Tune Bot - Worthwhile or Not?

Another downside occurred to me.. someone above mentioned always having their drums at the same tuning using it.. if i had done that i might have found a tuning that sounded OK.. and just said good enough, but tuning by ear my tuning has changed over the years and i might not have found the place i am with my tuning now if i had just stayed locked into what i decided i liked at once time and just kept repeating that..

Just something to think about.. I found it good for matching lugs when i started tuning though.. Honestly tuning was the most frustrating thing for me to learn. I set aside like 2 hours every sunday for months just to loosed all my heads and re-tune the kit. It's practice like anything else.
 
I have no intention of getting one, being perfectly happy with my own tuning methods; but I don't look down on anyone who has one and for whom it works well.
 
I think a Tune Bot is great for people who build or rebuild and sell drums. They are great for a Guitar Center drum department.

However, for a giging drummer, I don't think they are useful. Have you ever noticed how drums sound different in different venues?
Or how drums sound different as the heads wear out? It's better to learn how to quickly tune your drums by ear.

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So far I can say it's a time saver. For the past 3-4 years, I tune before rehearsals and shows very quickly, thanks to the app where you can save your settings for different kits/situations - it takes me all of 10 min. now.

Every rehearsal/show - my drums sound damn good.
 
The one thing that the tune bot doesn't address is the parallel-ness of the flesh hoop...in relation to the bearing edge of the drum it's on.

I found that the most perfectly tuned drum...that sounds the best it is capable of sounding...it's flesh hoops are completely parallel with the bearing edge of the drum....and here's the hard part...on all 360 degrees of the perimeter. The drum dial, by virtue of it's design, is kind of all about that. I get the most pure note the drum can make when the flesh hoops are perfectly parallel.

A perfectly tuned head according to a tune bot...that head can still be cocked in relation to the bearing edge. That's my problem with the tune bot. It's a dealbreaker for me. You can get identical readings with a cocked head...but the drum isn't all it can be. That's why I don't use one. I have one. I prefer the DD but at this point I just really need my ears. Bass drum resos is where I need a DD the most, but I can still tune it without one obviously.

Also...if your tune bot tuning yields all identical readings and you are happy with your drums tone...that doesn't mean that everyone will like the tone. There is the batter/reso pitch relationship that is the real fine tuning of the drum. That's where people's preferences start to differ. Then when one drum is tuned good...you have to tune all the others good and make them sound good together with complimentary pitch relationships. Tuning is a real art. A perfectly tuned drum set is a thing of beauty. It's an achievement all on it's own. You can't say that about most all of the other instruments.

One person's version of a well tuned drum, may not match at all, my idea of a well tuned drum, so in the end, it still comes down to the tone the drummer will be satisfied with, tune bot or not.
 
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I think that touches on it.

It's not a cure all. It's just a useful tool.

I've played on drums that were out of round or just had uneven hoops and they were actually still possible to make sound good, really good, but to achieve that the lugs were anything but even.

I don't have a Tune Bot. I use the iDrum app when changing heads. I use it in a very basic way and it's semi-useful. I get the pitch and then check if there's an issue. I tune up evenly, so it's not like there's ever gonna be any real bag gaps.

It's not much of an investment, so I might get one, if for nothing but doing some measurable experimentation. If you find something that really works for a drum it's just wise to measure and write it down.
 
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I have nothing but good things to say about my Tune bot. I could never tune well and it showed me what I was doing wrong, and my drums sound infinitely better. I find it especially helpful for my large (8 pc) kit.
 
Never used a Tune Bot, but love my Drum Dial. I usually tune by ear, unless I'm just not in the mood or pressed for time. That's when DD is golden. I just replaced batters and resos with heads I've never used before. DD came in handy as I first started tensioning the heads to make sure they were even. Once I started tuning, I tuned by ear, till I found a happy spot, then retuned again later after break in. I then wrote down my settings for faster tuning in the future. DD and TB are both great tools as references for others too. When asked what the drums are tuned to, you can give real values, instead of I tuned it to sound good!

Either would be a worthwhile tool in the right situations.
 
I think Andy makes a great point-and a cautionary tale about use of technological tools-they shouldn't replace our human skill just be an aid or tool to help us get the job done.Sadly I see a dependence on technology such we are becoming the tool.
 
I have nothing but good things to say about my Tune bot. I could never tune well and it showed me what I was doing wrong, and my drums sound infinitely better. I find it especially helpful for my large (8 pc) kit.

+1 I was never very good at tuning a drum, but now can not believe how good I can get them to sound.
 
could not disagree more

the only time I use it is on the gig when I cannot hear properly to tune by ear ... works great at festival type gigs as well when you are changing heads or tuning outside where nothing ever sounds quite right ...

Well I stand corrected. I never thought of that. You are correct, a Tune Bot could be useful on some gigs.
One time I was in an outdoor situation where I could not hear my drum tuning because of the background noise.

But I'm not in enough situations where I would need one.


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I bought the $100 one, and a Drum Dial at the same time---tried both, and returned the Tune Bot---The drum Dial gets the head tension even---I can get the note I want on my own---I found the Tune Bot to be a pain in the ass!!
 
I use the drum dial for about 1 1/2 years now. What can I say, though I am used to tuning by ear, it makes a big difference in terms of time to use or not to use the dial. It speeds up the whole process a lot, and especially certain drums I struggled hard in the past tune up easily now.
I still apply a little ear correction at the end, but the overall advantage is enormous.
 
Well I stand corrected. I never thought of that. You are correct, a Tune Bot could be useful on some gigs.
One time I was in an outdoor situation where I could not hear my drum tuning because of the background noise.

But I'm not in enough situations where I would need one.


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It's funny how I'm in that situation all the time - need to tune up before a show - always in really loud rock/metal clubs, or loud rehearsal studios and "busy" recording studios. There's really no substitute.
 
I picked it up to help me tune my bass drums to be identical. I would say I am a pretty good tuner, but the Tunebot helped me tune faster. I tuned my basses within 20 minutes and they sounded great. I can swap out heads, tune them fast, and play. Its a great tool, but you still need to listen and use the same tuning techniques; star pattern. I think it is a great time saver.
 
I'd say it's a useful tool. I used the iDrumtune app for a while. Since picking up a TuneBot Gig, I can say that the app wasn't as good at handling kick drum frequencies as the Tune Bot. On my kick drums (24" and 26"), the Tune Bot was better. But, for snares and toms, both gave pretty good results. To each their own.

BTW, the combo of using DTS tuners on my toms and the Tune Bot means I can try several tunings in literally seconds. Makes it amazingly quick and simple to get a good sound. And, I don't even have to remove my toms from their stands! :)
 
Thanks for all the input.

I have placed an order for a Tune Bot, and I'll report back when I've had a chance to have a play with it.
 
never owned one, but downloaded 2 apps for iphone that do the same thing, they helped for a while and are real good at perfecting your art, but after a while i stopped using them and went by ear. i only go back to it after im struggling to lock a tone in,

so kinda helpful but no benefit for practice and playing around on your own with what sounds good
 
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