Re: HARP-L Digest V95 #61

[Robert Neville <rneville@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Message-ID: <9503292207.AA08293@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> At  9:09 PM 3/27/95 -0800, Robert Neville wrote:
> >Third question:  I am studying Steve Baker's book.  The advice he give on
> >tuning systems now seems to me to be very hard to follow.  He evidently is
> >able to tune to within accuracies of 1-2 Hz and sometimes even .5 hz.
> >Using the Korg AT-12, which is very similar to the tuner illustrated in
> >the book, I find that it is not very easy to get that close.  For one
> >thing, the natural variation in the pitch of the harp seems to be close to
> >1 hz. For another, the meter is pretty hard to read to that degree of
> >accuracy.  It has a very small scale.  Does anyone else find these
> >suggested tunings unrealistic?
> 
> Lots of good replies on tuning, but none deal with your core question: I
> think the method to get down to the 1 or 2 Hz you speak of, if I'm not
> mistaken, is to hit the recalibrate button for the "A=440", and then tune
> to the center of the pitch of interest, that is, in the case of a C harp ,
> if you wanted to bring the blow 2 E down by 2 hz as Baker suggests, you go
> to calibrate mode, hit your buttons to A = 438  then tune the E to center
> (mine, a Korg DT1, goes A=438 to 445, which equates to - 2 Hz to + 5 Hz. I
> believe your AT-12 also does this).
> 
> If I wanted to go all the way back to what the manufacturer does, that is,
> tune blow 2 E down by 3 Hz, I'd have to start using the cents since the
> recalibrate is only good to - 2 Hz per above.  Stated accuracy of this
> tuner is + / - 2 cents, which is great, however converting ~cents to Hz~
> gets a little tricky, depending on which octave you're in (for the C1 - C2
> octave it averages about 0.04 Hz per cent; yet for C7 - C8 it averages
> 1.744 Hz per cent).  There are 1200 cents per octave or 100 per half step,
> yet there are 32 Hz per octave C1-C2 and 2093 Hz per octave C7-C8. Note the
> C and the 1 refer to specific notes on a piano and this octave includes the
> lowest notes of bass instruments.  Middle C on a piano is C4. The A=440 Hz
> is A4. Piccolos and violins can do C8. The 88 key piano goes from C0-E8.
> 
> Winslow Yerxa had a nice post on cents and intervals a few months back that
> I think also touched on pythagorean, equal and just tunings (all a little
> bit different -- try searching ~cents~).  Music dictionaries at your local
> library or Barnes and Noble also have tables of this stuff (Harvard,
> Oxford).
> 
> A few comments on tuners' capabilities :  I think the Seiko, Korg and other
> analog units are great, but the Korg DT-1 is a little less expensive,
> emulates the analog read-out well, and has a fast *and* slow response --
> ~fast~ being similar to what an analog meter does (not real fast, but jumps
> around a bit for harp), and ~slow~ being specifically designed for wind
> instruments and "the natural variation" associated with them. Seiko offers
> a model 1200 that is similar (digital emulation of analog meter) that has a
> larger range than the Korg, probably has all the features of the 1000, but
> it's a bit more money. The Korg is the size of two 10 hole harps out of the
> case (small), listens to 7 octaves and generates 4 to a 1/4" female jack.
> 
> Sorry for the length of the post and any inaccuracies.  I'm actually a
> novice at this and although I did tweak most of my harps a month ago for
> the first time, I think most of what's here is OK. No spanish fly or
> country tuning yet :-) Comments welcome.
> 
> Harv <HAAndruss@xxxxxxx> -- opinions mine
> 
Well ... I waited a while, but your reply is right to the point and 
really excellent.  Thanks very much.

Robert Neville 
rneville@infomatch