Electronic tuners

[Andy Simpson]

I'm in the market for an electronic tuner that's up to the job of tuning reeds and I'd be interested to hear other's recommendations and experiences. Pray do tell...

[Aaro]

I use Korg OT12 Orchestra Tuner, good and easy to use and my master tuner is PETERSON 490.
Also worth a look PETERSON V-SAM tuner.

[LJC]

I've been using the Peterson iphone app and its really good.

[Theo]

I use the Korg OT12 too and I find it very useful. Electronic tuners are very useful in getting a reed very close to the required pitch, but for the critical final adjustments your ears are the most important thing, either listening for the beat rate you want, or listening for the point where octaves are completely in tune.

[IanD]

Dirk's Accordion Tuner (software) has several major advantages over hardware tuners:

http://www.dirksprojects.nl/index.php?Lan=english&Page=Tuner/accordion_tuner_22.php

Ian

[Andy Simpson]

It's going to have to be a piece of hardware I'm afraid as I don't have an iPhone and my computer is rubbish. The thing I'm really looking for in a tuner is that the display doesn't jump around all over the place and I'm told Peterson tuners give very stable readings and I've been considering the Peterson Stroboflip for a while, does anyone have anything to say about it?.

Is this...

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4337-korg-ot120-orchestral-tuner.html

The one you're refering to Theo and Aaro?. I'm quite tempted by that if it is as it's half the price of the Stroboflip.

[old geezer]

I'm lead to believe that the Korg OT-12 is an old model, there is a second hand one avaliable here.

the new model is OT-120 and has very similar specs' (available in the US for around $90 -100 (I saw one on special for $83.50))  prices vary don't they
 the Cm-100L contact mic US$10 - 15

[Rob2Hook]

Korg OT-120 from GAK = £64 incl VAT

[Theo]

It's going to have to be a piece of hardware I'm afraid as I don't have an iPhone and my computer is rubbish. The thing I'm really looking for in a tuner is that the display doesn't jump around all over the place and I'm told Peterson tuners give very stable readings and I've been considering the Peterson Stroboflip for a while, does anyone have anything to say about it?.

Is this...

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4337-korg-ot120-orchestral-tuner.html

The one you're refering to Theo and Aaro?. I'm quite tempted by that if it is as it's half the price of the Stroboflip.

Yes that is the one.   The OT 120 is the newer version of the OT12. I have one of each. They have the same functions, but I find the newer model is a little better at locking on to the note over a wider range of pitch, the OT12 tends to have difficulty with the lowest bass reeds.  I chose this one because it has a real analogue needle display, which allows a slightly finer judgement of pitch compared with an LED display.  It also comes with presets for a range of historic temperaments, which I have used occasionally.

I tried an earlier Peterson digital strobe tuner and did not like the display, but I've not tried the stroboflip.   The advantage of the strobe type is that when "in tune" is achieved the display stops moving, which most people find allows finer judgement than deciding when a needle is exactly centred.  My personal view is that in this area of tiny differences the ear is more important than the electronics.

[IanD]

It's going to have to be a piece of hardware I'm afraid as I don't have an iPhone and my computer is rubbish. The thing I'm really looking for in a tuner is that the display doesn't jump around all over the place and I'm told Peterson tuners give very stable readings and I've been considering the Peterson Stroboflip for a while, does anyone have anything to say about it?.

Is this...

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4337-korg-ot120-orchestral-tuner.html

The one you're refering to Theo and Aaro?. I'm quite tempted by that if it is as it's half the price of the Stroboflip.

AFAIK Dirk's (software) tuner will run on a fairly crappy PC -- you can download the demo version (doesn't do all notes) and try it out for free, I suspect you'll be impressed.

Being able to check tuning while the reeds are in the box even for multiple reeds playing simultaneously is a huge plus. Also you can measure all the reeds in the box and out of the box, create a frequency offset table to the target tuning, then tune to this out of the box knowing that the reeds will be spot on when you put them back in the box.

Ian

[Anahata]

Being able to check tuning while the reeds are in the box even for multiple reeds playing simultaneously is a huge plus.

Indeed. The signal processing required, while not trivial like one-pitch-at-a-time, isn't rocket science but the fact that somebody's bothered to do it properly and make it into a useful product is impressive.
I wonder what would it would take package the idea into a pocket sized hardware box.

[waltzman]

It's going to have to be a piece of hardware I'm afraid as I don't have an iPhone and my computer is rubbish. The thing I'm really looking for in a tuner is that the display doesn't jump around all over the place and I'm told Peterson tuners give very stable readings and I've been considering the Peterson Stroboflip for a while, does anyone have anything to say about it?.

Is this...

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/4337-korg-ot120-orchestral-tuner.html

The one you're refering to Theo and Aaro?. I'm quite tempted by that if it is as it's half the price of the Stroboflip.

I have used the Peterson stroboflip and it works quite well in my opinion. It gives a clear reading especially when used with a good microphone. I have no experience with Dirk's but I felt that it had more bells and whistles than I needed and I'm really glad that my tuner is separate from my computer.

[Theo]

I have used the Peterson stroboflip and it works quite well in my opinion. It gives a clear reading especially when used with a good microphone. I have no experience with Dirk's but I felt that it had more bells and whistles than I needed and I'm really glad that my tuner is separate from my computer.

I've just splashed out(£5.99!) for the iPhone version of the Peterson, the iStrobosoft, I'm very impressed.

I can see that Dirks tuner has a lot going for it, but I'm put off by two things, one is finding space for a computer in my workbench,  the other is the user interface which has, shall we say, opportunities for improvement.  

Now if Dirk were to produce his tuner in the form of an iPhone app...

[tallship]

I've just splashed out(£5.99!) for the iPhone version of the Peterson, the iStrobosoft, I'm very impressed.

This app also works with the iPod touch but requires an external mic.

[IanD]

Being able to check tuning while the reeds are in the box even for multiple reeds playing simultaneously is a huge plus.

Indeed. The signal processing required, while not trivial like one-pitch-at-a-time, isn't rocket science but the fact that somebody's bothered to do it properly and make it into a useful product is impressive.
I wonder what would it would take package the idea into a pocket sized hardware box.

The result would probably cost more than running it on a cheap mass-produced netbook, and you'd not only have to build all the hardware including the display but also write all the software for the interface including display drivers etc which is a pretty big job.

Embedded computers only work out cheap if you build a lot of them...

[Anahata]

Embedded computers only work out cheap if you build a lot of them...

I know, I know... Theo's idea of an iPhone port is a much better version of the sort of thing I had in mind.

[IanD]

Embedded computers only work out cheap if you build a lot of them...

I know, I know... Theo's idea of an iPhone port is a much better version of the sort of thing I had in mind.

Why not suggest it to Dirk?

[Theo]

Embedded computers only work out cheap if you build a lot of them...

I know, I know... Theo's idea of an iPhone port is a much better version of the sort of thing I had in mind.

Why not suggest it to Dirk?

I asked him a long while back if he had plans for a mac or linux version, and he was not terribly enthusiastic.  I imagine either of those would be easier than an iphone app, in that the user interface could remain the same.

[ukebert]

Does one need to use a decent microphone with a PC based tuner? And can you tune reeds with only that tuner (and your ears)? I thought from previous threads that you needed a decent microphone at least, which would make it cheaper to use an external tuner than a PC based one.

EDIT: 98EUR?! Woooah.

[IanD]

Does one need to use a decent microphone with a PC based tuner? And can you tune reeds with only that tuner (and your ears)? I thought from previous threads that you needed a decent microphone at least, which would make it cheaper to use an external tuner than a PC based one.

EDIT: 98EUR?! Woooah.

No you don't, almost any mic will do -- reeds have mostly mid-frequency content, an extended treble and/or bass response (which is what most better-quality mics have) isn't needed.

I did suggest to Dirk that if he wanted to tap the "amateur" reed-tuning market (which is much bigger than the "professional" one) he ought to consider a "lite" version of the tuner, with some restrictions so that pros (who make a living out of melodeon repairs) would still pay for the full version.

I guess an iPod version would be a good fit to this -- pros would need the full PC version to do all the stuff like offset tuning tables, specifying tunings, and producing reports, amateurs just need to be able to tune the reeds (but with the ability to check tuning with multiple reeds sounding).

Ian