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I''ve added a page to my webiste, to explain a little, to the interested 'lay' reader, about Electronic tuning devices and Apps. I'm not quite sure how deeply to go into theory about near-coincident partials etc. I am intending to add Tunic OnlyPure, when I hear back from Mr Stopper with permission to use images of the App. See what you think, and any advice would be appreciated: http://www.davidboyce.co.uk/electronic-tuning.php
Very nice! I'd like to share a link to your website on my website - I assume that is ok?
You might want to include PiaTune to the mix. I know it is available for ios, not sure about android.
Maybe include a bit of how these gather specific data from the piano to help calculate a unique tuning for each piano - so much different than chromatic tuning apps! And how each has proprietary ways of achieving that goal which leads to slightly different results.
Thank you for that very helpful feedback, Ron. I will look into PiaTune. I haven't included CyberTuner because they haven't responded to my email asking permission. Feel free to share a link on your site. I like your suggestion about commenting on the data-gathering and proprietory processing - great stuff.
Just one correction about the measuring - the apps measure different amounts of notes from the piano - some measure almost all, while others measure a few and predict what the other notes would measure... this also leads to slightly different calculation results from each app.
Started work at the Blüthner piano re-building workshop in Perivale, UK, in 1989. Self employed since 2000. Learning something new about pianos every day...
I think I'm going to add a bit more, either by updating the PDF article at the bottom (which annoyingly is password-protected and I;ve lost the password!) or by writing similar material on a new Page for the website. I've just made a nice sound recording of two sources playing a 440Hz sine wave, with one gradually increasing to 460Hz and then back down again.
I would also like to video a bass string on my piano being excited by other notes in the harmonic series to demonstrate the partials - a thing I love doing with interested clients - "Look: I'm goig to make THIS bass string produce the note an octave above, then an octave and a fifth, then two octaves, without touching it!"
I've made a short YouTube video to illustrate beats. The audi hasn't transferred at as high a lavel as I;d like, for some reason, so I may try another. Also, there is a very high harmonic audible through one of the speakers.
Two sources are playing 440Hz sine waves, with one gradually increased to about 460, then back down.
After writing my page I had a look around online and found the exccellent website of Mr Jordan Porter of Boise Idaho. He's a very good writer, and employs excellent metaphors to illustrate technical things in non-technical language. He has also carried out a bit of Primary Research - a survey of Concert tuners in 22 countries, to find out who uses ETAs and ETDs. He has kindly given me permission to add links to his site on my web page. You might enjoy reading his comments on "Aural v. Electronic" here: https://finetuningco.com/blog/aural-vs-electronic-piano-tuning
The PDF was password-protected and I had forgotten the password and lost the original Word version. So I had three nervous breakdowns trying to get the text off the PDF without typing it all again. I managed it, by methods too tedious to go into.
Any feedback would be appreciated, spotting any errors etc. I have not gone into muting, temperament sequences etc.
Thank you, Herr Wiess, on two counts: 1) for your kind compliment and 2) for reminding me of Jason Kanter's excellent Rollingball site, which I had forgotten all about!
It is perhaps a little amusing, Herr Wiess, that my own upright piano is a Wiessbrod... There is a 1920s film of the factory on YouTube. My piano has a gorgeously ornate plate, like those that can be seen in the upright pianos from about 6:45 in the video.
