Back when I started investigating and using software tuning programs, I got real familiar with both Tunelab and Cybertuner. Most PTG folks at the time either used the SAT or Cybertuner. I started with Tunelab for the obvious free trial offer. For a while I accuactly had both programs; and as for comparing the two, the end result is arguably the same over examining several different pianos. I've tried them on Yamaha's, Steinway's, Kawai's, uprights, 9 ft's, spinets, every size grand, and almost every tuning preference offered. Obviously, to an average non-professional ear, the difference is imperceptable. Most professionals concern's would be taken care of by adjusting the style preference on the individual software and piano. I came to the conclusion, that I could always tweek the temperment octave a little better to my liking, usually. As I said earlier, both programs will give you a good tuning that is satisfying to any pianist. It all depends on how deatiled you are at setting up the parameters for the piano tuning. I personally prefer the edit interface of Tunelab simply because the language it uses is the same I use to describe my choices when tuning aurally. I must say that on a few occasions I had trouble getting normal readings from a normal piano (this means unsual enharmonicity readings during the setup for a new tuning file) with Cybertuner. I consulted with Dean May and it came down to an early software version anomaly. With all this said, I chose to stop using any visual tuning aid for tuning an entire piano. Now I just use Tunelab to measure the A4 to figure if a pitch pull is in order and to get that first note. The reason or reasons for this? I stopped listening to the piano. It was just too easy to do so. I also believe that eventually, a "tuner" will eventually be able to hear the best compromises for any piano in any room for any musical environment. This heightened sense of hearing would also add great depth to that "tuner's" ability to voice a piano. I will say the thing I learned most from 5 years of software based tuning, was how unstable a piano can be. I guess there are some tech's out there that can move the overall pitch of a piano just a few cents without having the soundboard compensate and move the starting note any at all, but I can't do it. Everytime I'd tune a piano and thump on the unisons 'til every note sang, the tuning would not be absolutely dead on with the software. Of course, nobody would hear it, which only leads me to the conclusion that there is a lot of room and discrepancy for a successful tuning. Bruce Pennington, RPT PS - It would be an interesting article in the Journal, to get average enharmonicity quotients for every make and model of every commonly seen piano out there and a discussion of how each ETD would handle it. So far the highest enharmonicity 9 footer I've run across is the 1970's vintage Mason & Hamlin's and some of the lowest grand's are the Petof III and the Kawai GS30. -----Original Message----- From: Wiliam Ballard <yardbird at vermontel.net> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Wed, Jul 21, 2010 10:39 am Subject: [pianotech] (no subject) I'm looking at TuneLab. Did anyone here start with it, and then move ver to RCT or VT. I'm not looking for raves from users of the atter, just the experience of someone who decided to make the switch. Thank in advance, mrbl -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100721/101b3d10/attachment.htm>
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