Pitch Raising using the SAT

[Kent Swafford]

Wim Blees wrote:

>Now the question. The way I see it, the original method, (measuring each
>string, or a group of 5 or 6 notes worth of strings) and then raising them
>accordingly, seems to be approaching the pitch raise from a point of view of
>where the individual (or small group) strings were, as apposed to where the
>all the strings have to go. While it is important to know that the whole 
>piano
>is in need of having the pitch raised, and even to know approximately how 
>much
>the pitch has to be raised, wouldn't it be better to raise the pitch to where
>the whole piano is supposed to wind up, rather than adjust each string
>according to where it was? (Am I making any sense?)

You're making sense; it's just that CyberTuner is a good bit more 
sophisticated in its ability to do pitch raises than you are giving it 
credit for.  For the smallest of pitch corrections I think you would 
probably be right to just offset the VTD and tune slightly beyond the 
target pitch.  But for bigger pitch corrections...

RCT knows and factors in _both_ where the strings were _and_ where the 
strings have to go.  It factors in where an individual string was and 
also where the several strings below it in the scale were, because it 
knows that in order to put the strings where they need to go, it does not 
want to be fooled by one note that is off more than all the others.  It 
factors in the place in the scale of each individual string, because it 
knows for example that the strings in octave 6 will drop more than those 
in octave 1, and calculates an appropriate, different overpull for each.  
It can factor in the overall sturdiness of the piano, allowing for the 
fact that Mason & Hamlins for example need less overpull than 
Conover-Cables.  And it can pitch correct to any pitch level desired, not 
just A=440.  Automagic noteswitching works just fine for pitch 
corrections too;  even when the pitch correction is so big that you have 
to pull a string above where the next string is, you can still get RCT to 
switch to the next note by playing piano notes and without having to 
touch the computer.

Kent Swafford