SAT III (long)

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi John:

The new SAT III has only two additional buttons more than the fully loaded
SAT II. The new buttons are the UP/DN PAGE buttons which make selecting
the memory page a little easier. In the location where the Test SCORE
button used to be, there is now a second SHIFT 2 button. This allows several
regular buttons to have a second and third use. Kinda' like the CTRL and ALT
keys on a computer, or the Command and option keys on a MACintosh.
With the SHIFT 2 button and the DN CENTS buttons you can now see how much
battery charge is left. With the regular SHIFT button held down, you can
now set up the SAT III to auto-step either up or down or both directions.
For those who like to practice their aural temperament scheme with each
tuning, there is the capability of storing 4 different tuning schemes which
can be selected with the SHIFT-UP/DN OCTave buttons. For those who would 
like to turn a regular FAC Equal Temperament tuning into an Historical
Tuning, one of 14 previously stored temperaments can be selected with the
use of the regular SHIFT button and the UP/DN OCTave buttons. For those who
would like less stretch or more stretch, Holding down the reg. SHIFT button
and touching the UP/DN CENTS buttons will allow one to control the stretch
of the double octave matching with a commensurate change in the single 
octave matching. This can be used anywhere "on-the-fly" so to speak. So, if
there are some parts of the scale where you would like a little more 
stretch, just go for it. The normal stretch gives 1 bps stretch of the 
double octave. You can vary that in increments of .1 beat.

The SHIFT 2 Green button is used primarily in giving yourself a PTG 
Tuning Test. Holding down SHIFT 2 and touching NOTE DN button will store
whatever note you had selected before as being the lowest note of your
temperament to be scored. Holding down SHIFT2 and touching DN OCTave button
will begin the scoring of your Temperament previously selected. All SAT 
III's have all of these functions in addition to the MIDI capability for
storing all memory to a computer or another SAT II or III.

One can now have up to 4 Master Tunings for the PTG TEST program. ie, if you
are a CTE, and are working two or more Tuning Testing rooms, you don't have
to re-enter a complete Master Tuning more than once to give tests in both
rooms, actually, up to 4 rooms. All of the PTG Testing programs are in the
same location as they were in the earlier SATs, 5 separate pages below page
zero. They are called EEE for Examinee's tuning page, POI for Points Score
page, SUP for SUPer Tuning or Master tuning page, DFF for Difference page,
UUU for UntUUning page. Once you have read in a Master Tuning from an FAC
tuning, you can give yourself an aural tuning test. I'm still doing that
for myself until I get 100% scores in everything. I've only done it 
twice in the temperament area so far, I'm still working at it. Both times
I used the Baldassin Sanderson Kimbell Tremper aural temperament. When I
get to where my DFF page shows no difference more than .3 cents from the 
SUP page, I will feel that I'm a really good tuner. I'm within .7 cents
now. I'm not bragging, just showing you the fun of the challenge.

The LCD displays have an additional digit in each window to indicate a
particular status.

My favorite new features are the auto-stepping and the Stretch control of
the double octave.

The new machine is smaller, and can be held in one hand. Double buttons
can be touched with one hand. The battery lasts longer. I used the machine
off an one for two weeks before the battery dropped down to 75% charge.
 
There is more memory as standard. The display is the same dependable eight
LEDs which display in beat fashion which is more related to what we hear. 
Improved filter system makes reading even the F3 partial 8 easier and the 
FAC numbers are now saved with the tuning record.

Oh well, you asked for it. Please excuse me if I seem to be over exuberant.

Jim Coleman, Sr.



On Sat, 23 May 1998, John Ross wrote:

> Hi Jim,
> Now that you have brought up the subject of SAT 111, would it be
> possible to give us an initial preview of your evaluation.
> I for one would really like to know.
> Regards,
> John M. Ross
> PTG Assoc.
> Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
> 
>