class notes on SAT III

[David Love]

Jim:

Would you mind posting the formula for your Coleman 11 temperament.

Thanks,

David Love


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Coleman, Sr." <pianotoo@imap2.asu.edu>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: April 18, 2001 7:43 PM
Subject: class notes on SAT III


> Here are my notes, slightly revised since Convention:
>
> Reno PTG Institute           SAT III Class         Jim Coleman, Sr.
>    ( Notes slightly expanded)
> Harmonics vs partials. Showing exponential increase of higher partials.
>
> OLD STYLE  F4 TUNING - ONLY ONE MEASUREMENT. Play F4, Tune, stop dots
> (LEDs) at F5, Stop dots at A6 with cents buttons. This displays Stretch
> Number.
> Hold down SHIFT, press STO-Stretch. Press Stretch again to get into
> Stretch Mode
> TUNING. Left window will show C3, Rt window will show cents value for
> this note.
> Start tuning at A4. When that is good change SAT to A3 to see how the 4-2
> octave
> relationship looks. When you play the A4 and look at the display, you can
> see how
> much sharper the A4 is compared to what the A3 will be when it is tuned.
> When the
> SAT is at A3 it will be listening at A5, its 4th partial. When  playing
> A4, its 2nd partial
> will display showing the dots moving to the Rt. usually. An aural test
> will show the
> F3-A4 (10th) beating just slightly faster than the F3-A3 (M3rd). Most of
> us like a little
> additional stretch of the A3-A4 octave so that the 10th will beat a half
> beat per second
> (bps) faster than the 3rd. At the listening pitch of A5 you need the A4
> note to display
> about 1.0 cents higher than the A3 when it is tuned. Old style F4 Stretch
> tuning only
> goes from C3 to F6. If one prepares some FAC tunings ahead of time on 10
> pages
> of memory, one can select a page of memory which has a similar value to
> the value
> of F6 of this present tuning in order to continue on up to note 88.
> Likewise, one can
> select a page of memory which has a value the same as the note C3 for
> tuning down
> into the Bass.
>
> LISTENING TO BEATS.  As you tune down the scale from A4, you can listen
> to M3rds
> beginning 4 half steps down. 7 half steps down, you can listen to the
> 5ths. I like to
> follow both of these intervals down while tuning. There is no law saying
> that an
> electronic tuner-technician cannot listen while he tunes. If in the
> process he notices
> that the 3rds are slowing down too fast, he can incorporate the Double
> Octave Beat
> (DOB) to stretch out the octaves a little more. In the Bass, if one likes
> tighter octaves,
> negative DOB can be incorporated to make the 6-3 octave relationship
> pure. I like to
> begin this at B2 going down into the Bass, or wherever the wound strings
> begin.
>
> ACCUFORK II  With 2 Accuforks one can hear beats of many speeds. When
> listening to beats at A4, one can hear a beat an octave higher which can
> be a
> problem in aurally setting the A4. Be sure to listen to the Fundamental.
> Tune a one octave temperament with the A3, A#3, B3, C4 of the AccuFork
> Test or
> correct it with contiguous 3rds, 4ths and 5ths.
>
> SIMPLE FAC TUNING  *** ONLY ONE MEASUREMENT ***. In the SAT III the
> default
> stretch numbers are 8.0, 7.0, 6.0 for the 3 notes which we normally
> measure. Measure
> ONLY THE A4 and use the defaults of the other two. Select a page of
> Memory. Hold
> down STRETCH, hold down MEM, release STRETCH, release release MEM.
> In general the F3 Stretch number controls the additional stretch of the
> Bass and the C6
> number controls the additional stretch of the High Treble, especially the
> top octave.
> This additional stretch or shrink of the octave can be controlled by the
> DOB on the fly
> as you go. This will work for the SAT I, II if you just put in the dummy
> stretch numbers
> 8.0 for F3 and 6.0 for C6. Then instead of using DOB which you don't
> have, you can
> do gradual resets as the beats indicate more stretch is needed in either
> direction.
>
> GETTING THE A440 FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT ON!  Now you can start tuning immed-
> iately, you don't have to do a lot of measuring before tuning. TUNE the
> A4 immediately
> after turning on the SAT III and getting out of Calibrate mode. Play and
> tune A4 very
> accurately, then with the OCT button, jump up to A6, measure the
> sharpness of A4's
> 4th partial by stopping the dots with the MSR or cents buttons. Multiply
> this figure by
> 0.8, adjust the cents window to this value and hold down
> SHIFT-STOStretch.
> Assume the default stretch values for F3 and C6. Select your page of
> Memory and
> do the STRETCH to MEM rollover to compute the tuning. Set SAT III to A3
> to view the
> octave relationship even before tuning A3. Add DOB if it is indicated.
> For SAT I or II
> users, you can increase the A4 Stretch value to widen the center octaves
> as
> explained in the May '97 Journal articles. Just remember to add the same
> amount to
> reset as you added to the A4 Stretch number when you go from B4 to C5.
> Keep this
> reset up to C8 unless you like even more stretch in the treble.
>
> AUTO NOTE STEPPING.  Hold down SHIFT and press NOTE/Up to use automatic
> note changing in the up direction. You can  also hold down SHIFT and
> NOTE/Dn to
> progress in the downward direction. You may toggle each direction on or
> off.  You
> may have both directions turned on.
>
> USING SEQUENCING TO PRACTICE YOUR AURAL TEMPERAMENT. Hold down
> the SHIFT button and press the OCT/Up once to bring up the 1st sequence
> which is
> the Baldassin/Sanderson two octave temperament. I have stored the
> Baldassin-
> Sanderson-Kimbell-Tremper temperament as Se-2 (second sequence). To bring
> this up, I hold down the SHIFT button and press OCT/Up once more. SE-2
> will
> appear in the Rt. window. Touching the NOTE/Up button once will start the
> sequence
> at A4. It is more convenient to use a footswitch or thumb switch. Regular
> computers
> do not have this capability. Begin demo of BSKT using eyes and ears.
>
> STORING YOUR OWN SEQUENCES. Holding down PAGE/Up, go beyond page
> 198 to Sequence page SE-1. Select your 1st note and octave. With the
> CENTS
> button, select 1 (no decimals will appear in the Rt window at this time).
> Hold down
> SHIFT, press MEM to store this first sequence note. Select your next
> note/octave,
> then with CENTS button, enter 2, then SHIFT-MEM. Continue in like manner
> selecting
> Note/OCT 1st then entering the sequence number in the Rt window. It is
> good to
> have this sequence written down first before you start so you don't get
> confused
> (you ask how I know?).
>
> CONVERTING A MEMORY TUNING INTO AN HISTORICAL TEMPERAMENT. There
> are 2 pages of memory above 198 and the 4 Seq. pages which can contain 14
> historical temperament deviations from ET. These 12 note deviations can
> be applied
> or added to any complete tuning in memory. They will affect the 12 notes
> in each of
> the 7 1/4 octaves. For example: the 12 deviations stored from C1 to B1 on
> page 1-7t
> will be added to each of their respectivel notes from A0 to C8 of a
> selected page of
> memory. Each octave of this page 1-7t will hold a separate group of 12
> deviations.
> The next page above the one titled 1-7t is titled 1-14 which will hold 7
> more sets of
> historical deviations. These are input at the factory for you if you care
> to use them.
> You may overwrite them with your own preferences. The Kirnberger III is
> stored in
> octave C1-B1 of page 1-14t. To use this temperament, you would first
> select the page
> of memory for this particular piano you are tuning. Then hold down the
> SHIFT button
> and press the PAGE/Up button until 8t appears in the Rt window. This
> immediatley
> adds the Kirnberger deviations to each note as you tune the piano. I
> stored the
> Coleman XI on my page 1-7t in octave 3. I set 3.0 cents for C3 and
> pressed
> SHIFT-MEM to store, then 0.0 for C#3, etc. through B4 at -3.0. Here are
> all the values
> from C through B: 3.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, -3.0, 4.0, -2.0, 2.0, 0.0, -1.0,
> 2.0, -3.0.  This is a
> very mild Well Temperament which has no bad 5ths or 4ths, but has
> graduated beat
> rates in the M3rd progressing evenly from no sharps or flats to 6 sharps
> or flats.
> When I wish to use this temperament, I calculate my tuning on a page of
> Memory,
> then hold down SHIFT and press PAGE/Up 3 times to get to 3t in the Rt.
> window.
> This incorporates the temperament deviations on my selected page of
> memory.
>
> GIVING YOURSELF A SIMULATED PTG TUNING TEST, PART 1.  First, put your
> very
> best FAC tuning on a good quality piano. Write down the values for the
> notes C3 to
> B3. Then press the PAGE/Dn button to locate the EEE page, then the POI
> page, then
> stop at the SUP1 page. Input the values of C3 to B3 by holding down the
> SHIFT
> button and pressing the MEM button for each of the written values. At C4
> it will be
> necessary to play the tuned C4, adjust the Cents to stop the dots and
> store this
> values as the previous values were stored (this is due to the fact that
> the exam uses
> 2nd partials instead of 4th partials which the FAC tuning uses in this
> octave). Store
> each values similarily through B4. Select page UUU by holding down the
> PAGE
> button until it stops a UUU. Detune the piano to these values. Next, tune
> the piano
> aurally in the area of C3 to B4 the very best you can without looking at
> the SAT III.
> Turn on SAT III, press PAGE/Dn to get to page EEE. At each note from C3
> to B4,
> play the note and stop the dots with the MSR or CENTS buttons, hold down
> SHIFT,
> press MEM and advance until all tuned notes are recorded. Change note to
> the
> lowest note of your temperament (usually F3), hold down Green SHIFT2
> button and
> press NOTE/Dn. This records your temperament octave. Then hold down the
> Green
> SHIFT2 button and press OCT/Dn to score any penalty points. which you may
> have
> incurred. These will show up as a plus or minus number in the Rt window
> as you hold
> down the NOTE/Up or NOTE/Dn. If you have 8 or less penalty points you
> pass the
> temperament. If you have 13 or less penalty points from C3 to B4, you
> pass the
> Midrange.
>
>
> If time permits: Pitch Raising anyway you like, Battery check, Tuning to
> different pitches,
> adding S/N Zero Reset, copying  FAC #'s to another page of memory,
> recalling Stretch
> numbers, Warm stop or start, audio in and out, MIDI in & out, 4 light
> readings for greater accuracy Octave compromises.
>
>
> Jim Coleman, Sr.
>
> PS I have removed myself as a distributor of SAT IIIs. Yes, we are still
> good friends. I did this to remove any criticism of bias because I was
> selling SATs. I can now give my unbiased opinion of the SAT III. It is
> still my favorite electronic tuning instrument and I expect it to
> continue to be for some time. I am primarily an educator not a salesman.
> You have questions? Write me privately.