Will we ever see "Sweetened" Tunings on the KPA?

  • If you are worried about these fine margins, maybe it is time to look at an Evertune equipped guitar? It is such a relief to stop worrying about tuning live.

    It's not really about that. Sweetened tunings are a whole "thing" -

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    is a good introduction.


    I play pedal steel guitar, which is generally NOT tuned "straight up" - the sweetened offsets are hugely important to getting this thing to sound right.

    For example, here's a tuning chart used by a lot of steel players with the offsets written in: http://www.hummingbirdmusicstu…/jeff-newman-tuning-3.jpg


    The A, B, C etc along the top are the different pitch changes activated by the pedals and knee levers. All of which are also tuned in offsets, as are the open strings. Without a tuner that can handle the offsets, it's kind of a nightmare! I love my Peterson, but to have this ability within the KPA itself would be amazing.

  • I understand the principle of sweetened tuning and agree it sounds better. It has always been good to adjusted by ear after being 100% on an electric tuner before I heard about the idea.


    You can using a sweetened tuning with an Evertune and then it stays there, which is what I was talking about.


    The one thing I never liked on the Kemper is the tuner and simply stuck to either a rack tuner or clip on sometimes.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • Interesting video. I am constantly using Melodyne to tune 5 string bass players low string and they could do with observing this method.


    Many guitar players that are down tuning already play slightly flat on the low string by ear. I guess hitting the string harder when tuning up would also help counteract the problem?

    Tune as you play. If you are a hard hitter, well tune the guitar hitting the strings harder. When done, compare playing and check with the tuner. I read this tips with bass from an interview with Andy Sneap. Tune the bass and compare with a guitar DI track and tune until the bass is in tune with the guitar DI and then you're ready to hit the record button. Oh, forgot, play clean bass when comparing of course.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • Silly question, why do people not like the standard tuner for regular tuning duties? It seems stable and accurate to me, easy to read etc.

    I sold my TC Polytune and just using Kempers own tuner.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • Tune as you play. If you are a hard hitter, well tune the guitar hitting the strings harder. When done, compare playing and check with the tuner. I read this tips with bass from an interview with Andy Sneap. Tune the bass and compare with a guitar DI track and tune until the bass is in tune with the guitar DI and then you're ready to hit the record button. Oh, forgot, play clean bass when comparing of course.

    Great ideas, but many of the albums I mix have already been recorded and low tension strings always suffer with tuning.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • Great ideas, but many of the albums I mix have already been recorded and low tension strings always suffer with tuning.

    You can't change what's already done so.... But the problem with the low B string on a 5 string bass is a well known problem among bass players.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • You can using a sweetened tuning with an Evertune and then it stays there, which is what I was talking about.


    The one thing I never liked on the Kemper is the tuner and simply stuck to either a rack tuner or clip on sometimes.

    Evertune is very intriguing (so far no one's figured out how to make one for pedal steel - too many variables), but to use it with sweetened tunings, you'd still need your other tuner, right? Wouldn't it be great if the KPA tuner was enough? For me the KPA is almost one-stop-shopping...not quite, but almost :)

  • I sold my TC Polytune and just using Kempers own tuner.

    Same here...I've always known tunings/guitars are a compromise, but compared to a regular tuner, the KPA is fine for me. The strobe view gives me a headache though, I like the little bubble..

  • Silly question, why do people not like the standard tuner for regular tuning duties? It seems stable and accurate to me, easy to read etc.

    I think some people are prone to complaining about anything that is OEM, or free. It's really stupid. The Kemper's tuner is the only tuner that would make my Turbo tuner unnecessary in a pinch. The polytune is terrible.

  • Same here...I've always known tunings/guitars are a compromise,

    This. If some chord(s) are sour in a recording situation, you just re-record, punch in and have the guitar tuned to that chord and edit into place with the rest. Live, well you just have to live it it.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • I think some people are prone to complaining about anything that is OEM, or free. It's really stupid. The Kemper's tuner is the only tuner that would make my Turbo tuner unnecessary in a pinch. The polytune is terrible.

    You're absolutely right some complain about anything that's free. Just check some other big forums like kvr e.g. When I had the polytune I just used it as any regular tuner. Polytune never gave enough good result. The idea about polytuning is a better idea in theory than in practice.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • You're absolutely right some complain about anything that's free. Just check some other big forums like kvr e.g. When I had the polytune I just used it as any regular tuner. Polytune never gave enough good result. The idea about polytuning is a better idea in theory than in practice.

    Some people just want to see the world burn.

    :S

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • Hi Tuner fanboys! :)


    I am thinking of implementing sweetened tuning sometimes in the future.

    However, we have higher prioritized thinks to do at the moment.


    However I ask about the best practice.


    We needed tuning presets, that can be stored and recalled.

    We needed fine tuning values for up to 8 strings.

    Per string we needed two values, one for the target string and the fine tuning value.

    Target strings should be detected automatically when played, and displayed accordingly.

    When strings are played that are not one of the 8 strings, they should be tuned with no offset.


    Is this about how it works on other tuners? Or is there a simpler approach?


    Btw: What‘s wrong with the TC Polytuner?


    CK

  • I quite like the TC Polytune as a tuning pedal for live and the newer versions are very efficient when doing quick tweaks in between songs (strum all-strings-together mode), the v3 has a built-in buffer so is also very cool for pedalboards. The complaint is that they are not quite precise enough for recording purposes as the cents are not indicated and I have to agree that the Peterson style tuner is much more precise. Btw, the Kemper implementing the Peterson type instead of the bubble was an awesome upgrade IMO.

  • I had a polytune for a couple of years and it was a decent basic tuner. The "all strings at once" feature is pretty much useless IMO. No precision or accuracy.


    My personal requirement is just for 6 string guitars. I want the ability to create a "Buzz Feiten" preset and a "James Taylor" one. I'd want it to recognise the string based on pitch and apply the relevant offset just like mentioned by CK above.


    This isn't a biggie for me in the grand scheme as the workaround is easy, but I think it'll be a good selling feature.