[CAUT] Sacrifice (was tuners- technology)

[Fred Sturm]

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On 3/4/05 3:54 PM, "Otto Keyes" <okeyes@uidaho.edu> wrote:

> Fred, et all,
> =20
> This was what I was getting at in a previous response to the "jumpiness..=
."
> thread which this evolved from. -- see snip below --  I must admit though=
,
> that I don't recall Virgil's assertion, or Jim C's experimentation.  Sinc=
e I'm
> constantly checking over the S&S D's (used for everything, since we have =
no
> dedicated hall or instruments), I have their tunings stored in Tunelab
> (formerly SAT & then RCT).  Running through the pianos checking open unis=
ons
> against the stored tuning I often found the unison clean, but drifting
> slightly, so would check individual strings, only to find them individual=
ly
> "in tune".  Aural checks confirmed the solidity of the tuning, but the ED=
T
> still saw the un-muted unison as drifting slightly.  Always wondered abou=
t
> that, so this thread has been interesting.
> =20
> Otto
> =20

Hi Otto,
    This has been my experience as well over the years: often a lovely
sounding unison, all three individual strings =B3dead on=B2 according to the
display, unison played with all strings open gives a display that is
creeping one direction or the other. And =B3one direction or the other=B2 seems
fairly random. No pattern saying it is more often flat than sharp, in my
experience.
    More recently, I have become more finicky (and just plain curious) and
have investigated further. And I have often found that, where the unison
read in tandem is creeping, if I look more carefully at individual strings =
I
can detect a slight movement in that direction in one or more of them.
Sometimes it is far less apparent than what the whole unison is showing. Bu=
t
if I correct the individual string, the display for the unison is also
corrected. And the unison sounds that wee bit better, too.
    Part of my unison technique in using the ETD involves watching the
display while tuning the additional strings to the first. I find that the
display seems more likely to follow whichever string is farther from right
on. So if my first string was really solid, the next string will also be
solid when I get the display to stop again with both strings sounding.
    I don=B9t mean to get overly rhapsodic about how great and easy it is to
tune a perfect unison with an ETD. That=B9s not my intent at all. It=B9s just
that I use that tool as an indispensible part of my unison tuning process.
I=B9m responding to a couple folks who said, more or less, that ETD=B9s don=B9t
work for tuning unisons. In my experience they do work. But it ain=B9t easy.
It=B9s never easy to tune a really good, solid unison. Hearing and figuring
out where pitch should be is the easy part. The unisons are the hard part,
and nothing makes them easy. Except lowering your standards <g>.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico



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