Dennis in most cases I completely agree ...I have been tuning by ear and feel for nearly 30 years and in the ideal situation trust nothing more than that
I have had a couple situations where tune bot and iDrumTech have come in very handy
one was when I had to change a head in a noisy club while the opening band was playing .
I hit the filter button...pulled up my saved setting for that specific tom.....and boom ...in under 2 minutes I had matched the setting.
set it up on the stage and it sounded exactly how I wanted it to sound.....and I never heard it until line check
another was at a record date where the producer insisted I tune my toms to specific notes .
I would have never been able to do it without the help of an electronic device ....which I almost didn't bring that night
Many of these devices, particularly the TuneBot has only been available for maybe the past year or so, what did you do when you didn't have the apps or TuneBot at your disposal?
What I do is check and tune my equipment before I get to a gig. I remember only a hand full of times when I had to change a head or exchange a piece of hardware before going on. I either ended up going back to my van and changing the head there, since that's where I keep my spares, or I try for a semi quiet restroom or office space at the venue. The process only takes minutes when you know exactly what you are going for. As getting exact notes from the drum kit, I barely have this problem because this is always gone over in our pre-production meetings at the studio. It usually turns out to be the producer flexing his muscles and in the few instances it's not, it turns into more money for the studio while we tune up to the producers specifications using a piano, sine wave generator or something as antiquated and simple as a pitch pipe. This would become even more lucrative for the studio if the tuning had to be drastically changed between tracks.
These are just some of the time proven solutions that I've used over the years. The TuneBot in particular is Not a precision piece of equipment and it is fallible in most every use it is deemed to have, including simple signal readouts in hertz. There will be a time when putting your complete confidence in such a piece of equipment will come back and bite you in the arse, lol. I for one wouldn't put my entire faith in a piece of equipment, especially knowing some of its downfalls, without actually hearing the drum before It, and myself goes on stage, it's a more professional way of doing things, in my opinion, by doing away with one aspect of chance.
BTW, I have yet to see a "pro" drummer use a TuneBot in the studios. Again, for the people who need these tuning devices because of not being able to differentiate between two similar pitches, all well and good, but don't expect miracles. DrumDials are just a pain in the posterior, especially when you have to work fast and accurately.
Dennis