Verituner - tuning sequence, etc

Ron Koval drwoodwind@hotmail.com
Mon, 29 Oct 2001 17:51:59


Hi everyone,

Just some stray thoughts that stuck in the cranium this morning.

When tuning (using any method, aural or not) the temperament first, and then 
matching the octaves after that, we make the assumption that the temperament 
octave is "right".  So, as we move into the bass, and start finding 3rds 
that won't progress right, allowing clean octaves, we begin to monkey around 
with specific intervals finding the best compromise.  Ultimately, in some 
instances, we may decide that the scaling is to blame, and that's the best 
this piano is going to sound.

Most intervals have a little "slush" to them.  You know, the width can 
change a little and still be acceptable, if not ideal.  I think using 
traditional methods of tuning, (everything but the Verituner) a tuner can 
get "stuck" by what's been tuned previously, and run into intervals that 
refuse to match all that's been tuned already.  Without knowing what notes 
to change how much, it quickly becomes cost prohibitive to make the tuning 
REALLY work, so the tuning is compromised.

When using the Verituner in fine-tune mode, every note that has been tuned 
is 'set in stone' and the rest of the new notes are calculated as you go.  
If a tuner is going to use a single-pass method, THEN the tuning sequence 
becomes an issue, because the Verituner only gets one chance to hear each 
note and fit a tuning based on the measurements. I believe that this 
approach to tuning misses the real advantage of the Verituner, at least 
until that same piano is tuned again using a saved tuning.

If, however, a tuner adopts a two-pass tuning style, using the coarse (pitch 
raise) tuning mode, the Verituner has the chance to hear all 76 notes needed 
to make a complete tuning before locking in any notes.  I haven't found the 
Coarse mode a problem, because the whole purpose of the first time through 
is to get the pitch close, and let the Verituner become 'acquainted' with 
this particular piano.  So the simple 'needle' style without any spinner has 
been quicker for me to follow.

I'm guessing at this point, but I THINK the reason the Verituner calculates 
superior tunings, is that it capitalizes on a two pass tunings to make small 
adjustments all over so that the over all tuning matches much better than 
when attempting to use a single pass calculation, and correcting as you 
tune.


Make any sense at all?

Ron Koval
Chicagoland

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