CAUT

  • 1.  New Video on Latest beta version of Pianoscope

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 03-11-2023 22:33

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owHb8D-sVOg

    This Pianoscope app is a game-changer.  There are many ways to tune a piano, aurally or with an ETD.  Pianoscope has now evolved to become much more than just another tuning app.  I used this today to tune a Samick SG172, and the result was stunning.  I didn't actually have to tune the unisons by ear, though I checked them to see if I missed something or made a mistake.  You can literally tune by eye and get an extremely clean tuning, especially  tuning unisons.  We all know tuning unisions is a critical skill, and difficult for new tuners to master.  Pianoscope with the freeze-after display is so accurate and easy that anyone with a little skill can produce professional results in a very short period of time.  Frank Illenberger and Steven Norsworthy have perfected this display capability daily over several weeks, so it's even easier to use and more immune to false beats and resonances than before.  Steven has used his engineering skills and expertise in audio and electronics (plus he's a professional musician and trombonist) to optimize the time components of the attack phase.  This eliminates the interference of the hammer impact noise, and ignores the resonances and beating sounds which develop later.  The result is that one can tune without having to subject your ears to the loud sounds of impacting strings with a hammer and trying to determine whether your string is sharp or flat.  Your only concentration is how to manipulate the tuning hammer to achieve a stable pitch while viewing the freeze display.

    As we have seen in the last 30 years with the advent of the Accutuner, and all the software apps, a revolution in piano tuning has occurred.  It's no longer necessary to learn aural tuning to be able to tune a piano, though we know that it takes a lot more than an ETD to produce a clean, stable tuning.  Now with the latest version of Pianoscope, a new tuner can produce a result as good as any professional without having to master tuning unisons aurally.  This is usually the downside of new tuners trying to learn the craft.  You can get the pitch, but if the unisons aren't good, you haven't arrived yet.  In some cases, a client with a good ear ends up with a shoddy tuning and blames it on his ETD. 

    Pianoscope may actually be a boon for the PTG because new tuners could get up to speed with their tunings and begin tuning for hire in a much shorter time.  Of course, the other skills of regulation and repair are very important too, so they will need to learn that.  Learning to tune aurally is also an important skill, not that I think that skill will be obsolete or unimportant.  With this new innovation, we can be confident that new members will have the ability to tune accurately and be more likely to succeed in this business and not lose confidence and quit Guild membership.  Just a thought..



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    Paul McCloud, RPT
    Accutone Piano Service
    www.AccutonePianoService.com
    pavadasa@gmail.com
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  • 2.  RE: New Video on Latest beta version of Pianoscope

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 03-13-2023 12:48
    In order to access the feature Paul wrote about, you need to install a beta version, and you need to email Frank Illenberger illenberger@mac.com to ask for access. He says he will release a public beat in a couple days. 

    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    fssturm@comcast.net
    http://fredsturm.net
    www.artoftuning.com
    "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. " Blaise Pascal









  • 3.  RE: New Video on Latest beta version of Pianoscope

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 03-14-2023 11:13

    Although the technology and precision is amazing and admirable, I still cannot bring myself to delegating/relegating these decisions to a battery, knowing in advance that it will adversely affect my aural/analog/full mind-body skills that I have worked hard to acquire. The only exception to this would be if I was faced with repetitive, mindless tuning of beat up practice room pianos in a noisy institutional environment (a situation I am currently not in). I still have the capability of doing a job that makes people say: "Wow, I never thought this piano could sound so good". If that begins to wane I'll consider a change up (or just quit and go do something else). 

    I already know from experience that if I change my MO from sound to sight my sound skills will suffer. So what if I can tune one or two extra pianos in a day? It's not worth it to me (at this time). I've heard some brag that they tune 8 or 9 pianos a day (including pitch raises). I just laugh and say: "if that's what floats your boat, go for it!"  If the electronics help you do that, great. Not my cup of coffee.

    Peter Grey Piano Doctor 



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    Peter Grey
    Stratham NH
    (603) 686-2395
    pianodoctor57@gmail.com
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