CTE-Master Tuning

Fred Sturm fssturm@unm.edu
Wed Jan 9 07:34 MST 2002


This notion that the SAT "adjusts" tunings without being told to is, I
think, apocryphal. It is not an "active" machine. What's in memory is
simply in memory. The calculating function only happens when you
activate it, with some difficulty (sequences of key pushes that are
unlikely to happen by accident). 
	I guess it might be possible that some electronic/media corruption
could happen over time. If that should be the case, there's an easy way
to check whether the numbers in the memory have changed. You should have
a hard copy of the master tuning somewhere. Scroll through what's
recorded on the SAT and see if the numbers are the same as the hard
copy.
	With respect to making any changes in a master tuning, definitely do it
by committee. 
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

Dennis Johnson wrote:
> 
> I remember listening to a discussion with Sanderson about the fact that
> sometimes the SAT can make small adjustments to a particular memory
> over time if it is not used regularly. Something about the machine
> calculating what it perceives to be a "correction", based relatively on
> the other numbers. For whatever the reason, we are not recommended to use
> master tunings we store in memory for long periods. They should be redone
> every year even if using the same piano. Just copy it, fix it, then record
> it again.
> 
> ______________________
> ______________________
> 
> Dennis Johnson
> Piano Technician
> St. Olaf College
> Northfield, MN. 55057
> (507) 646-3587 shop
> (507) 646-3527 fax
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