Tuning

[A440A at aol.com]

David writes:

<<  I find the ear to be the best way to judge what is required from a tuning 
of a particular piano. I may be wrong, however using an ETD seems to me to be 
similar to playing a digital keyboard, you get what they give you. Am I way 
off the beam, or just a little too old to judge? >>

Greetings,  
   It may have been true of the older machines, but today's programmable ETD 
is so far above that there is really no valid comparison.  On a smaller piano, 
with perhaps a less than optimum scale, the machine tuning will often be 
improved upon by an educated ear.  However, with a larger grand, and using ET,  
the machines can create tunings that no musician I know of will fault.  And even 
if the ear desires to change what the machine has suggested, it is a simple 
matter of reprogramming the machine to match the alteration, and from then on, 
the program will be what the ear decided was best. 
   When you add the increased accuracy of pitch raising, and ease of tuning a 
wide variety of temperaments, the machines begin to show their superiority. ( 
I have never seen anybody do an 20 cent aural pitch raise and tuning, to 
broadcast standards, in 90 minutes!).  
   An additional benefit of the machines is that they are more consistant 
than the ear.  They will give you the exact same tuning everytime you need it.  
And there is more:  The machines can record an aural tuning, and then allow the 
technician to recreate that tuning again and again, making small changes in 
the program each time, until they have "polished" their original aural tuning 
to a state of perfection.  This cumulative improvement is impossible to do when 
every tuning is starting from scratch.  
     One thing the machines will NOT do is tune the technicians ear;  the 
decision-making process of aural tuning is required for that, but once done, why 
continue using a shovel when a back-hoe is available?  Used 
intelligently,technology is a wonderful thing, but it can become a crippling crutch if it is 
used to replace learing how to tune in the first place!  
The unisons are often best done aurallly, too. 
Regards,
Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html