[pianotech] aurally pure tunings

[Kent Swafford]

Below.

On May 4, 2009, at 5:48 PM, John Formsma wrote:

> On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 4:19 PM, Kent Swafford <kswafford at gmail.com>  
> wrote:
>
> There is going to be a time when many are singing the praises of  
> this software. Those brave souls who try 'PureTuner now have their  
> work cut out for them, simply because so few other tuners have  
> experience with this software. They will need to put forth the  
> effort to fully learn the capabilities of the software, and as  
> trailblazers they may need to help develop the specific procedures  
> that will allow the best-possible tunings to be had using the  
> software. The endeavor will be worth the effort, in my opinion.
>
>
> Thanks for the update, Kent.
>
> What other capabilities does the software have?

I was referring to the accuracy of the display which may be much more  
precise than piano techs are accustomed to.

>
> Why is it necessary to "develop the specific procedures that will  
> allow the best-possible tunings to be had using the software"?

To answer that I must tell you of another tuner in town who some years  
back heard my tunings and decided he was going to learn my secret. He  
bought a tuning lever like mine; he bought an ETD like mine; but his  
tunings still sounded like his tunings and my tunings still sounded,  
uh, different. OnlyPure is just a tool; I assure you that one could do  
poor tunings with it if one doesn't learn how to fully utilize the  
software. I have put a lot of effort into doing good tunings with  
OnlyPure. I hypothesize that others will be able to do the same, but  
until others have duplicated my results, it's really still a  
hypothesis, isn't it?

> Is it not as simple as beginning with A4 and doing a temperament  
> octave?

Sure. It is indeed that simple to begin a tuning. Making sure that you  
have a great tuning when you finish is a different matter; never so  
simple.


> Or, do certain routines result in better tunings?

My "coherent bass unison tuning" technique actually predates OnlyPure  
and I had to adapt the technique to make it work with OnlyPure. Yes,  
certain routines result in better tunings.


>
> I wouldn't mind paying the $$$.00 for the software. It would be  
> nice, though, if it would record pitches for scoring RPT tuning  
> exams (or for custom aural tunings as well).


As for recording custom aural tunings -- OnlyPure tunings have a  
distinctive sound. If OnlyPure allowed tweaking, OnlyPure tunings  
would no longer have that distinctive sound, and OnlyPure would have  
less reason to exist. You see, there is a long list of things that  
OnlyPure will not do, no question about it. However, there is a short  
list of things that OnlyPure does better than I've ever seen before.  
Make your choice as to which is more important. Or, since we're  
professionals, why shouldn't we own more than one electronic tuning  
device so that we can better choose the best tool for each job at hand?



Kent

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