[sdiy] frequency counter

[Ian Fritz]

At 02:48 PM 6/26/2004, WeAreAs1 at aol.com wrote:

>Yes.  These are musical instruments, designed to interface directly with our
>ears (well, maybe you also need some speakers and some air...).  As such, 
>they
>should be tuned for those ears.
>
>BTW, I have hired a lot of piano tuners in my time, and none has ever used an
>electronic device to aid with the tuning.  They use their ears and a tuning
>fork.  They even managed to do subtle "stretch tuning" with only their ears.
>This has been the case even in situations where the tuner needed to tune a
>piano in a noisy environment (in a noisy rock club or busy concert 
>hall).  They
>weren't just being stodgy traditionalists, they were doing what they knew 
>worked
>best.
>
>I'm not suggesting that Ian or anyone else get rid of their counter,
>especially because it's useful during the design and troubleshoot process 
>(also, they
>look very cool on the bench).  I do, however, suggest that once the design is
>set, that we tune our musical instruments with our ears.

No disagreement with any of this.  However, it doesn't sound like you are 
relying on your ear alone -- there is always something you are beating 
against, no?  Certainly the piano tuner starts with a tuning fork and then 
uses beats of one note against another.  I knew one person once who had 
perfect pitch within 1/8 of a semitone (12 cents), but that is quite rare, 
I think.