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

[David Love]

A slight aside, but a few years ago when I was tuning strictly aurally a
potential customer called to inquire about my services.  He asked me if I
tuned aurally or with an ETD.  When I responded that I tuned aurally, he
said "thank you very much but I am looking for someone who tunes with an
ETD.  So go figure.

David Love

----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: December 27, 2001 6:27 AM
Subject: Aural or ETD, Which is Best? (kinda long)


> 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
>
>