ohgrant
 
      ....I plan to avoid situations like that, but curious if there is an absolute quantifiable "sweetened" tuning or a case of fine tuning until it just sounds right?
 

I'd say it's just a matter of taste but since I don't use them I'm hardly an expert. All I can is that when you start changing the tuning of the strings, things are going to sound different. Scales are going to sound different. Chords are going to sound different. You aren't going to be in tune with other instruments unless they are using the same tuning. Try some different tunings and see if they work for you. There is probably plenty of info about that sort of thing online. The people who would know best are the people actually using sweetened tunings.

 Thanks, all the time I've had it, I've never tried anything bit the chromatic tuner. I found this page just now, not sure if I'll have use for "sweeteners" but the alternate tunings is a sweet discovery thanks again.
 
 
Edit: just found out I have the standard version of 1.0. I don't have access to the "instrument tune" funtions. I can upgrade to 2.0 standard for $9.99 or the deluxe version for $59.99. I'm OK with the standard 1.0.

I plan to avoid situations like that, but curious if there is an absolute quantifiable "sweetened" tuning or a case of fine tuning until it just sounds right?

Grant

There is no doubt that this a really good tuner, packed with useful features.

The 'sweetners' would be a thing of taste as there is no preset 'sweetner' for a fretted instrument.

The octave will always occur at the mid-point of a sting, there iis no getting around that simple fact.  As you know you have to adjust the bridge to get that mid-point to occur exactly at the 12th fret.

Of course that position will slightly alter using different gauge strings, prefer a higher action and to some extent because of the arching of the neck so you have to adjust the intonation after changing one of those types of setups.

Although guitars are built to very fine tolerances there will be differences introduced by slight variances in the fret spacings, fret wear which will cause the string to make contact with the fret in a slightly different position for example.  Again the choice of action you prefer will also make slight differences as there is a certain amount of tension added by fingering against a fret vs an open string.

You already know all of this.

No sweetner is going to take all these tiny variances into account in a meaningful and repeatable way on a per instrument basis.

Sweetning could work if say there was a way of a guitar that has already been adjusted for intonation well and tuned, if it then measured the discrepancy between 5 and 17th, 7 and 19th, 3rd and 15th frets It could then caculate an average offset for the entire string length down the fingerboard giving you the best compromise to get perfect pitch all the way down (error diffusion).  That's not what is happening here, you choose a preset for GTR  which likely takes a best guess at that idea from a 'standard' guitar as if there is such a thing.

IMO, sweetning is best done when you choose a guitar and it 'sings' to you when you play it.

As I said it's a fantastic tuner with great features even if you take the 'sweetning' thing as a novelty sideshow which IMO and for the reasons given on this thread, it is.  Of course there are some that will swear by this feature and on the odd 'typical' guitar (if there is such a thing!), it will nail it.

Conclusion: A great tuner even without the marketing magik of the sweetening idea.

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mike_mccue


FWIW,
I don't think the sweeteners are so much a "buzz-feature" as much as a cataloged collection of the minor adjustments that people who work in the business and are very effective at making great sounding harmonies are already using as standard practice.

I think it has been the players that have demonstrated to Peterson that a highly accurate tuner can be used to facilitate this sort of sweetening approach.

I've heard rumors of sweetened tunings coming out of Nashville for most of my life. The chance to get to experience or tune to them with some sort of preset function seems very attractive.

It's not anything all that special... If you work on guitar intonation enough you'll realize that there are always compromises on the fret board.

The part that is special is that someone has figured out that there is a best compromise, for example, for playing in "G" and another small shift for playing in "E". That info used to be rarefied to the extent that it seemed like secret recipes, but now it seems like you can get access to that info with Strobosoft.

It has always fascinated me... and I was wondering if the Strobosoft stuff really does give you access to the info and insights the session players have been using quietly as part of their day job expertise.

I guess I'll get it and check it out for myself.


Thanks everyone.


Very best regards,
mike

That's just a different view on exactly what I just said.

'cept I stuck with the basic facts rather than any romantic notions.

Blimey, who'd have thought the 'science' man could be seduced by fairy dust after all...

It's not the preserve of Nashville 'legends' to be able to hear and play the sweetness in, if you listened to any provicial symphony orchestra you'll hear rookie players using their ears to get at the sweetness in the most natural way.  It's putting frets in that makes it all a compromise.

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mike_mccue


:-)

It is science... that is the part that fascinates me. The old timers quantified what they were doing with the highly accurate mechanical strobe tuners and now that info can be stored in a data base instead of a players' or producers' personal notebook.

This makes it very easy to share or sell the info.

:-)


Anyways... I was just wondering if anyone had been using it to do the sweetened tunings and had any comments.



best regards,
mike

Yes they could quantify those settings based on their own specific beloved and often 'quirky' instruments.

Hopefully what I have written will put some of the comments those using it will have into some kind of 'real' perspective.

I wasn't out to shatter your dreams.

Go listen to your nearest symphony orchestra you'll get the idea that the average player knows in a few years pretty much everything that 'Boney Back Bailey' learned in a mis-spent lifetime.

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mike_mccue


Yeah but Boney has more soul in his fret pinky then most of them cats in penguin suits have in boff hands.

You'd be surprised.

Do I need to warn you that you're a veering in to the territory of myths and legends.  Or is that an indulgence you keep solely for your guitars?

What I like about that thing is you can quickly set-up an entire ensemble to some uncommon tuning and variation of Concert pitch in a matter of moments and all be up and jamming in some weird and wonderful areas together.  No longer will your lead dulcimer and zither section have to 'sit this one out'.

It's a must have in any studio setting for that reason alone.

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