Select the notes


Base Note

A whistle is mainly defined in terms of its 'base note'.  This traditionally is the lowest note produced -the note that will sound when you close all the holes in your whistle.  It is sometimes called the 'bell note'.  It is also usually the note that gives its name to the whistle, though some whistles will produce notes below the base note (musicians dislike predictability).
The base note is define by name and its frequency is always looked up from the underlying 12TET scale.  So if you change he underlying scale (reset the frequency) then the base note frequency will change (and so will all the other notes on  the whistle).

Scale Pattern

A scale pattern defines the relationship between the base note frequency and each note the whistle can produce. 

A scale pattern contains a series of terms, one for each note on the whistle.  In fact the number of terms defines the number of notes on the whistle.  When counting the number of notes, the note emitted when all finger holes are closed is also counted.  So a whistle with six finger holes (the 'normal' number) has seven defined notes, and so seven terms in the scale pattern. 

The scale pattern definess the 'scale notes' on the whistle.  Each hole on the whistle produces a scale note - even the one that is also producing the base note.  Scale notes depend upon the base note of the whistle, and will change when the base note changes.  The name of each scale note is defined by its frequency.  So the name is assigned to the 12TET note in the underlying scale which has the closest frequency.  This can result in the name of a scale note changing as its calculation changes (this will only happen in non-ET tunings).  All scale patterns must give notes that are in ascending order,  with the lowest first.

Scale pattern terms work in one of two main ways, Equal Temperament or Base Frequency Ratio.

Equal Temperament

You can specify the note coming from a tone hole in terms of  the number of  'equal temperament' semitones above or below the base note. A note two semitones above the base note is defined as '2S' (case sensitive - use an uppercase S).  A note two tones below the base note is defined as '-2S'.  The base note itself is defined as 0S.  For the technically minded  the ratio  applied to get a note defined as xS is 2 ^ (x/12).

As an example, a Major Scale is defined in ET as '0S,2S,4S,5S,7S,9S,11S'.
And a 'Just Intoned' whistle could be defined as '0S, 2.04S, 3.86S, 4.98S, 7.02S, 8.84S, 10.88S'.

Base Frequency

Specifying the frequency by base ratio allows greater flexibility and matches more closely the way some instrument think.  What is defined is simple a multiplier of the base frequency, by a mathematical term and the letter 'B'.   The mathematical term may be a  decimal number or a ratio (fraction).  Fractions are very common in the non-ET world.
The base frequency itself is 1B, or 1/1B or even (if you want to be obscure) 237/237B.

A just Intoned whistle might be define as: '1B, 9/8B, 5/4B, 4/3B, 3/2B, 5/3B, 15/8B'.

Whistles with notes lower than the base note

Sometimes a whistle is desired where the lowest note is not the base note. These are sometimes known as '6+1' whistles of BLF (bottom little finger).  An extra hole is drilled for the bottom little finger to sound the base note, so that when all finger holes are closed there is one note below the base note.  To use our examples this scale pattern could be defined as:
Major Scale in ET  '-2S, 0S,2S,4S,5S,7S,9S,11S'.
Just Intoned:  '-2.04S, 0S, 2.04S, 3.86S, 4.98S, 7.02S, 8.84S, 10.88S' or '8/9B, 1B, 9/8B, 5/4B, 4/3B, 3/2B, 5/3B, 15/8B'.
         

Notes for thumb-holes

A common modification for whistles is to add a thumb-hole for the top hand.  This allows an extra note, but changes the pattern of fingering and so need a slightly different way of calculating the position of the hole.  To indicate a thumb hole, an asterisk ('*') is added to the end of the scale pattern term.

This version has the ability to calculate a 'thumb hole'.  This is where an extra hole is added that allows a strong distictly fingered Cnat (as well as a C#) on a D whistle.  The coding is a little 'special case' as the Cnat hole (hole 6) is kept closed while sounding C# (hole 7), but the C# hole is kept closed while sounding Cnat.  This breaks the pattern of all holes open below the highest open hole, which means that the standard calculation algorithm needed 'tweaking'.

To try the new feature, select the new Scale Pattern 'Major Plus' from the scale pattern drop down.  You may need to adjust hole sizes to get reasonable values.

Built In Scale Patterns

Whistle Calculator has several built in scales.  Mostly these will be recognisable to whistlers.  There is one that is special for whistles, and this is called 'Major Plus'.

'Major Plus' Scale Pattern

This scale pattern is designed to allow the addition of an extra closed by the thumb of the top hand.  This extra hole allows for a clear and strong note (C natural on a D whistle).The pattern differs from the standard format by having an asterix (*) indicating that the thumb-hole is not operated in the normal whistle sequence.

Defining your own Scale Pattern

You can define your own scale patterns for use in TWJCalc.  You can use the built in Scale Pattern Editor to edit, load, and save Scale Patterns. You can only do this in the stand-alone version of the program.  If you create a scale pattern with the same name as an existing scale pattern it will replace the existing one.  If you save a whistle specification that uses a scale pattern that you have created, the scale pattern will be saved in the specification file.

A scale pattern is stored in a file with the .spn suffix.  The contents are XML, and you can manualy edit the file yourself.  Here is how a major scale pattern would look in a file:
<TWJCalc Version="2.00">
    <ScalePattern>
        <Name>MajorScale</Name>
        <Pattern>0S,2S,2S,1S,2S,2S,2S</Pattern>
    </ScalePattern>
</TWJCalc>

Note that the white space (new lines, and indentation) is not part of the xml, but an aid to reading the file.  It is quite likely that the files produced by Whistle Calculator will look more 'dense' than this.

Having defined your scale pattern, run Whistle Calculator and use the Scale Pattern Editor to load the scale pattern.  Then use the file selector to choose the file.  If you have been successful the new pattern name will appear in the scale patterns list, and you can select it as usual.