Hi Charles, Looks like Bob found out what was going on. I had my copy set to "beats", so that's why I saw it flat. As for a way to manipulate tl97, I'll have to go the "Star Wars" route, and tell you to "trust the Force, Luke". No, really... This might get a little long, but here goes: We make a few key assumptions when using this type of tuning gear: 1. The piano maker has produced a scale that is fairly consistant in inharmonicity changes from end to end of the scale. 2. If we set the machine to listen to one partial, and then make a smooth curve with that partial, the other partials will follow a predictable pattern to make the "whole sound" work. In some pianos, these assumptions are pretty close, but in many pianos, especially the "challenging" pianos, these assumptions are far from true. So what's a tuner to do? Combine the best talents from the technician, and the machine. We are best at judgements, or comparing. That is, what note sounds better? A machine could tell you all sorts of things about the notes, but it has a harder time telling which one sounds better. Machines, on the other hand, are great at manipulating numbers. So splitting the octave into 12 little pieces is no sweat. In fact you may hear someone claiming how good a machine can set the temperament; well, duh, that's what they do best. But when you ask a machine to tell how wide to set the octaves.... that's where it struggles. It could easily set it to a 6:3, 4:2, or a 2:1, or any amount above or below, but you just want it where it sounds best. News flash: That "sweet spot" will be different depending on the instrument in front of you. So try this: Open the "average piano" file in tl97. This gives you a starting point. You will be tuning and notating the placement of all of the A's. I'm asking you to "trust your ears, Luke". Think like a symphony player, ignore specific octave types, or partials at this point. You are looking for the smoothest placement of the octave, without using any other checks. Set A4 to the machine, just work with one string, so bring a bunch of mutes. Tune A3 to the machine. Play them together. Shift A3 a little sharp, a little flat, find the best spot. Did you end up where you started? The machine makes a great "bookmark". If not, find the offset and either add or subtract to find the new stretch, or use ctrl E to transfer the offset to the stretch. (changing the tuning curve) See where I'm going? This really goes fast, about the same time it would take to sample all the notes you need to have the machine calculate a tuning. Next tune A5 to the machine. Repeat the offset and stretch, but this time make sure you check A3 against A5. Find the "best" location. Continue out to the ends, checking the doubles, triples and more as you extend out to the ends. You will now either have written down where the A's belong, or have a curve with the A's out of place, allowing you to copy down the numbers for the A's You need to write down the numbers and then reload the file (without saving!) to get back to the smooth curve. Now use the linear dragging function to move the curve while anchoring from what your ears have found to be "best". So, anchor A4, and put the curser on A5 so you can watch the numbers move to the selected spot. Next, right click on A5 to move the arrow, then drag A6 to where it wants to be. Finish the top with A7. It will probably be much higher that where it started. Going down through the break and into the bass is where things usually get interesting. If you really wanted the tuning curve to match the piano more closely, you might have to tune and set intemediate notes at the stringing break to push and pull the curve around. So you end up with a curve that doesn't look like anything you've seen before. Hmmmm... what's going on? It's because the automated curves tend to use the assumptions from above, which may not apply to the piano in front of you. Once again, trust your ears to do what they do best: compare and find the "best" spot for the octave(s). This method can also work with any machine that has a customizing function to let the user have some control over the octave widths. Also, if you only have a few options to choose from, you can simply cycle through the options untill you find one that most closely matches the placement of the A's pre-set by your ears. Happy tuning! Ron Koval Chicagoland _________________________________________________________________ Scope out the new MSN Plus Internet Software — optimizes dial-up to the max! http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=byoa/plus&ST=1
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC