Unisons by Machine? was Re: Aural vs. electronic again, was "Re: Another newbie question"

[tune4u@earthlink.net]

Susan writes:

"But then, apparently lots of people tune the unisons
by hand, anyway, and tweaking and stabilizing unisons is what
takes me the bulk of tuning time, anyway."

It is my understanding that even straight machine tuners almost always tune
almost all unisons by ear. I know I do. Even if you "stop the lights" on
each string separately, the unison may not sound it's best.

I suppose it's because that even with the fundamental pitches all the same,
some partials can be very noisy due to flaws in the strings or a difference
in string elasticity, etc. (notably--no pun intended--at the 12th).

There have also been some interesting, if inconclusive, discussions here
about the interaction of the strings of a unison.

Also, especially on the third string of a trichord, I don't want to have to
stop and mute unless there are false beats or other extraneous noises going
on, and it has been my experience that the machines have trouble enough
listening to even two strings at once.

I don't have any experience with the VT or some of the other ETD's. Maybe
there is a difference.

The fastest tuner I ever saw--about 40 minutes on a Yamaha Studio in good
condition, with me jabbering at him the whole time--was strictly aural (C
fork, 4ths & 5ths Braid-White F-F temperament, no felt strips, did unisons
as he went using only one slit-rubber trebble mute).

His tuning sounded good when he left (he's tuned at our church for many
years) but I don't think his tuning holds up too well (I am the pianist).
Wish he'd take 5 more minutes and set his pins and strings a little better.

He was amazingly fast--looked like he was suffering the palsey as he work
each pin. Not PTG, never was.

Well, now, I drifted a bit there, didn't I? Have a super week, everyone. I'm
going to visit my mother in Oregon for a couple of weeks so the list might
be a little dull after Tuesday <G>.

Alan Barnard
Salem, MO

P.S. By the way, as for taking time tuning, I think I could do 40 minute
tunings if I could just ignore everything from B6 and up. Ha.