tuning machine/first road test

[Richard Brekne]

If I may offer a nice little suggestion concerning Tune Lab.

Get ahold of David Poritt's addone for generating a tuning curve, and ask
Dr Coleman for his neat little direct methods for applying a pianos
inharmonicity to the Tunelab method of dealing with tuning curves.

Also dont hesitate to do some experiementing around with direct
referencing to force your tunings to conform to some pre-concieved notion
about tuning curves, octave types and ect... For example... tune from C5
upwards all octaves as perfect 4:2 octaves and see what happens as you
progress.... this kind of thing can be enlightening :) and fun as well
:):)

RicB





David Renaud wrote:

>  Performed my first road tunings with tunlab 97.
> Had experimented at home , but have not
> utilized EDT's on the road these 20 years.
>
>  Applied on a Steinway D, just tuned aurally Sunday,
> took tunelab for Mon., Tues. 7am calls.
>
>   First I analyzed my previous days work.
>
>   The "average" preprogram, liked my top end, I had
> stretched the low tenor a little more then it says,
> and the bass a little more then it says. I did find an
> "error" in the top octave, sharp c# and g#.
>  Most of the top end made the indicator sit with very
> little drift, very please to see.
>
>   Secondly I applied the "average" tuning. Debated
> the machine for while and abandoned it. Did low tenor
> and bass aurally, then analyze what I was doing with
> ETD.
>
>   I given a little more then 4:2 programmed for the
> middle stretching downwards towards the bass for
> nicer fifths. Thirds become less dissonant down here
> anyway, and can bear the extra little bit favoring
> fifths. In the bass I gave a bit more then the 6:3 it
> requested. It claimed The last 3 bass notes were quite
> flat, but if I ask it to listen to higher partials the
> indicator slows down and stays still when it reaches
> 12th.
>
>   The second day I put it on automatic note switching
> I tuned aurally and largely ignored it except for
> looking up periodicly, curious what it thinks of what
> I'm doing. This tuning "monitor" did help avoid a
> couple errors, producing a smoother tuning.
>
>  Question: The preprogrammed "Steinway D sample"
> tuning
> has less bass stretch then the "average" preprogram.
> This surprised me. Why would that be? I found the
> "sample D" to slow the thirds way down, but leave
> fifths noisier then I prefer. The "average" was
> to my habits, but I give a little more ,
> increasingly so towards the bottom.
>
> Conclusion:
>   This is forcing analysis what I do in a new way.
> I have gone through stages; becoming a zelot about
> every crazy test to my own detriment, then simplying
> back to 4ths and 5ths, everything else for refining
> checks only.
>   I will tune by ear and refer to it as a monitor.
> I will still do most home tuning aurally only.
> I see it as a tool to be used on my best pianos
> to analyze, think, thus hopefully refine my skills.
>
>   The used laptop was $100US on e-bay, 75mhz pentium,
> built in mic and speaker,loaded with windows 95. The
> registration for this version of the program will be
> less then $40, I'm using the free download version for
> trial, sure a good deal.
> Now a part of my kit.
>
>                         Cheers
>                         Dave Renaud
>                         RPT
>                         Canada
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
> File your taxes online! http://taxes.yahoo.ca




--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html