Supraman5x14
Member
Drum Dial. Gets me in the the ballpark, with even tension all around, and then my ears, and sense of feel take it from there.
Drum Dial or Tune Bot?
- Thread starter dirtyclinic
- Start date
TBH I haven’t used it since either, but I still have it.
dirtyclinic
Member
I got the Tune-Bot in the mail yesterday. I tuned 3 drums last night. I gotta say, I really need to practice and figure out how to use this thing. I am going to watch some YouTube videos and do some reading today. I think I got my 3 toms tuned okay but it took forever and I am not sure if I did it quite right.
yammyfan
Senior Member
You're having the same experience that most people report. It takes a few tries to get really comfortable with the device. Not to worry: you will.
Great idea to read up and watch videos. One of the things that takes getting used to is the fact that you can appreciate the relationship between the batter side and resonant heads more than ever. The whole higher/lower/identical tuning thing brings greater possibility but with it, a certain amount of complexity. It's natural to wonder if you've got that part right.
Stick with it and just know that you'll get better at using it with time. Odds are that your drums are better tuned now after your very first try than they ever were when you were just winging it.
madjack956
Active Member
I watched a couple YouTube videos the day before mine arrived. I tuned 5 toms in no time the next day. I left my snare and kick alone as I like their sound.
dirtyclinic
Member
The problem I was having is that I would tighten a lug up to the freq I wanted but then the other lugs were magically up to pitch too.
yammyfan
Senior Member
That's part of the learning curve.
Soon enough you'll discover that the lug opposite the one you're tuning has an effect too, and the adjacent ones as well. If a lug I'm working on is down a couple of Hz I'll generally leave it alone as I know that bringing the others up to pitch will bring that one up too.
As a rule, I loosen all tension rods to zero and bring them up to finger tight first to ensure even tensioning. I then bring them all up together in a star pattern, 1/4 turn at a time. I'll start measuring and fine tuning when I'm in the ballpark. That way, I'm assured that all of the lugs are evenly tensioned and that I can trust the readout. If something seems off. I back all of the rods out and start again.
That's my method for head swaps and wholesale changes to the kit, like when I'm changing all of the intervals. Once you get the drums in tune, tweaks are all that are needed to keep them there.
Yes— just do only very small moves (< 1/8 turn) at a time and follow the “star type” pattern and you’ll get them all where you want them. And remember that if you need to go back DOWN (loosen) then you need to overshoot it down a little bit extra and back up a bit before rechecking the pitch. As with guitar strings, the drum head seems to stabilize only on the tightening moves.
I got the Tune-Bot in the mail yesterday. I tuned 3 drums last night. I gotta say, I really need to practice and figure out how to use this thing. I am going to watch some YouTube videos and do some reading today. I think I got my 3 toms tuned okay but it took forever and I am not sure if I did it quite right.
Also, just for a sense of scale, if you need to increase a head’s pitch by a small amount like 5-10hz, that would take like barely a little touch at each lug, not even a quarter turn or anything. A half turn is a lot!
felonious69
Silver Member
With a drum dial, when the heads stretch from time and use and lose pitch, does the tension change commensurately, not as much, more?
Will you have to change your "target" tension?
Will you have to change your "target" tension?
Durbs
Senior Member
Once you've found a setting you like, add it over at:
[/shameless plug of my thread]
FWIW, I fall into the "guitarists use tuners, why shouldn't drummers" camp? Yes, you can do it by ear, but it's 2020, we have technology, use it.
Post your Tune-Bot settings
Had a quick search and couldn't find anything similar so thought it might be a useful page for others to reference. Please don't turn this into "I can tune by ear - Tune-Bots are pointless" debate, there's other threads for that! This is my current settings: Mapex Saturn V MH Playing a range...
www.drummerworld.com
[/shameless plug of my thread]
FWIW, I fall into the "guitarists use tuners, why shouldn't drummers" camp? Yes, you can do it by ear, but it's 2020, we have technology, use it.
dirtyclinic
Member
Once you've found a setting you like, add it over at:
Post your Tune-Bot settings
Had a quick search and couldn't find anything similar so thought it might be a useful page for others to reference. Please don't turn this into "I can tune by ear - Tune-Bots are pointless" debate, there's other threads for that! This is my current settings: Mapex Saturn V MH Playing a range...www.drummerworld.com
[/shameless plug of my thread]
FWIW, I fall into the "guitarists use tuners, why shouldn't drummers" camp? Yes, you can do it by ear, but it's 2020, we have technology, use it.
If guitarists just tuned by ear, it would be chaos.
SYMBOLIC DEATH
Senior Member
Tune both for me. It drastically cuts down the time it takes to tune my 5 toms.
Regardless of how you tune a drum it give off a tone at a certain frequency, which is some sort of note. You can now figure out how to replicate that tone after head changes. Now your toms sound that way with new heads. It also opens the door to experimentation to new tunings with the safety net of being able to get back to the tuning you had before.
Regardless of how you tune a drum it give off a tone at a certain frequency, which is some sort of note. You can now figure out how to replicate that tone after head changes. Now your toms sound that way with new heads. It also opens the door to experimentation to new tunings with the safety net of being able to get back to the tuning you had before.
yammyfan
Senior Member
No doubt the app works great but I like to be able to clip the tuner to the drum hoop in order to free up my hands. When it comes time to replace 10-12 drum heads in an afternoon, that ability alone saves a substantial amount of time - and time is money as they say.
Stroman
Diamond Member
Sounds like an Apple app? See, I have a super cheap Android smartphone, so I could buy three Tunebots and a couple smartphones for the price of an IPhone and a $5 app.
yammyfan
Senior Member
The app is available for Android but many reviewers say it brings their phones to its knees so it must be pretty resource intensive. I might buy it just to have a look.Sounds like an Apple app? See, I have a super cheap Android smartphone, so I could buy three Tunebots and a couple smartphones for the price of an IPhone and a $5 app.
