![]() Both yield the exact same result when completed by a trained technician (though ETD's offer a wider array of tuning options such as historical and hybrid temperaments). So, when someone says aural tuning is better it is simply not true. ![]() The device makes precise calculations to leave the piano in tune with less tuning. The end result is the same tuning that a properly trained technician would produce by ear. It is less likely that a neglected piano will require two tunings (a pitch raise and fine tuning) if a sophisticated device is used by the technician. They save piano technicians time on tuning just as a word processor does when writing an essay. Only a properly trained piano technician is capable of making such checks after completing a tuning with an ETD.ĮTD's are invaluable tools when placed in the proper hands. A computer may find a tuning or an essay acceptable, but what really matters is if it is pleasing to a human. It is similar to proofreading after writing an essay in a word processing program. Upon completing a tuning with an electronic device, the technician must check everything by ear to make certain that everything is pleasing to the human ear. One that I will mention is the ability of the piano technician to know what a proper tuning sounds like. There are many other critical facets of tuning in addition to setting a string to a particular frequency, but they are beyond the scope of this article. Just as owning a word processing program does not make the owner an author, an ETD does not make one a piano tuner. The piano technician then tunes the piano to the device. These devices sample several notes within a piano and calculate an extremely accurate tuning based on those samples. We now have extremely advanced devices, most being in the form of software on a laptop or handheld device, that can accurately measure and account for inharmonicity. In the 1970's, the first ETD to account for inharmonicity was introduced and they have continually improved since then. ![]() That is why tunings achieved by those early devices were displeasing. The amount of inharmonicity within any given piano varies due to piano size, string length, string diameter, etc.Įarly ETD's did not account for inharmonicity and tuning by ear did, and still does. In the real world, the overtones are a little higher in pitch than the exact multiple. In a perfect world, the overtones within a piano string would be exact multiples of the fundamental frequency, but they are not. The higher frequencies are commonly referred to as overtones. That tone is composed of the fundamental frequency, which we easily hear, and higher frequencies that are multiples of the fundamental frequency. When a key is struck on a piano, it results in a hammer striking a steel, or steel wrapped in copper, wire and we hear a tone. The devices did not account for an important factor present in all pianos called inharmonicity. It is because of those devices that people gained such disdain for tunings completed by an ETD. Those ETD's did nothing more than measure frequency. So, why do some people insist that their pianos be tuned by ear? Electronic tuning devices (ETD's) were first invented in the 1930's. Related: International Survey on ETD Use for Concert Piano Tuning Just as in the example of writing, using a machine can help a piano technician work more efficiently with less strain on their body, specifically their ears. Once the technician has done so, they can achieve equally beautiful and correct tunings by both methods. The technician must know what makes a proper tuning and how it is achieved, by ear and by machine. Just as an author must master their language, a piano technician must master the theory of piano tuning. What is more important than the method of getting words on paper is the author's understanding and mastery of the language in which they are writing. An essay that is handwritten can be better than, equal to, or worse than a typewritten essay. It is easy to see the fault in such a request. I demand that it be handwritten because handwritten essays are always better.
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