Tuba Tuners

[John Caves]

Upon researching this subject in the Archives, I found the Korg CA-20 was very popular - and good portable unit. Has anything come out recently that surpasses the Korg? A built-in metronome would be a nice feature.

[JohnH]

I just bought a Sabine Metrotune 9000 that doesn't seem to pick up tuba or euphonium very well, even with a clip-on pickup. The other tuba in community band has the same problem with his. When I bought this I gave my old bottom-line Korg to my daughter, so I may have to switch back with her if the Sabine will tune her saxes and guitars ok.

Every Korg I've ever had worked fine on low instruments.

[bloke]

tuner-metronome...

I just took a Korg 20 tuner and a Korg 30 metronome, traced their shapes on to a small piece of corrugated cardboard, cut halfway into the depth of the cardboard removing those shapes, jammed the two units into those shapes, held them there with very small bungies, and put a chip-clip on the piece of cardboard (to hold it on to the music stand). Total investment c. $40 for a bang-up tuner-metronome. Laugh if you like, but if one or the other breaks, I don't have to throw away the whole thing.

bloke "same reason I never buy a combo TV-DVD/VCR player"

[Bob Mosso]

Korg TM-40 combined tuner & metronome (it's new)

http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_pro ... egory_id=5

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=h ... id/210533/

I've had one for about a month, I highly recommend it!

[Scott Sutherland]

Korg also has one of those clip on tuners that works great. AW-1 I believe is the model number.

[crbarnes]

I know you don't want to hear it, but the Korg OT-12 is truly great. Why don't you want to hear it? Because it costs $88.99 on Musician's Friend and does not have a metronome . It has a lot of exotic tunings for period instruments, etc. So why do you need it? It's range of detection is A0-C8 and it has a real VU meter. It also has a neat Sound Back mode which allows you to hear the tone while you tune to it. Good ear training for matching that clarinet or oboe giving the pitch. The reference tones have a range of C2-C7. It accepts a clip on mic and I find that the Korg clip on is a good choice there as well. I have better results clipping it on my lead pipe than on my bell. There is other information in the forum about this option and the usual variety of opinions about it.

[Schlepporello]

I'm currently using a Korg AT-2 chromatic tuner which I bought about 10+ years ago. For a clip, I'm using a bridge pick-up for a violin. My problem is that it doesn't matter if I use the clip or the built in mic, my tuner still takes forever to pick up and decide on my pitch when I'm using it on my tuba. Is this a common problem with tuners in general when used with tubas or do I just need to cough up some cash and buy a better tuner?

[Tubaryan12]

I use the Korg CA-30. Picks up tuba just fine even in a room of other people playing at the same time.

[JayW]

The Korg TM40 is definietly a great value - $26.00 for a tuner/metronome. However if you are looking for a truly great tuner/metronome packagae and the $$ isnt much of an issue the Seiko SMP-20 (or the lower model SMP-10) are really great. I like it becase of its analog meter which i find easier to read that a digital display. FWIW

[averagejoe]

I have a fender brand tuner/metronome. I find that I would rather have seperate units because I want to use both while doing long tones.

[bigwillystyle]

For tuners I have to recommend a BOSS Dr. Beat. Newest one is the DB-90. That little box can put out a lot of sound. Okay, so it's not exactly a little box, and it is pricey, but the sound it puts out can't be beat.

In my experience, tuning with a drone and adjusting with your ears sure beats the heck out of watching the little dancing needle. And when you're in a room by yourself, a tuning drone really is the next best thing to having another person there with you. The only major downside to the DB is that you can only use one function at a time (metronome/tuner).

The DB just inhales batteries, so if you buy a DB, the adapter is a must! Don't leave home without it. In fact I've got it sitting here. (Part# PSA-120T if you're curious)

If I need a drone and the tempo going at the same time, I have the little Korg MA-30 metronome. It's only loud enough if you turn up the volume and set it to accent every beat, but it does the job.

-William

[Dylan King]

These things are my favorite...

[Schlepporello]

These things are my favorite...

I whole-heartedly agree. The problem is that our minister of music keeps telling me that I'm playing to sharp when he decides that "we" need to stop and tune. The pianist drop down an octave to match my pitch but the note she selects is out of pitch with the note from the octave above. I end up pulling my main slide almost completely out and lipping down a half step to pacify our minister of music, then as soon as we move on I put everything back where it should be. I kind of like being able to clip on a pick-up and check my tuning o the fly to "Make sure" I'm where I think I am but this ol' tuner just ain't keepin' up with me.

My church has the piano tuned regularly, but the temperature in our sanctuary is never consistent from one day to the next, hence it promptly goes out of tune. We'd certainly do well to replace it with a really good keyboard, but there are too many traditionalists in the church and they're not gonna readily give up a real-live piano in favor of some "long-hair" electronic device.

[GC]

My CA-30 picks up tuba easily with other instruments playing and tunes a 6-string bass's bottom string easily, even when tuning down to A or lower. I needed a metronome and a second tuner, so I bought a TM-40. With other people playing, it doesn't want to focus on the tuba but prefers midrange pitches. It's very quick and accurate when I'm the only one playing. Good metronome.

[Schlepporello]

My CA-30 picks up tuba easily with other instruments playing and tunes a 6-string bass's bottom string easily, even when tuning down to A or lower. I needed a metronome and a second tuner, so I bought a TM-40. With other people playing, it doesn't want to focus on the tuba but prefers midrange pitches. It's very quick and accurate when I'm the only one playing. Good metronome.

Have you ever tried using a clip-on type pick-up with either tuner?

[bluemusic1]

nice! but seriously the korg line of tuners are very reliable and are pretty durable!

[Schlepporello]

nice! but seriously the korg line of tuners are very reliable and are pretty durable!

I agree with exception to my Korg AT2. If I'm in a group, I've got to use the clip on pick uo to focus the tuner primarily on me and even then I'll have to hold a pitch for a long time or bend it up and down a few times to get a reading. Even if I'm in a room by myself I will often have to hold a pitch for quite a while to get a reading even without using the pick up. I'm in hopes that newer equipment might solve this problem.

[Schlepporello]

Thanks for all the input guys!
I logged on to Musician's Friend and ordered a Korg CA-40. Took it to church orchestra practice tonight and LOVED the response it has. It's certainly a lot more responsive than the old AT2, it's 1/3 of the size and it uses 2 AAA batteries instead of the old 9-volt square thing.

[MartyNeilan]

The problem is that our minister of music keeps telling me that I'm playing to sharp ...
My church has the piano tuned regularly...

One possible problem could be "stretch tuning". Many pianos are stretch tuned. The upper octaves are progressively sharper, and the lower octaves are progressively flatter. Even many of the better electric keyboards use this on their piano sounds. So, if your church's piano tuner has an overly aggressive stretch curve (is he licensed???), you could be in fact playing the correct pitch (or at least reasonably close) and still be noticeably sharper that the intentionally flat tuned lower octaves of the piano!
On the chart below, the most aggressive curve goes as much as 30 cents flat on the bottom of the keyboard!
I ran into this problem once myself, when I couldn't match an electric keyboard playing with our band on tour. The keyboardist didnt't believe me, so when we put a tuner to it he saw how flat it got while still being in tune in the middle. Switching to a synth patch (think vintage DX7 but less cheesey) was our quick fix - the pitch stayed consistent from top to bottom; only the piano patches were stretched.

[Schlepporello]

I don't know if our tuner's licensed or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't. Our church really likes free or cheap services.