Tune-bot

J.D.

J.D.

Active Member
Hey all. Just got a Tune-bot, annnnnd I'm the Antigeek. Watched a few videos , and have yet to find one that really simplifies it for me. Specifically the reso head on my snare. Wildly different readings from lug to lug, no matter what I do. So I'll assume I'm doing something wrong. Any Tune-bot 101 vids out there?
 
- Don't clamp it to the [snare] drum. Hold it above the lug.
- If a reading is incorrect, move to some others you know are right, then move back to incorrect lug and try again.
- Tap lightly, (even with your finger) to register the hit in Tune bot. (Sometimes I find sound dynamics affects the reading)
- If still incorrect, crank on the drum key to tighten, then loosen the lug and try again.
- Don't try my suggestions in order as I wrote them. Use them in any order.

Tune bot is not perfect, but it is a great tool.

You get to work out its nuances with time.

Also. Make sure to get the smartphone app. Great settings in there to play with.
 
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Winston_Wolf said:
The snare reso is probably the one head on the kit that the Tune Bot doesn't work on very well.
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LOL...took me 2min to find the ONE thing it doesn't do well.
I-P said:
Don't clamp it to the [snare] drum. Hold it above the lug.
If a reading is incorrect, move to some others you know are right, then move back to incorrect lug and try again.
If still incorrect, crank on the drum key to tighten, then loosen the lug and try again.

Tune bot is not perfect, but it is a great tool.

You get to work out its nuances with time.

Also. Make sure to get the smartphone app. Great settings in there to play with.
Click to expand...
Had it clamped, and when hitting the same lug, I'd get a wildly different reading every time.
 
The snare Reso is its greater weakness, but it does work when you know how to finesse it there.

I love the thing on tom toms however.
Live, I pitch shift up the toms toms. Sound insanely good front of house.
 
Drum Dial and your ear should be all you need, I have gotten great results from that on the first try with almost zero extra adjustments.
 
I'm lucky. I have had nothing but success tuning the snare side with my 'bot. That said, that head throws off a lot of harmonics for sure.

I answered this question a few days ago. I'll try to dig up that response and will copy and paste it here.
 
Try this:

Be sure to mute the opposite head when tuning the snare side, and if you don't get the expected reading, move slightly to one side or the other of the lug, and tap again. As soon as you get a reading that you know must be close (i.e. the head is nearly table top tight and you get a reading of 380 - 398 from the lug) hit the filter button to lock out the harmonics that the tuner is picking up.

You can also try tapping more gently, or use a finger instead of a stick. The filter button is your friend. :)
 
And this:

The solution is to simply get a reading from a number of lugs and look for consensus. If you are tuning a six lug rack tom and you get readings of 142-142-143-142-208-142 despite your ears telling you that the pitches are all pretty much exactly the same, you can be sure that the 208 is a harmonic and an outlier. Simply tap one of the lugs reading 142 and then hit the filter button and go back to the 208 and check it again. 99 times out of a 100, it will be +/- a few Hz on either side of 142, just like the others.
 
Well...I didn't use ANY settings, just dialed the DWs in to the keys they suggest. After 50+ years of tuning by ear, I guess I'm pretty dialed in, because I all my lugs were pretty close. However...gotta say, dialing into those keys may be a game-changer. Can't wait to make some noise later.
 
J.D. said:
Well...I didn't use ANY settings, just dialed the DWs in to the keys they suggest. After 50+ years of tuning by ear, I guess I'm pretty dialed in, because I all my lugs were pretty close. However...gotta say, dialing into those keys may be a game-changer. Can't wait to make some noise later.
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This is the point I am always trying to make, ad nauseum.

Even if you are demonstrably good at tuning by ear, checking your work with a tune-bot will still make your drums sound better than ever. If you're not good at tuning by ear (which 40 years of experience has shown to be most drummers) your drums will sound radically better with a little help.

At any rate, great to hear that you got the snare tuned to your liking. I assure you, it gets easier and easier with just a little practice. :)
 
yammyfan said:
This is the point I am always trying to make, ad nauseum.

Even if you are demonstrably good at tuning by ear, checking your work with a tune-bot will still make your drums sound better than ever. If you're not good at tuning by ear (which 40 years of experience has shown to be most drummers) your drums will sound radically better with a little help.

At any rate, great to hear that you got the snare tuned to your liking. I assure you, it gets easier and easier with just a little practice. :)
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Oh, I'm not convinced I got the *snare* right (I'll check later...wife has headache), but the toms sound awesome. I'll try my Rogers later...although there's no handy "A/etc" stamped inside them, so it'll probably be a different ballgame.
 
J.D. said:
Oh, I'm not convinced I got the *snare* right (I'll check later...wife has headache), but the toms sound awesome. I'll try my Rogers later...although there's no handy "A/etc" stamped inside them, so it'll probably be a different ballgame.
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Let me know what kind of tuning you prefer (i.e. low, mid, high) and I would be happy to shoot you some suggestions that you could try out. The great thing is that it is super easy to return to square one if you don't like what you're hearing.

Another tip for you. If you like the sound of a particular drum kit that you hear on YouTube and you can clearly hear individual tom hits (such as when a kit is being reviewed by DCP or Sweetwater (Nick D.)) etc., you can turn up the volume on your speakers and let the 'bot 'listen' to the pitch of the drums and then reproduce it yourself. You need fairly loud, full range speakers for it but most people have them in the house, somewhere.

I used my bot to listen to Drummer's Review review of the Gretsch RN2 since the kit sounded great in that video, and replicated that exact sound on my own RN2. It was a piece of cake. Turns out that they tuned the kit to Perfect 4th intervals, probably using a tune-bot, given how well done it was. So easy to do, and it opens up a whole world of possibilities.
 
yammyfan said:
Let me know what kind of tuning you prefer (i.e. low, mid, high) and I would be happy to shoot you some suggestions that you could try out. The great thing is that it is super easy to return to square one if you don't like what you're hearing.

Another tip for you. If you like the sound of a particular drum kit that you hear on YouTube and you can clearly hear individual tom hits (such as when a kit is being reviewed by DCP or Sweetwater (Nick D.)) etc., you can turn up the volume on your speakers and let the 'bot 'listen' to the pitch of the drums and then reproduce it yourself. You need fairly loud, full range speakers for it but most people have them in the house, somewhere.

I used my bot to listen to Drummer's Review review of the Gretsch RN2 since the kit sounded great in that video, and replicated that exact sound on my own RN2. It was a piece of cake. Turns out that they tuned the kit to Perfect 4th intervals, probably using a tune-bot, given how well done it was. So easy to do, and it opens up a whole world of possibilities.
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Cool to know. Probably beyond my current tech ability but maybe I'll get there. And I think EVERY drum set DCP review sounds awesome. The Rogers are 1966/67(?) and mostly play music from that era at local yacht clubs. So I'm open to suggestions. 12,13,16, 20 + 6 1/2 Dynasonic
 
yammyfan said:
DCP has been tuning its review drum kits with a tune-bot, for years. It's no accident that their drums sound consistently great.
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Oh, for sure. But IDK how much it helps sales of higher $ drums...because they make a Catalina sound as good as an SQ2.
 
J.D. said:
Oh, for sure. But IDK how much it helps sales of higher $ drums...because they make a Catalina sound as good as an SQ2.
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True, and microphones and EQ and compression do wonders for any drum kit. Just goes to show how far intermediate kits have progressed in the last 20 years. Great sound alone is not the only (or best) reason reason to buy a high-end kit.
 
yammyfan said:
True, and microphones and EQ and compression do wonders for any drum kit. Just goes to show how far intermediate kits have progressed in the last 20 years. Great sound alone is not the only (or best) reason reason to buy a high-end kit.
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This is why I bought the Renowns last year. Didn't see (hear) and reason to spend more. That said, I had to sell them 2 weeks ago, and I kept a DW Collectors. But I can't say the DWs sound any/much better.
 
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