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I'm a DIYer who's relied on Verituner, Reblitz, Igrec and THIS FORUM to maintain my (much loved by me) lowly Hailun 218 over many years.
In the tuning department I'm a Verituner guy ----for the simple fact that I've never found anything better. (Some contenders may be AS GOOD, but not BETTER!)
The other day (because of THIS FORUM) I just started playing with this little known and little advertised tuning APP called "PiaTuner." (Paid $139 US for it, which is a bigger number on the Can petro-dollar, but still not bad!)
IN SUMMARY: I LOVE THIS TUNING APP!!!!!
It's a masterpiece of software in my very humble, avowedly untutored opinion.
I've tried ALL the putative alternatives to Verituner over the years (folks here will know the "contenders"... they are too numerous to mention ... some serious, some not so serious). ..... This tuning program is the REAL DEAL in my view.
It did a spectacular job on the Hailun 218.
Of note (that's a pun):
1. I had NO TROUBLE tuning from F7-C8: which with other software, including Verituner, has always been a challenge. Something about the readout: I can get these very high notes DEAD ON... and they sparkle and ring beautifully now.
2. The program provides what (for me) is two bits of important information right up front:
a) IH readings after every measurement so you can immediately determine whether your IH measurements were accurate (sadly missing from my version of Verituner);
b) a beats measurement screen (sadly missing from Veritruner, and not available on any other software that I'm aware of... please correct if I'm wrong.)
The program does all the other stuff, too: (notes IH measured and tuned simultaneously, file saving, pitch-raising, custom tuning, etc., etc., etc...)
But my main point is that this is absolutely the VERY FIRST tuning app that allows me (a novice) to get--with confidence--the temperament dead-on accurate, and which provides a VISUAL readout that makes tuning individual strings more precise than any other program I've used.
These things matter to me, personally, although I recognize that in the tuning business things like fast, reliable pitch-raising are paramount for professional tuners.
I have to say, for my purposes ... I'm REALLY IMPRESSED AND DELIGHTED by this tuning app. Singing the praises of tuning software is something I don't do ... but I make an exception in this case!!!
I own PianoMeter. For my purposes, not in the same league, although it’s an interesting program.
I own both PianoMeter and Tunelab and they are definitely in a different league by being available on both iOS and Android. And both of them provide excellent, professional results for tuning a piano. In addition to that, PianoMeter is in constant active development by a developer who is active on these forums and communicates extremely well with all participants and is eager to consider qualified input from members of the forum.
I have worked in Open Source IT for 20 years and know that software development that considers feedback from external sources is always a good thing and leads to less bells and whistles, but more quality in terms of mirroring the needs of those who are actively using it in their professional lives.
johnlewisgrant: Thank you very much for your feedback on PiaTune. I am very glad that PiaTune worked so well for your needs.
Feedback from users is essential in developing an application. While developing PiaTune I had initially programmed it for Android. Together with a tuner we tried it on several pianos for about 2 years on and Android phone.
Then I decided iOS was a better platform to distribute the app professionally and converted PiaTune into iOS.
I released PiaTune for iOS in 2018, and got a lot of feedback from users and added new features and improved many aspects of the program in the recent years. After 43 releases now it is at version 4.3. Currently I am working on adding new stretch options for the next release.
My initial motivation in creating PiaTune was to make a tuning app that would calculate the tuning targets as close as possible to a very good aural tuner’s targets.
Over the years I feel I have achieved mostly what I had planned when starting to develop PiaTune.
Piano World Forum has been incredibly helpful during all these years. I really learned a lot from the members here.
Developing an app is a continuous process and I would greatly appreciate feedback on PiaTune from the valuable members of this forum.
John, a quick note to say how much I enjoyed your performance of Prelude No 1 in C (all I've listened to so far). I think it might be called a Romantic rendition, and in my opinion, all the better for that! What piano are you playing? And, would you consider playing it without the "Schwencke Measure"?
Finished tuning the 218 with PiaTune. Beautiful result. I didn’t think anything could top my beloved Verituner, but to my ears the PiaTune results are clearly better: the piano simply sounds better. Best and easiest result I’ve ever had for any tuning software on my piano.
How is that possible? I think it boils down to the speed and, most of all, the accuracy of the program.
The accuracy of the program I attribute, first and foremost, to the fact that it allows you to measure consecutive M3s and M6s! This is a first in tuning software as far as I am aware and it works quickly and easily in PiaTune. Fantastic, and a long time in coming!
Another significant factor is the simple fact that IH measurement values—which are made as you tune—are fast, easily repeatable if necessary; and the IH value is visually present on the main tuning screen at all times.
This matters. My pet peeve with Verituner, as well as with other tuning apps (with the exception of TuneLab) is the fact that IH values are either not visible on the main tuning screen, not easily and quickly double-checked, or not visible or easily double-checked at all. Faulty IH measurements are common, and mistakes can eat up a lot of time. This program fixes those issues. Finally!
The tuning read-out works beautifully and effectively. I love Verituner’s “Spinner”: it makes for extreme precision, and it is very easy to read. Nothing matches it in that respect.
But once I got used to PiaTune’s tuning readout I like it just as much, and in some important respects I like it more: it provides a needle, a simple strobe-like meter, a numerical readout (albeit small for my old eyes) and two converging lines, ALL OPERATING SIMULTANEOUSLY.
I find this approach incredibly efficient, fast, and accurate. You can set the needle up so that it turns red when you are within 1 cent of the tuning target. That really speeds things up. At the same time, the strobe-like rotating bars tell you how the note is decaying over time. This I find, for myself, incredibly useful. The fact that I can, with this approach, tune A7 to C8, quite quickly and accurately is a Godsend. Again, almost all tuning apps have a tough time making it easy to tune without a little frustration as you approach C8. This program makes it easy. What a relief that is.
Aside: H.J. Lim takes the Cm prelude even faster than Hakki.
I’m a mediocre pianist. My Net WTK is midi-edited/corrected/even created. Not a performance, therefore. More like a conceptual externalization of the WTC. Having said that, I actually prefer my “end result” or “product” (the process of creation notwithstanding) to most recorded versions. I have a soft spot for Richter, Feinberg, and Barenboim: definitely Romanticized approaches to old JSB. I do not like Schiff or Hewitt, who appear to have cornered the recorded piano/WTK market.
I believe I put up the “un-Bowdlerlized” version of the C major, as well. Apologies, but is there a William in the Boyce clan?
I don't think the composer William Boyce was any relation, but I had a great-uncle William Boyce, whose photo you can see on the Boyce Taxi Greenock page of my website!
That’s quite the website. Really off topic, I was surprised to find through a DNA test that that I’m as Norwegian as I am Scottish. I thought that odd. But then it dawned on me that in the Highlands they’re probably one-and-the-same!
Thanks for the reminder - I had gotten the app a while ago but was put off by the initial progression of notes required, so never gave it a proper testing.
Since I have always been interested in finding the best resulting tuning - even on more challenging scales, I'll have to give it a more serious audition.
That’s quite the website. Really off topic, I was surprised to find through a DNA test that that I’m as Norwegian as I am Scottish. I thought that odd. But then it dawned on me that in the Highlands they’re probably one-and-the-same!
Yes, the Vikings came down both sides of Scotland. There are similarities of vocabulary, or Norse origin, between the southwest of Scotland, and the northeast of England. There was a famous battle near here, the Battle of Largs, in 1263, where prevailing weather went against the Vikings led by King Haakon of Norway, and the locals managed to sail out and set fire to the longboats, and drive them off. Otherwise a lot more of us would be Norse now!
I do have a large website - I guess it's an occupational hazard of being a teacher, that I cant resist explaining stuff!
