults (wrong windows element positions etc.)?
• Is there anything confusing?
Actual usage scenarios
- If you see a complicated scale with X signs, this tools tells you which key it is.
- If you have a complicated scale, you can see each note of the scale. The tool even displays if it is on a white key or black key.
- Beginners who just want to know how "F Major" looks, can click on the F key on the octave image.
- Beginners also now can instantly see all important relative keys to any key.
Play-around scenarios
- Ever wanted to use a complicated key with more than 6 signs? Disable the limitation of the enharmonic equivalent to 6 signs and look at the alternative.
+ Show Spoiler [How I calculate it] +
This program is written in an outdated Delphi version (Delphi 2005 Personal.)
The entered string is stripped off space characters. Then I look at the first character to determine the initial position in the order "F-C-G-D-A-E-B" according to the circle of fifths. Then I count the signs to determine the actual position: Each b subtracts 7, each # adds 7.
Now, any relative key can be calculated with a particular offset of the current position. I also wrote a function which converts a position into a string, which is then shown in the according field.
Half tone steps can also be calculated with using a certain offset. To avoid too much signs, the half tone transposing looks to use either a positive or a negative offset to get close to the C Major (or A Minor) key.
+ Show Spoiler [Complete old posting, of which I took…] +Hello, fellow TL musicians! Ever wondered about the key signature of D# major? (9 sharps, 2 double-sharps and 5 normal ones.) Ever wondered which major key has 12 sharps? (B#.) Ever wanted to transpose a piece by 3 half tone steps but you don't know how many flats or sharps the new signature has? Ever wanted to see all important related keys of any given key?![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yBZEJ.png) This tool is my work of the last days. • Support for English, as well as German notation (can be toggled.) Support for minor keys with adding an "m". • Press Enter or click Ok to use the entered key. • Or use the boxes to choose how many flats or sharps do you want to have. • Click a related key to use it as new key. • The enharmonic equivalent (with as few as signs possible) is also shown. D# for example can be simplified to Eb. • The key on a keyboard is also shown. • With "+" or "-" one can transpose by half tone steps. • The transposition does not always lead to the simplest key. C minus a halftone leads to Cb instead of B. This is intentional, as Cb has seven signs. One can always pick the enharmonic equivalent if it is simpler. I tested the program for myself, but would be interested in feed-back. It is written in an outdated Delphi version (Delphi 2005 Personal.) The file name is German and means "musical key." • Does the language selection work as intended? (German notation should be default for German language settings i Windows, otherwise the English notation should be activated by default.) • Are the functions working properly or do you get sometimes wrong keys?
  
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Nice. Make the numbers stay open instead of having to hold down LMB and I had no idea there was an H note 
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I'm a music noob...but isn't B# just C? o.O
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On December 22 2011 03:11 zOula... wrote:
I'm a music noob...but isn't B# just C? o.O
Yes, the reason they call it B# depending on the key is solely for consistency with chord naming and a few other things.
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On December 22 2011 03:12 phant wrote:Show nested quote +On December 22 2011 03:11 zOula... wrote:
I'm a music noob...but isn't B# just C? o.O Yes, the reason they call it B# depending on the key is solely for consistency with chord naming and a few other things.
ok thanks ^_^ I knew something from my middle school band days would stick :D
edit: oh yeah and by the way this looks like a cool program!
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On December 22 2011 03:08 Probe1 wrote:Nice. Make the numbers stay open instead of having to hold down LMB and I had no idea there was an H note H should only occur if you use the German notation. Do you get it somewhere (where) with English notation, too? Or does the tool use German at default on your computer?
In which way should the numbers stay open?
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I guess this could be a useful tool for beginners, but a practicing musician should know all of these without having to think, although maybe not stuff like D# major, since there's basically no reason not to use Eb major, is there?.
BTW why wouldn't you always want the enharmonic version that is in use (i.e. simpler) since it might just confuse a beginner if he/she starts thinking using Cb instead of B/H?
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That is so useful. Thank you very much.
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I clicked this thinking it had something to do with the band Tool.
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On December 22 2011 03:15 [F_]aths wrote:Show nested quote +On December 22 2011 03:08 Probe1 wrote:Nice. Make the numbers stay open instead of having to hold down LMB and I had no idea there was an H note H should only occur if you use the German notation. Do you get it somewhere (where) with English notation, too? Or does the tool use German at default on your computer? In which way should the numbers stay open?
Sorry! I went to make my morning coffee and completely forgot about that post!
+ Show Spoiler [Image of Deutsche Notation unchecked] +
I hadn't had coffee yet so my description of the menu complaint was poor. When you want to select flats, sharps, major / minor you have to click and hold down left mouse button for it to stay open. It would be much easier if it was just a single click and you didn't have to continually hold down the button while selecting.
Not a serious problem, just a suggestion for streamlining functionality.
What's keeping me from actually using this is my piano is downstairs and I don't have a keyboard to plug into my PC or a laptop to take the program with me!  Still it's great work 
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This would be helpful for a music n00b, I guess, but most music n00bs don't need to transpose anyways.
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On December 22 2011 04:10 Probe1 wrote:Show nested quote +On December 22 2011 03:15 [F_]aths wrote:On December 22 2011 03:08 Probe1 wrote:Nice. Make the numbers stay open instead of having to hold down LMB and I had no idea there was an H note H should only occur if you use the German notation. Do you get it somewhere (where) with English notation, too? Or does the tool use German at default on your computer? In which way should the numbers stay open? Sorry! I went to make my morning coffee and completely forgot about that post! + Show Spoiler [Image of Deutsche Notation unchecked] +I hadn't had coffee yet so my description of the menu complaint was poor. When you want to select flats, sharps, major / minor you have to click and hold down left mouse button for it to stay open. It would be much easier if it was just a single click and you didn't have to continually hold down the button while selecting. Not a serious problem, just a suggestion for streamlining functionality. What's keeping me from actually using this is my piano is downstairs and I don't have a keyboard to plug into my PC or a laptop to take the program with me! Still it's great work Thank you for the bug report. I uploaded a new version (same URL) in which the H note bug should be fixed.
The issue with the box selection (auto-close) should be fixed, too. That bug seems to be related to the monitor resolution. It works on my screen; could you test if the boxes stay open after you let the mousebutton go?
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Awww, I thought this was a Tool blog, about the band Tool T_T
Looks nice though, GL
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hi Arne. will check this out over christmas days
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On December 22 2011 03:11 zOula... wrote:
I'm a music noob...but isn't B# just C? o.O
On a keyboard, yes. I could go in a lengthy explantion what B# "really" is, but the B# key on a grand sounds exactly like C.
One could also ask "isn't E# equal to F?" or "Is Fb equal to E?" or similar questions. The circle of fifths (which I of course use for my tool) sometimes delivers different names for the same key in the sense of a keyboard key. This only works with equal temperament, though.
On December 22 2011 03:20 Barbarne wrote:
I guess this could be a useful tool for beginners, but a practicing musician should know all of these without having to think, although maybe not stuff like D# major, since there's basically no reason not to use Eb major, is there?.
BTW why wouldn't you always want the enharmonic version that is in use (i.e. simpler) since it might just confuse a beginner if he/she starts thinking using Cb instead of B/H?
There are different versions of the circle of fifths. The short one uses up to six signs, a longer one goes up to seven (which have an enharmonic equivalent with five of the opposite signs.) The tool constructs an even longer circle, if you want you can get over 20 signs.
To show the enharmonic equivalent I limit the number of signs to six, the transposition allows up to seven. (If an absurd key like C##### is entered, the transposition works a bit different in my tool, simplifying the key just one time per transposition.)
Allowing up to seven signs for a transposition of a standard key was a design decision. The user still can use the enharmonic equivalent if it is simpler.
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I now updated my initial post to show the additions. There are some additional changes: The dominant of a Minor key is now displayed as Major because the Major dominant is commonly used, and the half tone transposition now tries to fit the new key into the smaller version of the circle of fifth (reducing to 6 signs instead of 7.)
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/P9Y3v.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DKfmF.jpg)
