Good tuner for Intonation?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sky Blue Lou
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miroslav said:
If you mean to say that because you don't see the additional accuracy of a strobe, that it makes for "easier/faster" tuning...OK, but that sounds a lot like saying, "what I don't know won't hurt me". ;)

Yeah...there is certainly a learning period to using a strobe, just to get use to the "dancing" screen...so it certainly seems more time consuming and tedious, but I'm talking about the whole enchilada...not just one guy with his guitar.

In the studio environment, where I'm tracking lots of individual tracks over time, and they all need to sound like one cohesive "band"...tuning without a strobe is haphazard.....
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I have used strobes extensively in the past, so I am familiar with their operation and my statement stands. A decent inexpensive chromatic along with your good ears will get you all the way there.

I have successfully recorded songs with multiple guitar tracks tuning with a TU-2 tuner and I can assure you that there is no issue with tuning, either among the guitars or with the sequencing workstation that was contributing some of the sounds.

Use whatever you want. But in the absence of knowing any better, please don't try to convince others that your way is either the best or only way.
 
Zaphod B said:
Use whatever you want. But in the absence of knowing any better, please don't try to convince others that your way is either the best or only way.
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Oh...you mean in the same way Muttley has been trying to convince others that HIS way IS the BEST and ONLY way? :D

I never discussed MY way of setting up intonation or tuning...I just said that strobes were a great tool for setting up intonation and tuning, and certainly more accurate than yours or Muttley's or my hearing. That's a fact.
 
miroslav said:
Oh...you mean in the same way Muttley has been trying to convince others that HIS way IS the BEST and ONLY way? :D

I never discussed MY way of setting up intonation or tuning...I just said that strobes were a great tool for setting up intonation and tuning, and certainly more accurate than yours or Muttley's or my hearing. That's a fact.
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You said this, which I quoted above:

"Strobes make tuning easier and faster...PERIOD."

Which is not true. Not in my case, or just about any musician I have ever played with, and there have been more than a few.

Nuff said. Tune however you like.
 
Zaphod B said:
I have used strobes extensively in the past, so I am familiar with their operation and my statement stands. A decent inexpensive chromatic along with your good ears will get you all the way there.

.
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in terms of accuracy very many tuners are as accurate as a strobe. Unless I'm mistaken my big perterson is good to 1/10 of a cent. I believe the Boss TU-3 is also that accurate. I know the Polytune is. I'm betting many cheaper ones are now also.
For intonation adjustments any old tuner will do just as well ...... Muttley's absolutely right on that.

As for speed ...... THAT'S just a matter of what you're used to. I can tune with a strobe easily as quickly as any pedal but I used mine every day for years so I'm comfortable with it.
In fact, I ALWAYS put any pedal tuner on 'strobe' or 'streaming' display mode.
I actually am not so enamored with the Peterson Virtual strobes. I don't find they read nearly as well as a true strobe.
I just think that for the average guitarist the 'sweetened' settings can be useful.
And for the record, I don't use them when I use my VS .... don't even know how to bring them up. LOL

But I've heard too many players rave over how much better they felt their tunings were to dismiss them as useless.
 
Zaphod B said:
You said this, which I quoted above:

"Strobes make tuning easier and faster...PERIOD."

Which is not true. Not in my case, or just about any musician I have ever played with, and there have been more than a few.
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OK...I should have specified that they are easier/faster from a point a *accuracy*...but I thought I said that enough times in previous posts...so no need to repeat it.

Like I said...if a less accurate/cheaper tuner makes things appear faster/easier, and you still like the results...fine....but that in no way removes any value from having/using a strobe...
...and THAT is the main point of others that I've argued against...this notion that strobes are a waste of time and money.

So like...the thousands and thousands of musicians and studios that happen to use a strobe instead of some a non-strobe tuner, are all foolishly wasting their time and money...and only here in THIS thread is the "myth" being exposed...??? :rolleyes:
:D
 
Lt. Bob said:
But I've heard too many players rave over how much better they felt their tunings were to dismiss them as useless.
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I've used the couple of guitar and bass tunings in the VSAM...and I have to say, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't...depens on the instrument, climate and key of the song I'm using it for at the time.
I find the best results when I tune with the VSAM for equal tempered, using the strobe's fine accuracy to get me spot-on...and then I'll temper it by ear from there if needed...it's not always needed. Sometimes the climate or "mood" :D of the wood requires additional coaxing...but I find that if a START with the strobe's accuracy...whatever tempering I may do afterwords falls into place much easier...and more accurately.

Hey...I'm not telling people they MUST use a strobe.
I've just been saying they are very accurate and a great tool for a variety of tuning uses....setting the intonation is just one thing, but I never found it to be easier and more spot-on until I did it with the strobe.
If you want one tuner for a variety of studio uses...a good strobe tuner is it, and once you have it, you're just going to naturally use it for everything....I mean why wouldn't you?
 
OK, my fault, and also I'm incorrect in everthing I posted in this thread.

Now I'm gonna go tune my guitar to an unacceptable degree of accuracy, and I promise to feel bad about it and wish I had a strobe tuner.

Happy?
 
Hey, I've only just got me popcorn - you can't stop now. :mad:
 
:D

Man...why does everyone need to get uptight about it?
It's just a discussion about stupid tuners...
 
I'm gonna keep replying just to see if my theory about Miroslav having to have the last word is correct.... ;)
 
Far be it from me to mess up your theory. :D

I have one of my own...
Some people quote me or reference me in a thread to get a response from me....so they can then turn around and comment how I won't stop responding. ;)

Love - 15...your serve. :)
 
So... the consensus is, you don't need a strobe tuner to get your instrument in tune, you just need a half-decent tuner, plus a good appreciation of the limitations of tuning a stringed instrument and how to minimise its inaccuracies? Do I have that right?
 
Well yeah...if you want to call 2 for and 3 against as some kind if concensus..... ;)

I think the better approach might be to just find what works for you, even if it takes a bit-o experimentation, as it seems people have different ways of approaching the same problem....
...and with the "natural tuning screwiness" of many instruments, I don't think any one way will be more right than another for a given person, but by all means, try a few different ways!

Like our guy Lt Bob who is a pro piano tuner...I'm sure he tunes a piano one way...and another tuner will do it differently.
I've had my pianos tuned by many different guys over the years...and no two did it the same. Sometimes I really like one guys tuning sometimes hated it and had them come back, other times it was fairly "neutral"...not real sweet and not too sour.
 
miroslav said:
Well yeah...if you want to call 2 for and 3 against as some kind if concensus..... ;)

I think the better approach might be to just find what works for you, even if it takes a bit-o experimentation, as it seems people have different ways of approaching the same problem....
...and with the "natural tuning screwiness" of many instruments, I don't think any one way will be more right than another for a given person, but by all means, try a few different ways!

Like our guy Lt Bob who is a pro piano tuner...I'm sure he tunes a piano one way...and another tuner will do it differently.
I've had my pianos tuned by many different guys over the years...and no two did it the same. Sometimes I really like one guys tuning sometimes hated it and had them come back, other times it was fairly "neutral"...not real sweet and not too sour.
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Stop passing yourself off as some sort of expert about this stuff you are not.
 
muttley600 said:
Stop passing yourself off as some sort of expert about this stuff you are not.
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WTF am I "passing myself off as an expert" about...'cuz I'm saying a strobe tuner is a good choice?
Oh...you mean there are bona-fide *experts* on this subject??? :D
Hey...just watch that first step when you get off your high horse. ;)

muttley600 said:
He'd make a wonderful wife.
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Oh...and if you're proposing...sorry, I don't think it would work out, I could never live with someone so full of himself like you are!! :laughings:

OK...now it's your turn again...post back something witty this time. :rolleyes:
 
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