aural/electronic tuning

[mitchkiel@olywa.net]

item #1
   I believe it was Dave Peake, not Dave Pitsch, who commented
> >Aural tuning by far is more accurate where as ETD gets you close.
But thanks anyway, Jim Sr., for the interesting bio on Dave Pitsch.

item #2
    If I may be allowed to comment one more time, a crucial 
point must be made that is basic to our discussion of ETDs
and aural tuning.
    As Dr. Sanderson has stated many times, "Electronic tuning
is the child of aural tuning." And as I (!) put it less eloquently,
"Unless an ETD tuning sounds like an aural tuning, it's just
an expensive paperweight."
   In other words, good ETDs are designed to emulate aural 
tunings. ETDs are not evil black boxes that do satanic 
things with numbers. Mathematics is simply the tool
an ETD designer uses to get to a desired "sound," 
whereas aural tuners use beats. Both aural tuners and ETDs
must still make decisions about how to use their measuring
devices to create *musical* tunings.
    Now, if Dave's point were that aural tuning is
the basis for electronic tuning, well then I'd agree
wholeheartedly. And if he'd said that simply owning 
an ETD isn't enough to make you an expert tuner, I'd 
slap him on the back and buy him a Belgian beer.

   More specifically:
   RCT's beta test team was composed of about a dozen 
very good aural tuners (may I be so bold to include myself in 
that group) who, during the development of RCT/Macintosh, had 
lots of input designing the sound of RCT's tunings. 
As we tested early versions of RCT, we came to a general 
consensus on what kind of stretch *sounds* best and
Dean Reyburn (who quite frankly is one of the best aural tuners 
I know) programmed RCT to accomodate. 
   As you may know,  the latest version of RCT/Mac  (and 
upcoming RCT/Windows 95) lets you micro-adjust stretch
as little as ±.02 bps at every octave, so I'd have to contend that with RCT  
you can create an *exact* match for whatever aural tuning 
your little heart desires. Therefore I think the other posts about electronic
tuning sounding "sterile" because, for example, they don't have
enough stretch in the high treble, are no longer applicable.
   In other words, with RCT the gap between aural and electronic 
tuning is, IMHO, narrow to the point of vanishment. 

    Here's a fun thought:
    I wonder what results we'd get from a "Real
World" Tune Off in which an aural tuner and ETD tuner
had to tune 2 grands and 2 uprights, all of which needed
pitch raises, in less than six hours total. And then each had to
take a "Nice" test to see who was in the better mood. 
   I know who I'd bet on. And I'd give fat odds too.
   Question: Who would be the Certified Nice Examiner?

Mitch


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