TONAVA

TONAVA is a non-commercial Windows VST3 software prototype that combines a playable MIDI instrument with a companion Analyzer FX plug-in. It visualizes spectral information and harmonics H1–H16 across a ten-octave keyboard, compares intended TARGET structures with measured OUTPUT audio, and supports pitch-class and per-key cent adjustments.

Users can explore synthesis, sampling, harmonic relationships, and global or entirely custom tuning systems within one connected environment. The current prototype includes two initial Persian modal presets as early examples, but its tuning architecture is not limited to any single musical culture or tradition.

Hardware MIDI keyboards and DAW-hosted MIDI can control the instrument, while performance data including pitch bend, sustain, pressure, and CC74 can be received and monitored. TONAVA is designed for composers, performers, sound designers, educators, and students.

TONAVA connects analysis and creation within a single musical workflow. Instead of separating harmonic analysis, microtonal tuning, synthesis, sampling, MIDI performance, and educational visualization into unrelated applications, it allows users to move directly from observing a sound to exploring and reshaping its musical structure.

Its TARGET and OUTPUT model distinguishes between the notes and tuning relationships requested by the user and the acoustic result independently measured by the Analyzer FX. Harmonics H1–H16, cent deviations, and pitch relationships are visualized across a ten-octave color-coded keyboard, making complex acoustic information immediately understandable and playable.

TONAVA’s pitch-class and per-key tuning architecture also supports global and user-defined modal systems rather than limiting users to one predetermined tuning tradition. An initial, user-controlled AI-assisted capability can help interpret structured chord and harmonic information while the underlying analysis remains deterministic and measurable.

The most inspiring use of TONAVA is helping a musician transform an abstract idea about sound into something visible, audible, and playable.

A student can play a note or chord through MIDI, observe its spectrum and harmonics, see the corresponding pitches and cent deviations across the keyboard, and then explore how changing the tuning affects the resulting sound. A composer can design a custom tuning system, apply it through synthesis or sampling, and compare the intended TARGET structure with the measured OUTPUT.

This creates a continuous cycle of listening, visualization, experimentation, and musical creation. Concepts that are often taught only through mathematics or static diagrams—harmonics, cents, tuning systems, spectral relationships, and microtonality—become interactive creative materials.