Aural or ETD, Which is Best? (kinda long)

[Farrell]

Figured that would get your attention! This post is in response to some of
the posts for the recent survey by Terry out in CA. Below is an excerpt from
a recent one:

Iñaki Coello Gómez wrote:
I tune pianos aurally. I think most of the pianists respects much more your
work if you do it by ear (at less this is what they say to me)
In fact, it is funny see this poll here. The ASETAP (Spanish equivalent to
PTG) meetings are just a lot of people discussing about which is better:
Aural or Electronic. They never arrive to a good point, but they continue
doing it.
Let´s see the result.

I often read about aural vs. electronic. My contention is that aural CAN BE
the same as electronic. There are many ways to use an ETD.

I suspect many techs do not understand the many different ways an ETD can be
used (I will refer to the SAT III, because that is what I use). This is
likely to be especially true among the aural-only crowd. Many of us do use
the automatic tuning calculation modes (I do), and hopefully these folks
make aural adjustments of one kind or another to produce very nice tunings
(I do my best with this approach - I'm still learning!).

But some, like Jim Coleman, Bill Bremmer, and others often/always use their
ETD in a direct-tuning mode. In doing so, they do not use any form of a
"machine-calculated" tuning (in the case of the SAT, they do not use the FAC
tuning calculation mode). They are listening to intervals just as one does
in aural-only tuning - plus they are measuring the intervals with their
ETD's (very precisely I may add) to refine their aural settings. Using an
ETD in this manner in no-way produces a "machine" tuning. It allows them to
put EXACTLY 6/10 of a beat in that octave - or whatever it is they are
trying to do - based on what SOUNDS good to them. If they want some form of
increasing beat speeds for a certain interval, they can measure those
intervals and get exactly the change in beat speeds they are looking for.
(Of course all the normal tuning compromises still need to be realized - but
can be done with precision - if you know exactly what you are doing!)

The fact is that the beats you hear are sound wave interference patterns
caused by two vibrating strings. This is a very basic physical phenomena and
can easily be measured by an appropriate electronic device. A "machine"
tuning results when you let the ETD calculate a tuning. My tuning methods
might appropriately be called an "aurally-modified machine tuning". You are
effectively doing the same thing whether listening to beats aurally, or
measuring the interval as with the direct interval method of using the ETD.
Arguably (at the very least) when listening to beats and direct interval
measuring AND having the technical know-how to make all this information
work for you (not me at this stage) can produce what is essentially a
super-accurate aural tuning.

Take for instance increasing beat speeds in thirds. How consistent can the
best aural tuner make the beat speeds of this interval across the keyboard.
Pretty good I guess. However, measuring these intervals accurately to 1/10
(or better) of a cent may well produce a more perfect beat progression. It
is not totally unlike anything else that one can train oneself to get a feel
for. Ask the tropical fish store owner what temperature that tank is -
he/she might stick in the finger and say "just right - about 79 degrees - 9
out of 10 times they will be right on. But you can insert a very accurate
thermometer in the tank and know to within 1/10 of a degree exactly what the
temperature is. With this accurate information, the tropical fish owner can
make informed decisions about how that might affect their fish. Such
measurements are similar to direct interval tuning with an ETD. The
calculated tuning ETD (no aural corrections) might be analogous to putting
the entire tropical fish shop on automatic climate control and automatic
feeders - when everything is right, it may work well, but then again it may
not. My tuning method is kind of like the fish shop on auto pilot - but I
keep an eye on it and make adjustments when needed.

And that's all I got to say about that!

Flame suit is on. Fire away!

Terry Farrell