Melodeon.net Forums

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Welcome to the new melodeon.net forum

Pages: [1] 2   Go Down

Author Topic: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?  (Read 3753 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Suzanne Perron

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« on: February 14, 2019, 06:46:09 PM »

Hello,

Can anyone recommend a good tuner app for my android phone? I did a search and saw that someone liked the istrobosoft tuner but I don't feel like paying $10 for it. There are a number of free or very cheap ones listed on google play and am specifically interested in one that can handle the mussette, tromolo or otherwise warbly sounds of some boxes. My little korg tuner is lousy for it.

TIA  (:)
Suzanne
« Last Edit: February 14, 2019, 07:03:35 PM by Suzanne Perron »
Logged
Selling as szmaine on US eBay!

Fred

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 719
  • G/C Pariselle, D/G Loffet & maybe too many Hohners
Re: Good free tuner app for musette sounds.
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2019, 07:03:12 PM »

Quick google search came up with following recommendations:

Tuner (Github link for tech savvy people) or rather Tuner F-Droid link for a simple one-click download solution (also possible via the F-Droid app store)
To me this looks like the best solution. Straight forward and easy to use interface. Open Source and still maintained (last version is from beginning of february). I'd recommend to try this one out.


Tuner T1
This one shows exact pitch up to 0.1 cents accuracy. It's free but has some paid options as it seems.

iStroboSoft Tuner
This one is not free, however it's recommended often times.

APTuner
This one is available for iOS and Windows - so a possible alternative if you don't have to have it on your Android phone.
Logged

Suzanne Perron

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2019, 07:11:58 PM »

Thanks Fred,

Trying out the Tuner T1.
Logged
Selling as szmaine on US eBay!

Theo

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13729
  • Hohner Club Too
    • The Box Place
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2019, 07:13:15 PM »

The Peterson tuner is worth every penny of its modest price.
Logged
Theo Gibb - Gateshead UK

Proprietor of The Box Place for melodeon and concertina sales and service.
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for stock updates.

Lester

  • MADman
  • Mods and volunteers
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9109
  • Hohners'R'me
    • Lester's Melodeon Emporium and Tune-a-Rama
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2019, 07:17:49 PM »

The Peterson tuner is worth every penny of its modest price.
Wot he said.
iStrobosoft is my tuner of choice when out and about and Dirks Tuner, my workshop PC based tuner, is not available and if you think $10 is too much don't look at Dirk's prices

Fred

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 719
  • G/C Pariselle, D/G Loffet & maybe too many Hohners
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2019, 07:29:55 PM »

While iStroboSoft may be worth its money, it's been said that she is looking for a free alternative. I've only included it in the list for the sake of completeness.

I want to stress again that I do indeed think that the first tuner app I've linked (the open source one) is at least as good as any paid option out there. You should really give it a go. Very accurate, can pick up multiple notes at the same time (up to 8 iirc), shows pitch accuracy of up to 0.1 cents, standard frequency can be adjusted, offers clear visualisation,  etc. etc. etc.
And all of that while being free.
Logged

Suzanne Perron

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2019, 07:31:26 PM »

Thanks Theo and Lester,

I just need to determine the key of a limit # of boxes for sale. If the free ones don't work I'll "splurge" for the $9.99  (:)
Logged
Selling as szmaine on US eBay!

Lester

  • MADman
  • Mods and volunteers
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9109
  • Hohners'R'me
    • Lester's Melodeon Emporium and Tune-a-Rama
Re: Good free tuner app for musette sounds.
« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2019, 07:35:05 PM »

Tuner (Github link for tech savvy people) or rather Tuner F-Droid link for a simple one-click download solution (also possible via the F-Droid app store)
To me this looks like the best solution. Straight forward and easy to use interface. Open Source and still maintained (last version is from beginning of february). I'd recommend to try this one out.


This was written by Bill Farmer who used to post here some years ago.

Alan Pittwood

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 199
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2019, 08:18:59 PM »

If you would still prefer to have a dedicated pocket-sized tuner (like the korg), I have found two from the Boss range to be suitable and cost effective.

Boss TU 12 H
Boss TU 80

I think that the TU 80 is the newer of the two and has facility for quickly recalibrating to cope with instruments that are in an old pitch e.g. A=454 [most of my junk-shop melodeon purchases in the 1970s] rather than the standard A=440
Logged
Hohner Erica D/G.

Eshed

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 447
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2019, 11:26:42 PM »

Tunertime is great
Logged
Do you have a Hohner from 1934-1945 with a serial number on?
Send me a private message or comment on the German Accordion Problem spreadsheet to improve the statistics of the project and get an estimate of the production date of the box if it is not known.

Martin P

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 403
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2019, 11:37:58 PM »

I use Cleartune app on my phone. Works fine, both as tuner and note generator although bass notes limited by speaker on my phone. OK on headphones.
Logged

Winston Smith

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3769
  • AKA Edward Jennings
    • "Our Luxor B&B" Luxor life, slice by slice.
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #11 on: February 15, 2019, 06:11:35 AM »

I've got Tunertime on my new (well, secondhand gift from No. 2 daughter) smartphone, but whenever I look at it I'm intimidated by the jargon which appears on the screen! At least the iStroboSoft is straightforward.
Logged
At last, broken and resigned to accept conformity.
Oh, how I LOVE Big Brother!

Suzanne Perron

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2019, 02:41:21 PM »

Tuner T1 working out well for me.

Question: How many cents +/- does one tolerate to qualify as being in tune. Or is that preset by the tuner indicated by falling out of the “green zone” into the “red zone”?
Logged
Selling as szmaine on US eBay!

Tone Dumb Greg

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4929
    • Dartmoor Border Morris
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #13 on: February 16, 2019, 05:38:27 PM »

Tuner T1 working out well for me.

Question: How many cents +/- does one tolerate to qualify as being in tune. Or is that preset by the tuner indicated by falling out of the “green zone” into the “red zone”?

That's a big, big question, begging lots more.

You might want to check out this thread.

http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php?topic=2306.0
Logged
Greg Smith
DG/GC Pokerwork, DG 2.4 Saltarelle, pre-war CF Hohner, Hohner 1040 Vienna style, old  BbEb Hohner that needs a lot of work.

ACCORDION, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin. Ambrose Bierce

Suzanne Perron

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #14 on: February 16, 2019, 05:54:39 PM »

Oh, wow....I see. Thank you.
Logged
Selling as szmaine on US eBay!

Theo

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13729
  • Hohner Club Too
    • The Box Place
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #15 on: February 16, 2019, 08:28:21 PM »

Tuner T1 working out well for me.

Question: How many cents +/- does one tolerate to qualify as being in tune. Or is that preset by the tuner indicated by falling out of the “green zone” into the “red zone”?

Though this question really is about the tolerance you allow when setting the pitch of an individual reed.  Questions about how much tremolo, how it varies across the pitch range etc have to be decided in order to determine the target pitch for each reed.   Once you know the target pitch then you have to decide what variation either way you can tolerate. For me if I'm working on a dry or swing tuning I aim the get each reed at the target pitch or no more than 0.5 cent sharp.  That's not easy and depends on several things.  The tuner has to read to smaller increments than the tolerance, 0.1 cents is good.  You also have to be able to sound the reed. at a constant volume for a decent length of time because the pitch varies as the sound develops, usually starting below the final pitch, occasionally going above before settling to a stable pitch.  If the pitch doesn't stabilise after maybe 5 seconds or so then there is probably something wrong with the reed or the valves.
Logged
Theo Gibb - Gateshead UK

Proprietor of The Box Place for melodeon and concertina sales and service.
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for stock updates.

Suzanne Perron

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #16 on: February 17, 2019, 01:17:05 PM »

At what point would a player decide they need to have their box retuned. How far out do they tend to be when get brought in?
Logged
Selling as szmaine on US eBay!

Fred

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 719
  • G/C Pariselle, D/G Loffet & maybe too many Hohners
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #17 on: February 17, 2019, 01:23:31 PM »

At what point would a player decide they need to have their box retuned. How far out do they tend to be when get brought in?

If you're only playing on your own, then it's only important that the box is in tune with itself.
If you're also playing to accompany recordings or together with others on sessions, I'd reckon it's important to be on 440hz tuning. How much and which kind of tremolo you prefer is up to you, but too much tremolo is tough on the ears when playing together with other instruments.
Logged

IanD

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1662
  • Too many melodeons...
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #18 on: February 17, 2019, 03:59:51 PM »

At what point would a player decide they need to have their box retuned. How far out do they tend to be when get brought in?
The problem is more often change in tremolo rate between reeds than absolute pitch, and the point where even this is a problem depends on the tuning. For a dry-tuned box even a 0.5Hz shift in one reed may be too much for some, for a wetter-tuned box 1Hz may be unnoticeable, for a single-reed box several Hz may be needed before it becomes a problem.

Add this to the fact that detuning in Hz to detuning in cents (which is what most people and tuners still use) varies with pitch, and there's no simple answer -- especially if you're looking for an answer in cents...
Logged
Oakwood Model 4 D/G, Castagnari Dony D/G/#, Castagnari Tommy G/C, Baffetti Binci D/G, Hohner Preciosa D/G, Melos Bb/Eb, Lightwave SL5 and Kala California fretless basses

Suzanne Perron

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
Re: Recommend a good free tuner app for musette sounds?
« Reply #19 on: February 17, 2019, 06:42:50 PM »

Thanks! Just trying to figure out if I can accurately determine on my own, not just what key an accordion is in, but whether it is in good tune. The answer appears to be a firm no.  ;)
Logged
Selling as szmaine on US eBay!
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up
 


Melodeon.net - (c) Theo Gibb; Clive Williams 2010. The access and use of this website and forum featuring these terms and conditions constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions.
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal