Peterson's iStroboSoft
Hello Kinya. Great presentation as always. I purchased the app and have a question. For a general tuning of any harp. I will use a Spec 20 Key of C as an example, which is the best Temperament used for 12 bar blues? i went to Settings, it brought me to Temperament Root Note (C), then I hit Temperaments which broughtt me to a list. I assume I should choose Just Majar Inttonation for general blues? Is Just minor Intonation only used with minor playing? I don't want to start scraping reeds until I have a better understanding of this concept. Thanks Kinya.
Hi James, good to hear from you again.
The initial default is Equal Temperament. Prior to installing the (Hohner) Harmonica Sweetner package; I only used the Equal Temperament setting with my (R.Epping) Compromised Just recipe.
You bring up a good question however, with the Peterson JI choice... would this lower the 3rd, 6th and 7th scale degrees to the voicing we enjoy hearing from a Blues harmonica? Let me try it out and I will get back to you.
If your plan is to work on other Hohner models, purchasing the Sweetner will save you from having to experiment. Rick Epping already dialed it in. All you have to do is tune to 0 (zero). However, if you enjoy listening to, and already practiced at tuning to the Compromised Just (found with Marine Band Deluxe, Crossover, Special 20, Rocket, Amp) then keep-on-keeping-on with tuning to the recipe you had printed out from this episode. Purchasing the Sweetner would not be necessary in this case.
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Hi Kinya. I look forward to your results on testing the JI choice. I already purchased the sweetener package with the app so would I choose S20 for my Crossover Marine band, Special 20 and Rocket (Low F progressive) and than tune to xero?
Hi James, that is correct. The SP20 setting would work great for you.
Don't forget to set the "Transpose/Capo" to the Key harmonica you want to tune. For example, if you are working on your G Special 20, select +7 |Key:G|. NOTE: although your screen will display all the notes from a C harmonica, you will actually be tuning for a G harmonica.
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
OK. I think I have this program down. As always, you have given me great direction. heading to the workbench with my cell phone. Thanks again
I hope that once Covid-19 is more controlled, you can sit down with David for one of his interviews
Hi Kinya. FYI: Crossover Marine Band Harp Key of A (Trans +9) Temp JMI reads -27 cents. That where I originally tuned this harp. Egual temp reads app -27 also. Using Sweetener S20 it reads -21. How do you interpret these numbers. Do you get similar results? Using all three temps? I will eventually retune to your recommended -10 cents By removing metal from the free end) once I hear from you. Thanks.
Hi James, on the face of it, the Just Major Intonation (JMI) setting on the Peterson iStroboSoft appears to be "trouble" for the harmonica tuner ;o(
Let's try this; you mentioned that you had upgraded your iStroboSoft with the Harmonica Sweetner package. Select OMB (original Marine Band 1896) as your Harmonica Sweetner. To keep things simple, please use your C harmonica for this experiment. The Sweetner will have you land all reeds on 0 (zero) cents. In the background, the Peterson algorithm actually will set your Just Intonation Temperament to the following recipe:
- The C harmonica is chosen when playing 2nd position in song Key G
- The notes of the G maj scale = G, A, B, C, D, E, F#
- Assigning one for G, two for A, three for B, four for C, five for D, six for E, seven for F#
- Lower (flatten) the 3rd note by -14 cents
- Lower (flatten) the 6th note by -14 cents
- Lower (flatten) the 7th note by -32 cents [Look: F# has already been lowered 1 semi-tone to F on our Richter tuned harmonicas, but the F still needs to be flattened -32 cents]
After you had retuned your C harmonica (guided by the iStroboSoft Sweetner, OMB), check to see if the above recipe was achieved by comparing your results with a standard Chromatic Tuner, or replace your iStroboSoft Sweetner back to the default Equal Temperament Tuning.
Let us know!
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Hi Kinya. I plan to try this experiment tomorrow. I only have Key of C on a Special 20 but the logic should be the same. I will keep you informed on the results. Thanks for the detailed explanation.
For certain, exactly the same results.
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Good Morning Kinya. I tuned my Special 20 Key of C using the swetener OMB at 442. I tried to consistanly set to zero with decent sucess. I used a swab and a hair dryer set on cool to remove moisture which gave me better contol. I stayed between +2 and -2. I then compared the readings using the Garage band tuner. The results were quite close to the above receipe for Just Intonation except for high C (10+). Garage band read B (50 cents 0ff) however, Peterson read -2. I believe Peterson is the accurate tuner according to my ear on the 10+. I dare conclude that I should aways use OMB for blues and try to become more accurate with my tuning tech. I like the engraver you recommended for removing metal. The iStroboSoft is a great program. Thanks for posting the videos. Now I have to start "blowing some blues". Mic
Thanks James. After you get a chance to play/record your traditional bluz harmonica songs with your new JIT harmonica, play and listen back to your recordings with the same songs on your Compromised Just harmonica. We would love to get your feedback.
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Great idea. I will let you know the results.
Hi Kinya. Finished watching your latest (4C). Excellent. A bunch of "gold nuggets" observing your tech. I want to clarify, in my head, a few points before I continue tuning my harps with the Peterson app.
1. OMB is the same as Just Intonation temperment, right.
2. The Rick Epping + Harpsmith Tuning recipe is Compromised temperment, right.
3. So, to compare my OME tuned harp (Key A) to a compromised tuned harp (Key A) , I will use EQUAL Trans +9 and tune to your recipe for the second harp, right.
If I get three out of three on my sefl quiz I am ready to tune. Thanks
Hi James, the answer to Q1 & Q2 are Yes.
For Q3; I think you meant OMB and not OME, as your first JIT harmonica that you want to play against your 2nd Compromised Just Tuning harmonica. If that is correct, because you have the Peterson iStroboSoft Harmonica Sweetner, I would recommend you set your Peterson iStroboSoft to either MMB (Modern Marine Band) or S20 (Special 20) Sweetners, and yes, set the Transpose/Capo setting to +9 A harmonica. Now land all notes to zero (0).
Alternatively, clear the Sweetner/Temperament (don't worry, it won't delete the Harmonica Sweetners) and with the EQUAL default setting, target your tuning of all twenty reeds to the Compromised Just Tuning recipe you printed out from Ep 3.
Let me know...
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Yes . Typo. Should be OMB. You answered all my questions. Thanks for responding so quickly. It has been raining for over a week in the southern Willamete valley so today is a great day to "play" with iStrboSoft app. I know we need the rain but geeze!
Say hello to my all my friends in Oregon!
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
Hello All, if you are interested in "getting into the weeds" with the Peterson iStroboSoft app, jump over to HARPSMITH Bench Episode 3, and I will demonstrate the proper steps to take full advantage of this amazing tool.
https://www.bluesharmonica.com/harpsmith_bench
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
I like the iStrobosoft app.I have it running on my kid's iPad, and it works great; with all the sweetener and harmonicas add-on's it's essentially better than any tuner out there.
I wish they'd update the android app, as I have it on my phone, and it works pretty well, but there is no option for sweeteners or custom tuning structures of any kind on the android version. Too bad.
Last year, I upgraded my Mac computer to a new M1 Mac Mini, only to discover that the desktop software from Peterson does not run on the new Apple silicone macs. There has been no update on if and when that will become available. There IS a switch that the folks a Peterson can flip that would allow their iPad app to load on the new M1 macs, and then I'd have access to all of my sweeteners and harmonicas etc.... but alas, they haven't done this. I've asked.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if they don't intend to enable this, as it may very well eat into their profits in terms of sales of the desktop version once it does become available on M1... but in the meantime, I can access neither, so that's too bad.
For Windows-based folks who aren't already using the Peterson software, there is another excellent tuner app called Chromatia Tuner by FMJ Software. It doesn't have pre-designed "sweeteners" per se, but you CAN create your own in a text file. That turns out really well if you want to create your own unique tunings. I think the Peterson software is more user-friendly and straightforward, but the Chromatia Tuner allows a lot more user customization, which I like.
https://www.fmjsoft.com/chromatia.html#main
Speaking of which, I did find it helpful in "dialling in" my Masterharp Sjoeberg tuning table. There are very slight resonance differences between how a blow plate responds to being "Drawn" on the table and how it reacts when blown in a harmonica with cover plates. Having a special sweetener set up for the blow plate and another for the draw plate allowed me to use the table more effectively and then ensure that they sounded great when assembled. Chromatia lets you dial that in much more precisely by adjusting the octave stretch and tweaking specific interval ratios. But you can still approximate that somewhat on iStrobosoft by using A=442 on the draw plates and A=443 on the blow plates and then just allowing the upper octave to be about one or two cents sharper than the last as you move up the blow plate. This approach does negate some of the "tune by ear" approach that the Sjoeberg tables are so good at... but I've found that if I tune by ear on the table, I end up having to make more adjustments by ear once the harmonica is assembled. If I ignore my ears and use the tuner on the table and adjust my tuning for each plate and each octave, then when I get the plates back on a harmonica, there are very few final adjustments needed... although there are always some.
That's just been my experience so far, at least. I haven't been using the Sjoeberg table as long as you, Kinya. Perhaps there are slight differences between the various iterations of the table itself? I have the ST-16M03, but I've blocked off the back row as I'm not using master plates at this time... someday.
I hope Santa brings us all many harmonicas and harmonica-related tools this Christmas!
Cheers!
-Rob
Terrific work all the way around Rob. Thank you
Your Harpsmith, Kinya
I have an additional question on the iStroboSofdt program. I used your Just Intonation compromised chart when I started tuning my harps. As an example, you recommended tuning hole 2 Blow at a -10. Does Peterson automatically adjust these numbers when I set up in JMI so my goal is ooo centts (no movement)?