: Are the terms tuning and pitch the same? The Roland TR-03 has a knob labelled with the term 'Tuning'. When I turn it to the left then the sound gets deeper. When I turn it to the right then the sound gets higher. I know the

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In this situation they are most likely interchangeable. Pitch in musical terms is related to frequency - how high or low a sound is. 'Lower' is a better parameter than 'deeper' here.To tune an instrument, its pitch may be altered. Fairly obviously, a 'tune' musically speaking, is a melody - the sort of thing one would whistle, sing or play. So, your knob marked 'tuning' will effectively change the key a track is in.

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No, the terms are quite different.

Tuning is adjusting the frequency by a small amount, so several instruments are in tune or to adjust the reference pitch, say from 440 to 442 Hz.

Pitch on a piano would mean, to use another key, in MIDI it's another note number, on a recorder it is another fingering on the score the note is sitting somewhere else, e.g. on another line.

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The standard definition of "pitch" (ref: the American National Standards Institute) is the subjective quality of how "high" or "low" a sound is. It corresponds closely with the objective measurement of frequency (vibrations per second of the air) but the two are not identical - for example a tone with constant frequency and changing amplitude (loudness) may appear to either rise or fall in pitch, depending on what part of the audible hearing range it is in.

The verb "tune" in this context means "adjust the pitch." Pedantically, I suppose the control should be called "frequency adjustment" rather than "tuning" since it only changes the (objective) frequency of a sound, not its (subjective) pitch.

But the English language is not very precise about the terminology - for example we talk about instruments being "in tune with each other" meaning "the pitches are the same." It would be strange to talk about "pitching an instrument" rather than "tuning it", but singers often talk about "pitching" a note rather than "tuning" it!