LAST TUNE is a book by Larsen Premoli that sets out a method for tuning drums: a set of rules that link the drums in a kit to the frequencies they should be tuned to. To make that method easy to apply in practice, I built two companion web apps on my own in 2021, both embedded in the book’s WordPress site.

The first is a calculator, built in Angular. Drummers describe how their kit is put together, and the calculator applies the book’s rules to give them the exact frequency for each drum. The result can be exported as a PNG, so it’s easy to keep on a phone or print and bring to the kit.

The second is a pitch generator, built in React with Tone.js. It plays the target frequencies out loud, giving drummers a reference to match by ear while they tune, so they can hear the moment a drum lands on its note.

What makes this project special to me is that it’s a tool in the hands of musicians: something people actually use at the kit, with drumsticks and a drum key, to get their instrument to sound the way they want.