ETD vs Aural: was Unison Flatter than each Individual string?

[David Love]

As a closing thought to this I wanted to comment that I have used an ETD for
a couple of years now after being a strictly aural tuner for many years.  I
have been using a Verituner which I am very pleased with.  I like to think
that I check the tunings against my ears as I go but, in all honestly, I
don't always.  So this week I thought I would use the machine but really
check all the intervals, beat rates, etc., as I went to see how reliably the
machine came up with a tuning that I would have also found acceptable.  I
tuned a variety of pianos, different sizes.  I went through the coarse mode
first and measured each note, put the machine on fine and tuned using my
aural pattern checking everything as I went.  I found the VT to be pretty
good overall.  But there were definitely places where I made changes to the
calculated tuning.  Most of these alterations were, not surprisingly, around
the tenor bass break.  Some changes were as much as 2.5 cents to get a
smooth progression of thirds.  Other changes were sometimes made to get
contiguous relationships between 3rds.

I consider the VT to be a fairly sophisticated machine in its multiple note
measuring of multiple partials.  Yet the changes that I thought needed to be
made were pretty clear.  Though I am sure that the calculated tuning would
have passed any exam, it is also clear that the tuning was able to be
improved upon.  The point of this being that as nice a tool as ETD's are,
tool is the operative word.  They can easily lull you into a false sense of
security about the level of tuning that can be achieved.  It reminded me
(again) to pay more attention to what I hear than what I see and that there
is often a divide between what works in theory and what works in practice.

David Love


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@cox.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: August 21, 2002 9:39 PM
Subject: Re: Unison Flatter than each Individual string?



>Is this not archaic?  With a ETD you tune the note until the
>lights/pattern stops and you have and absolute A440 or whatever pitch you
>want in a few moments.  Is this ETD tuned note any less of a tuned
>note?  I got to feel there's a lot of ego involved in tuning aurally with
>a tuning fork...that and masochism...
>
>David I.

Sure it's archaic - unlike inserting and removing paper shims and bending
wires for fine adjustments. Unlike using small rocks glued to a piece of
paper to scrape the epidermal filaments of sheep from the surface of a
large mass of them used to whack the strings, or repeatedly stabbing these
same masses with needles to enhance the musical experience. Maybe it's ego,
maybe masochism, obviously a personality flaw. Maybe the charm is that the
aural tuning is an individually built, hand crafted product that, like
certain pianos of similar ilk, finds it's market appeal in the fact that
this is the case, rather than being an utterly perfect machine built and
validated, certified flawless product, each precisely like the last in
being the best it can be. Maybe the aggravation of dealing with the archaic
details is the only thing that makes the process entertaining enough to be
bearable on a day to day basis. Maybe it would be too easy to just sit and
let the machine do the thinking. Maybe the aural tuner isn't interested in
learning the apparently hundreds of new tweaks and workarounds to try to
duplicate with an ETD, a process they feel they are already realistically
adequately functional at aurally. Maybe the best of all possible tunings on
every single piano they see isn't their life's driving ambition, and they'd
rather burn their brain cells pursuing something else that they consider
more interesting. Maybe they're scared to death they will find out how bad
a tuner they really are if they had a means of comparison. Maybe they're
just technologically backward troglodytes that quit when they were ahead
when they finally learned to work their fork. Maybe they're just being
difficult, because it  annoys some folks. Maybe they actually find some
satisfaction and reward in doing something the hard way, that's theirs when
they are done - warts and all. Maybe they're allergic to batteries.

"What you have been obliged to discover by yourself leaves a path in your
mind which you can use again when the need arises."
                                         -- G.C. Lichtenberg --


Ron N