About

The Hayward Tuning Vine is an interface for exploring the system of microtonal tuning known as Just Intonation. It was invented by Robin Hayward in 2012, following his invention of the microtonal tuba in 2009. It enables direct and intuitive interaction with the pitches normally hidden between the keys of the piano keyboard.

Just Intonation is based ultimately on prime number relationships. In the tuning vine the prime numbers are colour-coded, allowing a clear overview of these relationships, and therefore of the musical intervals. The central 1/1 ‘fundamental’ tone may be set to any pitch in any octave, and a shift function along each prime number axis allows unlimited exploration of all ratios up to prime number 31.

Along with this, the lattice layout allows intuitive interaction by providing an overview not just of harmonic relationships, but of melodic relationships too – the higher the pitch, the higher its position on the computer screen.

Whenever a node is sounded a notation card appears giving details of the its pitch name and octave, ratio and cents deviation from tempered tuning. Along with this v2.0 of the Hayward Tuning Vine includes Soundgrape notation attached directly to each notehead, allowing you to keep track of its position within harmonic space, even when it is shifted outside the lattice. Soundgrape notation is available in both colour and black and white. (v2.0 is now available for Mac and will soon be released for Windows).