TuneLab only - article 2

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

To the TuneLab users:

In answer to a number of requests, I have decided to put this article
out to the list in general with the caution that it for TuneLab users
only to save reading time for those who do not use TuneLab.

Practical steps in using TuneLab

Cautionary note:
   Even though I am a SAT 3 dealer and am quite experienced with RCT 
   and many other electronic tuning devices, I am a compulsive educator 
   and hence these helps using the default Template Tuning curve.

1. Launch TuneLab by double clicking its Icon.
    It will come on at A4 (I'm assuming the original default partials).
2. Click on File or hit Alt-F then touch A for 'save As'
3. Enter a unique name for the piano-date and hit Enter
4. Play A4, hit M key then space bar to start measuring inharmonicity
5. A PopUp screen will appear showing the Inharmonicity readings. 
      If everything looks good, hit Enter key to Apply reading, or 
      repeat 4 above. Hit PgDn key to get A3. Repeat 4 & 5 above for
      A3 and then do the same for A2, then PgUp 3 times to A5.
6. Hit F1 Function key and then letter "T" for Template curve graph.
7. Click on OPT in the menu at top. Click a check mark for single octaves
      in front of 4/2 and click on any other checkmarks to remove them.
8. For double Octaves, Click check mark in front of 4/1 and click to
      remove any others.
9. Check Inharmonicity at breaks, Auto-save, Force handles, and Auto A4,
      uncheck everything else and click on 'Store these opts. permanently'
10.The object is to move the curve of black blocks just to the left
      of the red block above the A4 which has the downward pointing
      anchor. To do this, move the cursor anywhere to the right of
      center, click and drag downward or upward until the curve on left
      lines up just below the red block above A4 which represents the
      2nd partial of A4. This makes the second partials of all the notes
      from F3 through G#4 align below the 2nd partial of A4. For greater
      accuracy in the location of G#4, you can click on the magnifier icon
      to see more clearly how the curve lines up to the 2nd partial of
      A4. After clicking on the magnifier, drag it down to just above the
      A4, 2nd partial, left click this position. Next drag cursor down
      below any green lines and click with the right mouse button.	
11.Hit numeral 6 to place a handle down on top of the black
      block of G#4 and left click it into position on the black block.
      Hit numeral 1, hit the "B" key once or twice if neccesary
      to shrink the curve back to normal size. Click on A0 on the left
      side of screen and drag the curve downward until the green block
      straight to the right of A2 black block is just under A4.
12.The green block below the A4 anchor represents the 4th partial of A2. 
      We want to move the whole left curve down until the A2 green block
      is is 4 to 6 cents below A440. To do this, move the cursor under
      the anchor at A440 and watch the blue title bar at the top screen.
      You will see "A4 partial 1:  0.00 cents (cursor is -?.?? cents
      from tuning curve.). Now move the cursor down until the number in 
      parenthesis is between -4 and -6 cents. Make a mental note of that
      location.
13.Click on A0 to drag the left curve down until the green block (A2,
      partial 4) which is under A4 is where you made your mental note 
      for its location.
      This will make the A2 double octave beat 1 to 1-1/2 beats flat of 
      A4 fundamental. 
14.Move cursor to treble end of curve, click and drag curve upward until
      the black block of A6 is about 1 cent above the double octave red 
      block which is extended upward and to the right of A4. This will 
      give just a slight expansion of the double octaves throughout this
      area  which in turn gives a slight expansion of the two intervening
      octaves.
      In aural tuning principles, this makes the 3rd, 10th and 17th test
      intervals increase very slightly. The purpose in wanting this 
      extra stretch is so that the triple octaves will not sound so flat.
15.Hit ESC, and "Y" or ENTER to save settings. 
      At some point you may wish to save the Inharmonicity readings 
      taken early on.  Use the same name as you used for the
      pianoname and date. The program will add the .txt extension and it
      can be viewed by ALT V, followed by the letter A.

16.Begin tuning by stopping the blocks in the display for each note. 
      Check your work by ear as well. 
      I like to start tuning at A4 going downward. When I get to F4, I
      can play the F4-A4 M3rd and hear its beat rate. Continuing on down
      I can hear the beat rate of the E4 M3rd, etc.  When I get to D4, I
      like to switch over and tune, listening first to the 5th up to A4
      and also the M3rd D4-F#4. This way I have both eyes and ears to 
      help in control. The filter window for the display of black blocks
      is quite narrow. You can watch the curve in the bottom display for
      which direction to move the string, or you can listen to the test
      intervals to quickly get in the ballpark.   

This will give you a very good temperament on a well scaled piano. It 
      may be as well as can be expected on a poorly scaled piano.

This whole procedure takes less than 2 minutes to setup once you have 
learned the system. After the first time, you can skip #'s 7, 8, and 9 
above. You could also skip steps 2 and 3 above. This is faster than 
measuring 5 notes on RCT and almost as fast as the SAT III in my opinion.

An even faster method is to utilize the Calculate shareware program which
comes with the newest download from Bob Scott's website. It is written
by David Porritt. Send him $10 to register your use of it. For his 
program, you need to first measure inharmonicity of at least F3, A3 and
A4, then click Calculate in the Menu Bar or hold down ALT and hit "c".
Start tuning anywhere.

In the next article, I will show how to do some extra tweaking of the 
treble and how to handle the Bass tuning. In the third article I will 
show how to handle strange scale breaks.

JIm Coleman, Sr.