Nice post Ed. At 06:05 AM 23/11/00 -0500, you wrote: >Terry writes: >>I too, have tuned >quite a few "cheaper" or older uprights/grands, where it does indeed seem >that the margin for tuning a unison beatless, is RAZOR thin. << > > Greetings, > It seems that the most noticeable unisons are the ones that stick out. >If you have an octave or so of near-perfection going, with limpid, glowing, >resonant unisons, and then come across a trichord that has a real riot >happening in one or more of its strings, it is going to stand out. If, on >the other hand, every single one of those trichords is cursed with the false >beats, a good tuning requires that they all howl the same. > On request for a "honky tonk" sound, I once used a SAT to move one >string on all trichords above G4 up by 2 cents,(using the SAT for this keeps >a level of consistancy here so that intervals don't get too cloudy). The >piano didn't really sound out of tune when played, (it sounded like there was >signal processing going on). Everybody soon got used to it. I did get one >complaint about a dead note, and when I arrived, I found that the raised >string had slipped, BACK INTO TUNE! The clear unison stood out. > A consistant out of tuneness stops being perceived as "out of tune". >I would also submit that this applies to harmony as well as unison, as >evidenced by so much acceptance of ET, which has everything "out of tune". >(Anyone ever talk about temperament around here? (:)})) > There are no absolutes, and the purest of pure unisons may not be the >most desired state,(see Weinreich). With this in mind, perhaps the cheaper, >more tonally deficient pianos require a wider margin to their unison width, >as in, don't make ANY of them pure, but rather, compromise them all so that >they sound the same. > Width also doesn't completely describe what three strings are doing. >Width might be accurate for two strings, but the addition of the third means >that another level of complexity is in the signal. Whereas two strings >describe a distance,(width), three describe a space. The phase manipulation >available to the tuner becomes more extensive here, as moving one string can >create several different relationships. These differences create the sound >of the unison, and there is room to shape them on a good, clean piano. >Studio unisons, for me, occur most consistantly when I tune the outer strings >to the SAT and let my ear settle the middle pitch down amongst the >"envelope". This produces a pretty consistant sound through the microphones, >and consistancy is what sells. (Oops, I digress, I think we started on >old/cheap pianos!) > Ah well, unisons can be a very deep subject, on levels both techical and >personal. Unison between not only three vibrating wires but also among those >of us fascinated by such arcane angels dancing. Happy Thanksgiving to all. >Regards, >Ed Foote RPT >Nashville, Tn. > > > Roger Jolly Saskatoon, Canada. 306-665-0213 Fax 652-0505
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