Pianotech

I've been working with a client who is a musician and scientist/engineer.  He became interested in tuning his own piano, and uses PianoScope.  The author of PianoScope is Frank Illenberger, and these two gentlemen have been collaborating in the past few days in making improvements to the app.  Specifically, Frank has produced a beta version which introduces a time delay window which isolates a specific portion of the impact time and frequency envelope of a hammer blow in milliseconds.  This window has a selection range from 100 to 1000 milliseconds so that the tuner can see what the frequency is during the selected time frame and freezes it.  We have all heard that while tuning we should tune on the decay in the lower registers, and tune on the attack in the higher registers.  This new feature provides a new insight into the tuning process, as one can see exactly where the pitch actually is at any given moment, up to one second after the initial blow of the hammer.  It also gives a visual display of the coupling effect of all three strings struck at once versus the pitch of each string individually, thus lowering the pitch a slight amount.  Being able to freeze-frame the time/frequency display holds an amazing view of what we all know, but which zeros it in to makes the tuning process much more precise than previously possible.  Here is a video made by my client Steven Norsworthy:

Piano Tuning Using PianoScope Beta With New 'Freeze-After-Delay' Concept and Method

If you have not seen the PianoScope app, you will see it in action in this video.  There is a main indicator, a red line, which tracks the pitch of the string in real time, as well as a "strobe" effect in the background which amplifies the pitch indicator.  The new indicator is a white line independent of the other red line, which appears after striking the note and remains still.  This "freezes" the pitch after the selected millisecond interval. 

I invite discussion on the topic, and any corrections or suggestions about the video itself. 

1.  Tuning to exact pitch, eliminates stretch tuning?
2.  Tuning to exact pitch, eliminates the tuners ear from adjusting to blend with higher partials & making sound good?
3.  A hard attach that makes the pitch rise, could be because the hammer makes the string shorter?  When it settles down, the string is longer?

Hi Andy:

1. No, it works like any other tuning app.  Pianoscope measures all the notes' inharmonicity prior to tuning and calculates a tuning stretch curve.
2. The calculation is based upon all the partials measured, according to the user's choice, ie., It has different tuning "styles".
3.  I'm not sure what is causing the rise, but I suspect it is because the string excursion on the initial blow momentarily raises the tension.

Not to be negative, but this is basically old news. We've known about this for a long time. It is simply "showing" us what what we perceived but could not see. Good confirmation of these known facts. 

However, I'm not sold on his explanation as to WHY it is occurring. Time will tell on that.

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

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Peter Grey
Stratham NH
(603) 686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
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Sounds cool! I'll watch the video tonight. I really like the concept. 

Is this Beta feature available for Pro users?

I think it is available.  If you've done Beta testing with Test Flight, I think you can download it.  I did Beta testing with Pianoscope, and it's listed in Test Flight.  Otherwise you can contact Frank at illenberger@mac.com.

I think this is a really clever idea. I had thought of it before, especially in the upper octaves where the sustain is very short. I'm not sure it will "revolutionize" piano tuning, but it would be a nice tool to add to our toolbox. 

(When I posted this reply on CAUT, I should have cross-posted it here)

I watched both videos. I marveled at the second one (that finally we get to witness the attack phase), but was not convinced by the first one (proposing that it's the attack where we should make our judgements about the tuning). I can believe that there are some technicians who have the speed of response to decide what a string needs in 0.5 seconds; among all of us, threre's an endless variety about how to tune. 

But as a practical matter, were I one of these people, I think I'd still wish to base my reaction not on the chaos of the attack (BTW, whose behavior varies significantly with the force of impact) instead what it settles out to for the after-prompt sound. It would be like basing your expectation that your toddler would grow up to be a responsible, happy citizen, only on the frequency and power of their tantrums. 

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William Ballard RPT
WBPS
Saxtons River VT
802-869-9107

"Our lives contain a thousand springs
and dies if one be gone
Strange that a harp of a thousand strings
should keep in tune so long."
...........Dr. Watts, "The Continental Harmony,1774
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