Extensive Review of Resotune II

Im in 100% agreement with your findings. I've been using the Resotune for a couple of years now. NOTHING ELSE works this well (or in this manner). For all those "use your ears" guys, sorry, this kicks your ass. No ones ears are anywhere close to the precision you can get time after time. With your ears (or a Tunebot et all) you still have to hit the drum exactly in the same place with the exact same force. That's simply not possible. The Resotune generates a tone that creates a standing wave on the head so that tone is identical in a given diameter to whatever the consistency of the head is.

If you get a chance to try one in person you'll see in seconds as you perform the "clear lug" function that the drum immediately begins to "sing" as you twist the tension rod into the correct spot on the meter.

Yes, it's a bit more pricy than some other things. But you get what you pay for and if you would simply like to once and for all fix your tuning problems then this is it.
 
I remember when RESOTUNE first came out, I was at the crossroads of 'this is 'it' gotta have it' ready to buy, but never did. I talked to the inventor on the phone back then, and he said he was working on an affordable model, it was $300+ when I enquired.

So what's the difference between the older $300+ model and this new cheaper one? And can you hit on some more positives and negs about using the unit(s) in the real world.

In the drummer Joe YouTube vid what's going on exactly. Did the bottom head already get tuned?

Is the drum on a stand, could the alternate head be muted/against the floor when 'clearing'?

What is the procedure for tuning the bottom head to a different note to effect decay?
 
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Somewhat ironically, I recently threw away an original Resotune, which I bought new and just couldn't figure out how to use. I was totally sold on the idea when I got it, as I am now. Maybe I'm too old to get it. I DO get the TuneBot, and if the Resotune II was as easy to use, I'd probably try it again.

The original one was really just too hard to use for a layman. Even the directions were confusing.

Is this new one genuinely simple to use?
 
I remember when RESOTUNE first came out, I was at the crossroads of 'this is 'it' gotta have it' ready to buy, but never did. I talked to the inventor on the phone back then, and he said he was working on an affordable model, it was $300+ when I enquired.

So what's the difference between the older $300+ model and this new cheaper one? And can you hit on some more positives and negs about using the unit(s) in the real world.

In the drummer Joe YouTube vid what's going on exactly. Did the bottom head already get tuned?

Is the drum on a stand, could the alternate head be muted/against the floor when 'clearing'?

What is the procedure for tuning the bottom head to a different note to effect decay?

When clearing the lugs it doesn't really matter if the other head is muted. It matters the most when tuning the fundamental pitch of the drum.

Decide which notes you are targeting, then tune the heads one at a time to those notes. easy-peasy.
 
Somewhat ironically, I recently threw away an original Resotune, which I bought new and just couldn't figure out how to use. I was totally sold on the idea when I got it, as I am now. Maybe I'm too old to get it. I DO get the TuneBot, and if the Resotune II was as easy to use, I'd probably try it again.

The original one was really just too hard to use for a layman. Even the directions were confusing.

Is this new one genuinely simple to use?

It is simple to use, once you "get" it. I took my time playing with it, reading the instrux and playing with it some more to get real familiar with it.
 
Meh. Call me once you can use it in a noisy club with music on the house system.

Call me a curmudgeon if you like, but I have no space in my budget (of either money or patience) for gadgets of limited use to me.
 
I remember when RESOTUNE first came out, I was at the crossroads of 'this is 'it' gotta have it' ready to buy, but never did. I talked to the inventor on the phone back then, and he said he was working on an affordable model, it was $300+ when I enquired.
Yes that would be me.... When I introduced RESOTUNE (over ten years ago) it was closer to $350...
So what's the difference between the older $300+ model and this new cheaper one? And can you hit on some more positives and negs about using the unit(s) in the real world.
Since the RESOTUNE II is the second generation product, I included improvements based on customer feedback, "and" used more modern technology, to increase the processor power (16b @ 7MHz) and lower current draw from a class D audio amp to improve battery life. the RESOTUNE is smaller and lighter that the old RESOTUNE. (I tried to make it even smaller but it doesn't work right without the two speakers.) If i could do this with a sniffer I'd be selling an IPHONE app. It is against my religion to sell a hardware product that could be done with software and a smartphone. :)

I changed the general organization and displays. The first generation mainly looked at the lug note (you had to press multiple buttons to get at the fundamental note.) In response to customer feedback The new version reads and displays both the fundamental and lug notes. Then you can fine tune one or the other by pressing the right "tune" button.
In the drummer Joe YouTube vid what's going on exactly. Did the bottom head already get tuned?
I suspect so... I think you are talking about a video by Joe Bertram. I wanted to get Eric to do a video for me (like pretty much everybody else), but he got tangled up in a lawsuit and can't look at tuners these days.
Is the drum on a stand, could the alternate head be muted/against the floor when 'clearing'?
You could "clear" with the resonant head damped (the lug resonance is local to each head) but not sure why you would want to. I prefer to tune a drum as you would play it...so nothing artificially damped.
What is the procedure for tuning the bottom head to a different note to effect decay?

You just tune the bottom head to a different lug note. In case this isn't obvious you turn the drum upside down so RESOTUNE can read and measure that head.

The basic invention, my (patented) strategy to clear lugs, is pretty much the same as the first generation, but the new version is faster at performing scans to read the drum tuning, and hopefully easier to use (I tried).

John Roberts
 
Meh. Call me once you can use it in a noisy club with music on the house system.

Call me a curmudgeon if you like, but I have no space in my budget (of either money or patience) for gadgets of limited use to me.

It probably works about the same as tuning by ear, or a note sniffer, in that environment.

I recall being at PASIC with my first generation RESOTUNE (in the quiet section) and my demo drum was vibrating and generating a level reading on the RESOTUNE just from the ambient noise. (I gave away ear plugs at that show.)

I do not suggest trying to use RESOTUNE in such an environment, but it would probably work. You might need to repeat a measurement if you bass player hits the wrong notes at the wrong time. :-( I was able to demo RESOTUNE at PASIC. If you've been there you know how noisy that can be, even in the quiet section.

A drum dial will work in that environment but it will only get you so close. I sold drum dials on my website for use rough tuning, like when changing heads, and Steve Fischer (of Drum Dial) is an old customer (first and second generation). Here's a picture of his tympani with a RESOTUNE sitting on it
IMG_0107-300x225.jpg
Ckeck here for Steve's personal comments about RESOTUNE http://circularscience.com/reviews-and-users

I understand the difficulty in spending money for something you can't hit. If you can get good tone by ear, more power to you. Many can't or else i wouldn't do this.

Life is too short for poorly tuned drums.

John Roberts
 
Somewhat ironically, I recently threw away an original Resotune, which I bought new and just couldn't figure out how to use. I was totally sold on the idea when I got it, as I am now. Maybe I'm too old to get it. I DO get the TuneBot, and if the Resotune II was as easy to use, I'd probably try it again.

The original one was really just too hard to use for a layman. Even the directions were confusing.

Is this new one genuinely simple to use?
The Tune bot is a note sniffer. Strike the drum head near a lug and it reads the pitch. In theory if you hit the exact same spots each time, with the same force, by each lug and make them all read exactly the same you will have a clear drumhead. RESOTUNE has an additional step after tuning the lugs to pitch where we set up a standing wave in the drumhead at the lug resonance then measure the phase or delay response between the sent and returning waveform. This allows a higher level of precision for lug matching (sorry other guys it's patented).
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I invested a lot of time and effort making the second generation easier to use than the first. One complication in the first generation is that I was learning about drum physics on the job so to speak (no textbooks describe how to do this. I bought the only percussion physics book-ROSSI.).

The original mechanical design came first and I did not have enough of the right buttons in the right places, so some operations that I later determined were useful required two or three button presses to get there (mea culpa). I could have thrown away the first production run but then it would be even more expensive to sell these. So I added the extra functions with more complicated software. :-(

For the current version I tried to make the user interface intuitive and seamless. Press any button from any mode and it should do something useful and logical. Want to jump to another mode just press the other button.

#1 sit it on top of the drum and press "Find Both". It will scan the entire note range and read the lowest fundamental (drum note) and next higher resonance (lug note). After that it will jump into tune mode and fine tune the lug note. To tune to a different lug note just start twisting lugs and it will follow you on the display. If you want to target a drum note just press tune drum and it will fine tune that. Of course for lug note you will need to move resotune around to read by each lug. Tune drum can read from one spot, but you still need to adjust all the lugs a similar amount. After tuning to a target drum (fundamental note) you need to jump back to tune lug mode and make them all the same (no matter what note they are).

#2 when finished targeting your note voicing, or just capturing the current lug note, press "Clear Lug" button to jump to clear mode. Now the clear mode display will indicate the clear status of the lug that RESOTUNE is pointed at. The first will be the reference, then move around to each lug and clear them one at a time.

The RESOTUNE II is already a few tears old, but the review is new (Thank you Magnus).

John Roberts
 
And how do I tune a drum or all of my drums if I want them to be higher in tone. Say a more jazz tuning? And in the latest edition of Drum Magazine which I got today, Richard Danielson, who is on the cover said, "...I don't want to get too romantic about it, but music is not about perfection. " I can buy a lot of heads or other drum related goods for the price of that machine and still tune by ear well enough that in a crowded venue playing with a band that no one is going to tell the difference. And this thread goes so well with this thread, "http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127781, about homogenized music in todays world, that drums don't need to be perfect.
 
And how do I tune a drum or all of my drums if I want them to be higher in tone. Say a more jazz tuning?

I would assume that you would simply tune them to a harmonic of the fundamental, so that you still take advantage of the shell's musical properties.

@john_r

How wide is the range of a shell's fundamental? Is it really just a 1-note wide narrow peak, or is it shaped like a bell curve that you can ballpark (3 notes wide for example)?

I only ask because many of us are far more interested in a musical increment between toms (maj 4th or 5th) than we are about a particularly optimized tone. Can we have our cake and eat it to?
 
I'm sure drums have more than a 1 note range to still sound good. My 12 inch Renown tom is low now but I have had it much higher without trouble. It may not pass the electrical engineer oscilloscope test but we are talking drums here. The other problem I see is that I have to take my drums off of the rack or stand to make them level for this to work properly. And what about snares. Mine are all pretty much cranked on the batter and I'm sure that is not the fundamental pitch for the shell.
 
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And how do I tune a drum or all of my drums if I want them to be higher in tone. Say a more jazz tuning?
For higher pitch turn the lugs clockwise.
And in the latest edition of Drum Magazine which I got today, Richard Danielson, who is on the cover said, "...I don't want to get too romantic about it, but music is not about perfection. " I can buy a lot of heads or other drum related goods for the price of that machine and still tune by ear well enough that in a crowded venue playing with a band that no one is going to tell the difference. And this thread goes so well with this thread, "http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127781, about homogenized music in todays world, that drums don't need to be perfect.

Indeed they are percussion instruments so more about thud than ring.

But better is always better...

In my experience a well tuned (cleared) drum is more fun to play, but YMMV.

JR
 
I would assume that you would simply tune them to a harmonic of the fundamental, so that you still take advantage of the shell's musical properties.
Drums do not exhibit simple harmonics, Since the overtone is not just multiple transits over the same path as the fundamental, overtones have non integer multiples. For more than you want to know see... http://circularscience.com/about-drums
@john_r

How wide is the range of a shell's fundamental? Is it really just a 1-note wide narrow peak, or is it shaped like a bell curve that you can ballpark (3 notes wide for example)?
I am not sure I understand the question. The range of a drums fundamental depend on the mass and tension of "both" heads. So the same shell can be happy over a range of fundamental tunings with different heads and tension.
I only ask because many of us are far more interested in a musical increment between toms (maj 4th or 5th) than we are about a particularly optimized tone. Can we have our cake and eat it to?

You can adjust the delta or difference between notes independent of the actual notes (just the difference between them) . When playing a run across the toms you want a musical spread of notes, whether the audience recognizes actual notes played is questionable.. (do they recognize guitar notes... only when very wrong. ) If striking dead center for runs you want to focus on tuning the fundamental notes, it striking off-center the lug note will dominate (most strike dead center for such runs).

JR
 
For higher pitch turn the lugs clockwise.


Indeed they are percussion instruments so more about thud than ring.

But better is always better...

In my experience a well tuned (cleared) drum is more fun to play, but YMMV.

JR

I understand turning the lug screws will raise the pitch but how do I know if all are in tune with each other using this machine.
 
I understand turning the lug screws will raise the pitch but how do I know if all are in tune with each other using this machine.

Resotune needs to be moved around the drumhead and pointed at each lug one at a time. After they all agree that they are tuned to the same lug note, then you shift into clear mode and fine clear the lugs to agree with each other.

Clear mode is different than tune lug, it operates at the already determined lug note and fine tweaks the phase shift between individual lugs. Far more precise that just adjusting pitch.

JR
 
I understand turning the lug screws will raise the pitch but how do I know if all are in tune with each other using this machine.

I believe (but I may be laboring under false understanding) it's finding the low fundamental of the head for where the head is tensioned at the time, so If it's tuned high and you do a "find both" it will find the fundamental of the drum at that higher tension and also the lug note for that tension. Change the tension to a lower tone and the tuner will find the corresponding fundamental for you to fine tune the lug notes to clear the head.
 
I believe (but I may be laboring under false understanding) it's finding the low fundamental of the head for where the head is tensioned at the time, so If it's tuned high and you do a "find both" it will find the fundamental of the drum at that higher tension and also the lug note for that tension. Change the tension to a lower tone and the tuner will find the corresponding fundamental for you to fine tune the lug notes to clear the head.

Yes, after "find both" when it transitions to "tune lug" it will follow the actual lug resonance. It will follow the tuning down as you adjust the lugs. After a significant interval it will jump into tune drum for one sweep just to confirm the current fundamental note then return to sweeping around the lug note for fine tuning.

Clearing the head is done with the lug overtone. The fundamental note does not make a standing wave (more like a piston moving in/out) so does not support RESOTUNE's clear mode which measures phase shift or time delay in the standing wave relative to the original source.

JR
 
how do I know if all are in tune with each other using this machine.

That's pretty much a judgement call you have to make for yourself. Are you tuning to 3rds, 4ths, fifths, here comes the bride? Once you decide which you are tuning to the machine will tell you the note intervals but you have to pick the first note.

I usually tune one tom (by ear) until it sounds about right. I might even pick a tom note from a recording and tune to that (roughly). Then I use the Resotune to dial it in. The lug clearing feature will just allow that drum to sing out. You will instantly hear that you are there as the clear lug LEDs turn green. So once you have one drum where you want it the machine will read you the fundamental pitch. If you are tuning to say 4ths then you go to the next drum and perform "find note" to a 4th higher than your reference drum and so on.
 
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