Dear List, I thank Robert Scott for his work on this so far. I also must admit that I have little experience using the FAC program. I have always hesitated to use it because I have never trusted such a scheme in spite of what people have said about it. Even the partial selection used is not good, in my opinion. Often, the SAT can barely sense it so the lights flicker and getting a really positive reading is difficult. I am much more used to using the partial selection used for the PTG RPT Exam program which, in my opinion, uses a much better and more logical partial selection. It took me a good half hour to enter all of the "deviations of the deviations". While I am aware that the SAT III makes this much easier, that's no reason for me to spend $1600 for a program that I will never use because I still don't trust it. I simply can't imagine going around tuning pianos this way. My customers would be asking, "Is there anything wrong?" and probably wouldn't trust my work either, thinking I would be "doing it all by the numbers". I also can't imagine errors not being made doing this. It's so confusing. After tuning my own piano, a Walter Console to the calculated FAC program with "Correction Figures", my first aural impression was that the results only vaguely resembled what I actually do. On Friday, I had a similar experience. Unfortunately, I only had school pianos to tune that day, they were all Everett Studios. Now, I have read the resident Guru's opinion on this, "Of course, if all you tune is JUNK,...". But this is the way I make my living, taking care of the pianos in my community, in homes, schools and churches. I don't go around condemning the pianos I work with, I render the best service I can. I have always had the gut feeling that the FAC program would be useless to me for doing this, and this experience, at least so far, confirms this. I just really wonder how well the "numbers method" really works for all of the other people who have tried an HT this way, have been totally freaked out by it and have gone back to the relative "safety" of what they consider to be ET produced the same way. As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't even waste my time with any smooth curve calculation in spite of the fact that the guy who thinks all common pianos are "JUNK" but at the same time would "stake [his] professional reputation on it". I already know that even if the FAC calculation worked for the temperament octave, it wouldn't for the rest of the piano and my study confirms that too. This, also in spite of the statement, again by the same person that my "octaves don't make sense at all". Thank you, but I'll continue to tune my octaves my OWN way. When I am shown an ETD program that can really duplicate it, I'll say so, but I won't believe until I do. Below are the figures from F2-F6 for the EBVT tuned on a new scaled (high Inharmonicity) Walter console [not the older one which had Low Inharmonicity]. It is the way I tune my own piano and I am completely satisfied with the way it sounds. I invite many fine pianists to my home and all are amazed that such music can come from such a modest little piano. This material has never been and is not now copyrighted. Anyone is welcome to record and try my figures. Just be sure you are putting them on the newer Walter, not the older one. The FAC derived tuning was scored against the custom program for comparison. The Temperament Octave scored a mediocre 85, the Midrange, a dismal 82, the bass, (as far as it goes), a 91 and the treble (but not the high treble) a 92. I tend to tune my low Bass flatter than most people and my High Treble sharper than most. Take it as a given that my figures for both are quite different from what the FAC program provides. If you wish to program any ETD to tune the piano the way I do, you must follow the partial selection carefully or your results will be very inaccurate. I use the same partial selection as the PTG RPT Exam, not the default selection that the SAT offers. The program from F2-F6: EBVT EBVT/FAC(?) F2 (read on) C5: 3.0 2.0 F#2 (read on) C#5: -1.5 -3.7 G2 (read on) D5: 4.0 2.5 G#2 (read on) D#5: 4.0 0.9 A2 (read on) E5: 1.0 -1.2 A#2 (read on) F5: 3.0 0.9 B2 (read on) F#5: 3.0 0.3 Change partial selection from G5 to C5 here. C3 (read on) C5: 3.0 1.6 C#3 (read on) C#5: -1.0 -2.5 D3 (read on) D5: 0.0 -1.5 D#3 (read on) D#5: 2.0 -0.7 E3 (read on) E5: -1.0 -3.3 F3 (read on) F5: 1.5 1.1 F#3 (read on) F#5: -1.5 -3.0 G3 (read on) G5: 5.0 2.8 G#3 (read on) G#5: 3.5 1.6 A3 (read on) A5: 0.0 -0.5 A#3 (read on) A#5: 1.5 1.5 B3 (read on) B5: 3.0 1.1 Change partial selection from C6 to C5 here. C4 (read on) C#5: 3.0 6.4 C#4 (read on) C#5: -0.5 2.5 D4 (read on) D5: 0.0 3.8 D#4 (read on) D#5: 1.0 4.8 E4 (read on) E5: -2.0 2.4 F (read on) F5: 2.0 7.1 F#4 (read on) F#5: -1.0 3.4 G4 (read on) G5: 6.0 10.4 G#4 (read on) G#5: 4.0 8.8 A4 (read on) A5: 1.5 7.3 A#4 (read on) A#5: 2.0 9.7 B4 (read on) B5: 4.0 9.8 Change partial selection from C6 to C5 here. C5 (read on) C5: 5.0 6.4 C#5 (read on) C#5: 0.0 2.5 D5 (read on) D5: 4.0 3.6 D#5 (read on) D#5: 3.0 4.5 E5 (read on) E5: 2.0 1.9 F5 (read on) F5: 4.0 6.6 F#5 (read on) F#5: 2.0 2.7 G5 (read on) G5: 9.0 9.2 G#5 (read on) G#5: 3.5 8.0 A5 (read on) A5: 4.0 6.3 A#5 (read on) A#5: 5.0 8.7 B5 (read on) B5: 5.0 8.7 The partial selection will automatically set to C6 here. C6 (read on) C6: 10.0 7.3 C#6 (read on) C#6: 4.5 3.3 D6 (read on) D6: 8.0 4.5 D#6 (read on) D#6: 8.0 5.3 E6 (read on) E6: 7.0 3.0 F6 (read on) F6: 9.0 7.6 Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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