Just curious:

Do any of you ever pay attention to or use readings from all strings in a unison sounding together?

In aural tuning many people will listen and test with beat rates involving the whole sound of unmuted unisons. I'm wondering if any similar practices have developed in the ETD camp.

On the other hand, if there are reasons why this couldn't apply to ETD tuning as well as aural, or that at least disqualify certain of the common machines, what are they?

I do know how some use TuneLab to tune unisons, noting the peaks for each string; I'm thinking more of whether input from each string in a unison can combine to produce a single meaningful reading.

Thanks,

Jeff

I think using the peaks in Tunelab for each string would not be accurate enough to tune a unison - the peaks are more for rough tuning. An ETD can certainly help one practice unisons in some situations. I have a freind who tunes/confirms unisons with his Accu-tuner. His unisons are very tight. Personally, I like a bit of a roll in my unisons. In aural tuning, I want to hear all the strings together before I move on to the next unison.

The display on TuneLab is too slow to meaningfully show all three strings at once at any level of detail (at least on my ancient iPaq).

Plus, the peaks are combined as vectors, so it takes some skill to read them together, which I do routinely for a pitch raise.

I have used TL sometimes to help with unisons in the top three or four notes, in noisy situations or pianos in bad condition.

--Cy--

In my limited non pro tuning experience, I learned, thanks to an ETD, to hear out of tune unisons and correct them by ear...I can then check them against the ETD, and I am right on target.

Bob, a question...I mute the outer 2 strings, then tune the inner string to my ETD...then I unmute either left or right string, tune that to the center string and repeat, so that finally, all 3 strings sound like one, and as "beatless" as possible.

When you say you like a "bit of a roll" in your unisons, can you explain that as best as can be done in words?

Thanks,

GP

Yesterday I used Accu-Tuner to get triple octaves in the high treble of a church's grand, and it was helpful to see which unisons went slightly flat as each string was tuned. It was kind of a borderline case that might've benefited from two full passes through the treble, but this way I could zero in better on the notes that needed it.

Last night I realized I need to be 160 miles from here by late afternoon for a weekend gathering although, since I initially thought I'd be leaving tomorrow, I also have two pianos scheduled for today. This happens to be one of those times when I need to get through very quickly or reschedule. I think I'll just let the Verituner do its thing today.

Jeff

Think of the beat of a fifth beating in the temperment, and make it beat a bit slower, not really a beat, just a roll. The trick is to get it even from one note to the next - one rolling unison next to several pure ones will stand out, and the note will sound out of tune, however, two dozen rolling unisons next to each other will not stand out. Once again, it's not a beating unison, the roll stops short of a beat. And there is nothing wrong with pure unisons either, but a bunch of rolling unisons sounds warmer than a bunch or tight unisons, so that's my personal preference. A piano is best tuned perfectly out of tune.

Very interesting! I am not sure I can do it without hearing it, but I am going to give it a try!

When you say a rolling unison, is the object to slightly flaten the string to get it to roll slower?

Thanks,

GP

A "roll" is a very slow beat, maybe one beat in five seconds.

--Cy--

So Bob, do you tune two of the three beatless and then let the third "roll"?

I'm not sure, Aaron, it's so automatic now, I don't think much about it. I'll need to measure each string to find out.