[sdiy] frequency counter

[James Patchell]

In order to get .1Hz resolution (which is the minimum you need, in my 
opinion) takes 10 seconds...there are other ways of getting that 
resolution, but not an easy way.  .01 Hz resolution is even better, and 
that would take 100 seconds.  A stobe tuner gives you instant feedback as 
to what the pitch is.

At 09:34 PM 6/25/2004 -0500, Mark Romberg wrote:
>im a bit confused as to why using a tuner/frequency counter is bad...i 
>appreciate that it may not be necessary, but feedback ssems to indicate 
>that it would be difficult, impossible, or detrimental to do so...why?
>
>have nice days.
>
>On 25 Jun 2004, at 21:28, WeAreAs1 at aol.com wrote:
>
>>
>>In a message dated 6/25/04 6:49:01 PM, mark-romberg at utulsa.edu writes:
>>
>><< anyone know of a simple-ish frequency counter circuit?  beginning to
>>realize im going to need one to tune oscillators and things in the
>>analog world as i dont have perfect pitch :/ >>
>>
>>Mark,
>>
>>For tuning VCO's, a guitar tuner is much more useful than a frequency
>>counter.  I prefer tuners that have an analog (VU meter) readout, such as 
>>the BOSS
>>TU-12H.  You can easily pick one up for about $40 to $50 on Ebay.  A 
>>mechanical
>>strobe tuner is good, too, but kind of overkill for the app.  I've been
>>working professionally on synths for over 25 years; my standards for musical
>>perfection are very high, and I would NEVER tune a VCO with a frequency 
>>counter.  It
>>just doesn't work.  I'm sure others might argue otherwise.  Let them.
>>
>>Michael Bacich
>>
>>BTW - the preferred method for tuning a multi-oscillator synth is to tune
>>just ONE oscillator using the tuner.  Get the scaling, octaves, hi-frequency
>>tracking, and offset as close as you can (according to the tuner), then 
>>tune all
>>of the other oscillators to that first oscillator.  If you use the tuner 
>>on all
>>your VCO's, it may get close, but it will never be perfect (if you use a
>>frequency counter - good luck!).  This applies especially to monophonic 
>>synths
>>such as the Minimoog.  On polyphonic synths (the few that have 
>>user-tunable VCO's
>>and no auto-scaling [not the same thing as auto-tuning!], such as the OBx,
>>OBxa, Jupiter 8, and Jupiter 4), it's OK to tune the first VCO of each 
>>voice to
>>the tuner, but be sure to then tune the second VCO of each voice to the first
>>VCO of the same voice.  (the rules are different for synths that have
>>auto-scaling, such as the Prophet 5, Jupiter 6, OB8, etc. - most of those 
>>synths
>>require very little in the way of calibration)

         -Jim
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