SAT III stuff

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi to those interested:

A Simple Way of Using the SAT III

It is possible to measure just one note with the SAT III
and begin tuning immediately. The older style F4 Stretch 
mode can be used in conjunction with the Double Octave 
Beat control to tailor a tuning to your personal 
preference. Here is how to do it:

1.  After turning on SAT, select note F and octave 5, 
      play the note F4 and tune to stop LEDs.
2.  Change Octave to 6 and stop LEDs with the MSR and 
      CENTS buttons.
3.  Hold down SHIFT and touch STO Stretch. Touch STRETCH 
      button again. This IS ALL you have to do to begin 
      tuning immediately on most pianos.

IF YOU HAVE PERSONAL PREFERENCES CONTINUE AS BELOW

4.  Select and TUNE A4 to stop LEDs. Change note to A3 
      on SAT. If while playing A4, the LEDs are moving 
      clockwise more than 1/4 revolution per second, use 
      negative DOB to shrink the stretch by .1 or .2 beats 
      per second.** Change note up and down to apply the 
      DOB.
5.  Tune A3 to this setting. If you like it, tune the 
      rest of the notes from A4 down to C3, listening to 
      the Major 3rds and 5ths as they become available. 
      If the 3rds slow down too quickly for you where the 
      tenor bridge turns hockey-stick like, you will need 
      to gradually erase some of the negative DOB and 
      possibly add some positive DOB gradually until you 
      get to the highest wound strings. At that point, it 
      is usually necessary to erase any positive DOB to 
      keep the M3rds in line, where the lower note of the 
      M3rd is a wound string.
6.  TUNE from A4 to F6. Usually this part of the scale 
      will work very well without any alteration. The F4 
      Stretch program will maintain octaves at about 1/4 to 
      1/2 beat stretch throughout this area. Some tuners 
      prefer to tune the High Treble and Bass by ear. If 
      you prefer some guidance in these areas for 
      consistency sake, you can use the following 
      additional procedures.
7.  After everything from C3 to F6 is tuned (the limit of 
      the F4 style Stretch tuning), you can continue by 
      pressing the TUNE button to get into Tune mode and 
      continue on up to C8.
8.  Select F#6, Play F#4, stop the LEDs and TUNE F#6 to 
      this setting. Do a similar thing for each note such 
      as G6, G#6, A6, etc. to C8, tuning to a setting of 
      the 4th partial of the note two octaves lower.
9.  For tuning the Bass from B2 on down to A0, set the 
      SAT III in TUNE Mode, note F#5. Play previously
      tuned B3 and stop the LEDs with the cents buttons. 
      TUNE B2 to this setting.
10. Continue down with setting F5, playing A#3, stopping 
      LEDs, and tuning A#2, etc., on down to tuning A0.

Additional procedures of simplicity.

One could have a number of previously calculated FAC tunings
stored in memory, say, starting on pages 50 to 60 where the 
page 50 used a value of A4=5 in the FAC stretch values; the
page 51 would have the A4 value = 5.5, etc., to page 60 
where the A4 stretch value would be 10.0. This would give values of
the F6 note offset ranging from 4.8 to 9.4 respectively.

In the F4 stretch mode, one is not likely to encounter 
stretch numbers lower than 3.0 nor higher than 9.0 which 
would give values of F6 offsets from 4.7 to 9.5 respectively.

So, one could select a page of memory which has an F6 offset
close to the value of F6 which the F4 Stretch number gives
to complete the tuning to C8. If the tuning seems to stray 
a bit from what a double octave test would require, then 
one can incorporate the DOB to increase or decrease the 
stretch "ON THE FLY".

If one should on a rare occasion encounter an F4 Stretch 
number higher than 9.0, one could use page 60 and add 
enough reset to the machine to make up the difference 
between what the F4 mode value for F6 as compared to the 
FAC mode value of F6 and then use the DOB as any additional
stretch or shrink may be indicated.

THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS ARTICLE IS TO SHOW THAT with the 
measurement of ONLY ONE NOTE, one can tune the whole piano
with the SAT III and just the way the piano wants to be 
tuned.

** To invoke the DOB, hold down the SHIFT button and touch
   the UP or DN CENTS buttons once for each 1/10 beat/sec.
   increase or decrease of the double octave stretch. This 
   will affect the single octave about half that amount.

Jim W. Coleman, Sr.

PS I am indebted to Joe Goss of Mother Goose Tools for 
   part of this basic idea.

pss For those interested in a chart of comparative values
    of F6 in the FAC mode and in the F4 Stretch mode, just
    write me privately.