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Topic: Inexpensive phone tuner with custom sweetened note settings |
Schy Willmore
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 28 Dec 2018 7:09 pm |
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Not wanting to drop lots of money on a tuner that can save my custom sweetened notes I looked into phone apps. There's only one that I can find that will save CUSTOM sweetener settings.
Airyware Tuner (iOS and Android)
There aren't clear instructions, however. After a few email exchanges with the developer I have these steps.
Presets: It will work fine if you don't select anything. I've set it to Chromatic / Resonance Low. Whatever you choose, the custom sweetening you set up will over-ride it (so I'm told).
Temperament: This was the tricky part. Select "Stretch" instead of the the more obvious "Sweeten." You're given a text-entry field to code the note adjustments. (See below)
I'll use this as an example. Here's what I want (it will cover all open strings along with my 3 pedals / 5 levers):
A2 0 (not on PSG but a place to start in the code)
A#2 +10
B2 +8 (string #10)
C3 0
C#3 -6
D3 +6
D#3 +2
E3 +10
F3 -18
F#3 +6
G3 +6
G#3 -4
A3 +4
A#3 +10
B3 +8 (string #5)
C4 0
C#4 -6
D4 -4
D#4 +2
E4 +10
F4 -18
F#4 -2
G4 +6
G#4 -4 (string #1)
A4 +4
This is the code that will make that happen (you can copy and paste it into the text field):
Steel : A2 0 10 8 0 -6 6 2 10 -18 6 6 -4 4 10 8 0 -6 -4 2 10 -18 -2 6 -4 4
"Steel" is my name for my custom Stretch setting.
"A2" is the note that I'll start with
"0 10 8 0 -6..." are the adjustments starting at A2 and going to A4
Bringing the signal into your phone in a noisy environment (not relying on the phone's microphone) is important. A traditional 1/4" cable to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter might not give you enough of a signal to get a good reading. Just to be safe, I bought the Peterson Adapter for $14 (Plus a 3.5mm to Lightning connector since my new iPhone doesn't have the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack).
One final note... The developer put it out as a free app and seems to work fine (though after a few days you'll have to suffer through pop-up adds). But if you like it you might want to throw $5 their way. It beats spending a couple hundred dollars. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 29 Dec 2018 10:18 pm
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The Peterson adapter I bought several years ago doesn't have batteries... and if you don't isolate it from your guitar, it sucks tone used with my iPhone. Does yours take batteries? I have a Teac interface that takes 2xAA batteries that doesn't suck tone.
_________________
New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329 |
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Schy Willmore
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 30 Dec 2018 6:27 am
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It does not have batteries and I'm a little suspect about it's usefulness for signal strength. But I did want something purpose-built for pulling a 1/4" signal into the appropriate line-in on my phone, given how careful you have to be with getting the right TRS 3-ring adaptors.
And I do use a line-out on my volume pedal for the tuner so that it's not in the signal chain. |
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David Becker
From:
California, USA
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Posted 12 Jan 2019 10:14 am
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Thanks for posting this, Schy. I tried iStrobosoft on my iPad and didn't like the results. Couldn't customizde the sweetening and even with the Peterson adapter (plus a male/male 1/4" adapter), the higher strings on my 8-string lap steel require fairly vigorous plucking to get enough signal to "see" in iStrobosoft. I downloaded the Airyware Tuner to my android phone, followed your instructions, and was able to set my particular C6 sweetening. The Peterson adapter is pretty short, and it makes it awkward to balance the phone and tune. I bought a 3.5mm stereo to 1/4" cable, 3 ft, to use. With it I do have a bit of an issue with signal strength, though, which requires that I pluck all the strings pretty vigorously to get the signal to show on the phone. I'm wondering if there is any fairly simple way to boost the signal strength.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions. |
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Oliver Samland
From:
Hamburg, Germany
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Posted 15 Jan 2019 8:35 am
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Schy, also thanks from my end, particularly for pointing out that one has to select "stretch" instead of "sweeten". I carry this great app around since 7 years now, always wishing it had a custom sweetening feature implemented that works for me. Now I wish I had the knowledge...
Your settings sound great, too. Very handy that there is no need for an extra preset for pedals/levers. That beats my Peterson HD in comfort. |
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