Electronic Tuning Aids

[Richard Moody]

----------
> From: JElving@aol.com
> To: pianotech@byu.edu
> Subject: Re: Electronic Tuning Aids
> Date: Saturday, May 10, 1997 7:42 PM
>
>I would stay away from the
> Korg. Not only does it not have a way of adding stretch, etc., but
I found
> that it tends to wander somewhere around true A440. It seems to
change every
> time you turn it on.
>
> John Elving, RPT

Mine (WT 12) is temperamental like that also, but I found changing
the batteries helps even though the battery indicator reads "good"
However its "wander" is still within the range of the heat variations
of metal forks  (IMHO). Checking it with a fork helps as you can do
it quickly enough not to have heat transfer from your hand to the
fork.  When the Musician's Union wanted a pit piano tuned to 441 it
satisfied them. I suppose a led type might be "better" given  the
mechanics of a meter might preclude a wider range of variation. I
just found one more way to make it wander besides shaking it, that is
take a tuning fork hold it to the mic, then rotate it 90 degrees then
rotate it back.  It always reads a little flat. Strike it again and
hold it up and it reads true, until you rotate it again.  Weird
because it consistantly does this to the same degree.
	I mentioned earlier the Scisoco C 523.3 fork doesn't vary, well it
does if you hold it for 30 seconds and  look really close enough.
Richard Moody

ps  The Korg AT-12 in the APSCO catalogue looks like the one I tried
but gave back in favor of the Korg WT 12  (the one with the knob they
don't make any more.)The AT has been around for twelve years or more.
 The MT 1200 looks intreaging..

pps  its (AT-12) good enough to show errors of more than one cent in
aural temperaments and handy because you don't have to turn a knob
for every note, but I didn't like the way the needle moved.  esp on
upper and lower  notes. John is right about stretch, it won't show
stretch, but will show how much you did stretch the note.