What's a tuner with a fast response?

[Dan Schultz]

I'm currently using a 'cheapo' Korg model CA 30. It seems to work fine but takes a lot longer to respond than I would like. It 'sees' half notes and longer just fine but totally ignores eighth notes.

Any suggestions.

[Dan Schultz]

Fastest tuner I've ever used is DaTuner for my android phone

I guess I should qualify my request a bit:

I don't do fancy phones or aps.

I also want a tuner that utilizes an external clip so it ignores the damned trumpets sitting in front of me!

[Untersatz]

Dan, Thank God I'm not the only other person on the planet that's "old school" and Does NOT use a cell phone for EVERYTHING!!!

[Untersatz]

Hey Mark, that Korg Wi-Tune looks pretty impressive!!! Thinking I might need to get me one of these!!!

[Heavy_Metal]

Dan, Thank God I'm not the only other person on the planet that's "old school" and Does NOT use a cell phone for EVERYTHING!!!

+1 !!!!!

[eupher61]

http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=168

great tuner. It's been discussed elsewhere here. It is NOT a strobe, but it simulates one (maybe plays one on TV for all I know.)

about $65, best thing I've bought in the past year aside from my Martin. And some of Dan's work....

[imperialbari]

Some may be up for big disappointments with even the most expensive tuners available. It is not all about tuner response.

How fast does a given note of a given player stabilize? The attack has a different and more complex composition of in tune and less in tune partials than the sustained note has. Mostly, at least with good players, the human ear can deduct the intended pitch from the attack, but with all the variants, even among good players, tuners will have a hard time analyzing the attack.

This is not a brass or wind players' problem only. One major maker of strings for bowed instruments has it as a sales point that their strings are fast in stabilizing pitches. From my own experience with plucked strings I know that the attack is sharper in pitch than the stable note is, possibly because of the stretching of the string. The same may be heard with some drums set up to have a sustained sound.

Klaus

[Jay Bertolet]

My take is that, used properly, using a tuner in your practice sessions can be a beneficial thing. But only if you use it properly. My definition of properly is the following:

Put the tuner on the stand in front of you and turn it on. Close your eyes. Play whatever note/passage it is that you'd like to check on and listen. Note that your eyes should still be closed. Listening to what you're playing, evaluate what it is you're playing and decide if you're playing it sharp, flat, or in tune. Be sure that your embouchure is not playing any unintended role in the pitch (too tight, too loose, notes out of center, etc.). Now open your eyes and read what it says. Does the tuner confirm what you heard? Repeat the above steps until it does.

This is my definition of how to properly use a tuner. As stated above, no tuner will be better than a well trained musician's ears. Hopefully, they never make a tuner that has the equivalent of a human attached to it.

[Dan Schultz]

I'm currently using a 'cheapo' Korg model CA 30. It seems to work fine but takes a lot longer to respond than I would like. It 'sees' half notes and longer just fine but totally ignores eighth notes.

This means you're trying to use it while playing/performing? Train your ears, they are more accurate than any tuner.

Look at who is asking the question - Dan is a pro and probably has better trained ears than the rest of us put together. He obviously has a reason for asking the question.

Thanks, Terry!

I'll try to elaborate a little. I know EXACTLY what my personal horns are doing. What I want a fast 'real-time' tuner for is when I want to make a fairly quick evaluation of a customer's horn or one that I built to sell. I never let a horn leave here that I would not play myself and make it a point to give them a 'whirl' at a rehearsal or two. I play in rehearsals at least two hours a day... seven days a week with as many different groups ranging from a small Shrine band to a high-end brass band. I could just play a few scales in my own practice room but I prefer to evaluate a horn under 'real' circumstances and that means that the musicians (??) around me range from very bad to very good. The tuner gives me an opportunity to isolate the horn from the rest of the group. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to evaluate a horn while attempting to match pitches with a person who obviously only takes their horn out of the case once a week.

[eupher61]

Dan, especially for your purposes, I'll restate the Peterson. Since it clips onto the leadpipe (or wherever else) it's pretty resistant to other sources.

[Mark Horne]

+1 on the Peterson Stroboclip.

It attaches to the leadpipe and picks up the vibrations from the horn and not the rest of the band. A big advantage of the "strobe" action is that relative intonation can be seen easily even if the tuner is too close to be in focus (as it is in my case). I have used it on a number of occasions to determine the pitch tendencies of a horn while playing in an ensemble - and it is not always the same as what you may find in the practice room.

As with any clip-on pickup, the positioning on the leadpipe may need to be tweeked from time to time since some notes will register as an overtone rather than the fundamental pitch.

I find the response to be as fast as any other tuner that I have tried.

[bbocaner]

sonic research turbo tuner. It's way faster and more responsive than any of the petersons.

[Sharp]

.

[Uncle Buck]

I too am now thankful for the foe option.

Over 500 posts since November 29, 2012. Must be a resident genius . . .

[Dan Schultz]

I don't quite understand why some of you guys insist on destroying just about every legitimate question that's posed here on TubeNet.

I've been a TubeNet sponsor for many years and do so not because it provides me with a flood of business but because I enjoy communicating with other tuba players. Rest assured, I'll continue to do what I do with or without TubeNet.

Frankly... some of you folks who use this forum as a way to hone your comedy skills or by trying to find fault with every comment need to be kicking in a few bucks a month yourselves. The entertainment value alone has to be worth the price of a movie every couple of weeks.

Now... if you want to tell me what tuner you think has the fastest response time... that would be wonderful.

[eupher61]

Dan further explained his situation. A full strobe is not appropriate.

[Ken Herrick]

I suspect Dan might like something a bit more portable than the redoubtable Conn "Stroboconn".

A part of the problem in analysing say, a low A with a frequency of approx. 27 cps in the time of an eigth note at quarter note at mm 120 is the very small available sample; it's gone almost as soon as it starts.

Even the strobe would be hard to read in that short time at any pitch.

Those damned, pesky trumpets sure can be a pain as are the tubas that were left in the rain and shrank to become euphemisms. WE WON'T mention the licorice sticks or peckhorns or sexophones.

I can see why you want to achieve your goal, Dan, but it aint gonna be EZ.

Sorry I can't offer a better solution.

[Ken Herrick]

MAYBE - the optimal solution would be a video of the tuner display and 2 track audio; one of the input to the tuner ( tuba in this case) and "the rest". This would make it possible, though not in real time, to ascertain whether perceived tuning discrepencies were due to tuning problems with the tuba or those strumpets being at fault.

No easy answer, but knowing Dan, he is not averse to a challenge.

[Ken Herrick]

How did that Tuba Company song go??

Oh, yessssss, TEQUILA!!!

SORRY, Dan

Hope you got "an answer" before all this.

[MikeW]

Don't know about a faster tuner (I'm still using a Korg) but the interference problem can be reduced by using a cheap-and-cheerful Intelli IMP-100 tuner mic clipped to the mouthpipe instead of the bell (the clip is big enough for this). This works pretty well - it picks up vibration directly from the metal, but isn't sensitive enough for most airborne sound, so most of the band just don't register, and the trumpets only break through at blastissimo.

Hmmm...note to self - might get even better with a muffler of some kind over the back of the microphone ? maybe a gob of plasticine ?