I like to dabble around in playing instruments, I am, by no means, a musician but doing a little noodling around from time to time can be quite gratifying. In my younger years, I did enjoy playing more than one instrument, today, I am taking on some new challenges, nothing crazy, I just happen to want to play the bass guitar. There is something almost indescribably satisfying when you can actually play the notes in the sequence and tempo that you intend.
In order to be able to play the bass guitar, I had to tune the thing. I am sure that there are countless apps for any of the major mobile platforms but mobile platforms are not exactly my favorite to use. I much, much prefer the warm comforts of openSUSE Linux and the application that really caught my eye was Lingot. Unfortunately it wasn’t available in a Snap, Flatpak or AppImage but was available in the openSUSE repositories.
Amusingly, Lingot is another one of those infamous open source application “backronyms” names, Lingot Is Not a Guitar-Only Tuner. One of the fun things about open source applications is the lighthearted nature in software development. Open Source, never stop being you!
Installation
Lingot isn’t available in the official openSUSE repositories but using this newly “discovered” terminal tool called OPI, I am able to easily install it.
sudo opi lingotAfter going through the easy to follow steps, the application was installed, ready for play, so nicely waiting for me in the menu.
It is also possible to go to the Git repository and do the whole “git clone” method for other distributions. There also may be binary packages for other distros as well. I haven’t checked but my guess is it is available for Debian and probably Arch.
Usage
The interface is very clear as to what you need to do to check the tuning of your instrument. There is a gauge on top and a spectrum analyzer below. The gauge helps guide you to ensure the frequency is dialed in. In my case, the bass guitar. Using my little guide for for each of the four strings, I went to work adjusting each to the right frequency with this fantastically handy tool.
Without any fiddling with the application, I was able to get each of the strings to their proper frequency. I really appreciate how I am able to visually see how much I need to make my adjustments to the strings to get it right in the center.
This was all I needed and I was ready to get to playing the bass, embarrassingly dreadful, in the privacy of my home. Given enough time, I might actually be able to hit all the notes cleanly in “Seven Nation Army.”
Additional Features
What is a good Linux application without some options? This one has just enough to hit all the necessary items to accommodate any significant variation in hardware or software setup. For my audio system, I could utilize ALSA, PulseAudio, Jack or OSS. I left everything to default, ultimately, but playing around with it, I could absolutely use a specific microphone on any particular device I would like attached to my computer.
I didn’t mess with any items in the Adjustments tab. I left everything default. The calculation rate adjusts the number of calculations of the frequency per second while the noise level adjustment is recommended to keep low unless you have a noisy environment.
Under the Settings Tab, you can select your maximum and minimum notes which is a very cool feature that I am not sure how I would use with any instruments I own. None the less, very cool. Some of the additional features which allow you to lock into higher frequencies.
I also didn’t mess with any of the options under “Scale” this is another area that goes far deeper into the musical frequency rabbit hole than I have any experience with even understanding. So, if you are interested in this sort of “deep dive” here are all the bits, exposed for your exploitation.
Lastly, under the View drop down menu you can choose between the gauge or the strobe disc. I don’t know how to effectively use the strobe disk but if that is your thing, it is there, ready and waiting for your tuning pleasure.
Final Thoughts
Lingot is a fantastic little application sitting within the green pastures of the Open Build Service for openSUSE. It is a basic yet quite advanced application to tune your instruments without having to fuss or set up. The features that are easily accessible to the user allows for some incredibly more advanced adjustments that will allow you to perform the necessary tuning.
For me, to get a guitar or bass guitar tuned, this fits the bill incredibly nicely. I hope to see this project get continued updates and improvements, though, I’m not sure what you would improve at this time. The core set of features is ready to be used as soon as the application executes. Not much more that I can ask for. I am very appreciative of this tool and am glad it is another application that I can just use on my Linux machines, instead of having to use my mobile device. This is simply a wonderful and useful musical tuning application I can use on openSUSE.
Hi!
I think you found Lingot in the https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/multimedia:proaudio repository.
If you are into a music (electronic or not) there is a lot of audio/MIDI stuff – DAWs, plugins, instruments, etc.
Any feedback on this repo is welcome.