I see quite a few questions / opinons about the tune bot and the process. It would be awesome if someone would specifically step by step go over the tunebot process. I have one and I still find myself going back to using my ear entirely. When i use the tune bot (even with filter button) i get pretty erratic readings and end up doing it by ear. I'm pretty good at tuning drums by ear but was hoping the tunebot would take me from 95% there to 100% there and quicker. Also for keeping consistent tuning through songs/sessions. It generally takes me a lot of time to get the drums sounding good. I have a standard 22 kick, 14 snare, 10, 12 ,16 tom. Yamaha birch kit. All the readings and charts etc. I have read never sound good on my drums. (generally too high) If someone here has a similar set and a tune bot I would kill to have a small tutorial with sound examples. That would be amazing. I prefer nice attack with a fairly fast decay. I usually tune the top head lower the bottom (not sure if thats ideal either).
Tune Bot / Drum Tuning (Again)
- Thread starter Studdy
- Start date
Machinated
Member
i'll go over a few things quickly, if i have time ill do something a bit longer later.
if you're having trouble with erratic results, try moving the tunebot to a different part of the drum and check the filter is filtering at the right frequency. sometimes one lug will give weird results until i move it round the drum or further away temporarily. if the battery is running low it tends to give some odd behaviour too.
if you want a faster decay then tune the bottom head higher than the top. when I'm setting up drums I always load the tunebot website on my phone where theres a calculator to give frequencies for different sizes/tunings/resonances which can be good starting points. it's also got a page where its got a list of tunings for kick and snare frequencies.
if you're having trouble with erratic results, try moving the tunebot to a different part of the drum and check the filter is filtering at the right frequency. sometimes one lug will give weird results until i move it round the drum or further away temporarily. if the battery is running low it tends to give some odd behaviour too.
if you want a faster decay then tune the bottom head higher than the top. when I'm setting up drums I always load the tunebot website on my phone where theres a calculator to give frequencies for different sizes/tunings/resonances which can be good starting points. it's also got a page where its got a list of tunings for kick and snare frequencies.
cfh11
Member
might be a silly question, but are you trying to tune from behind the kit? i get much better results when i take each drum off and sit on the floor to tune. for the kick i just tune by ear and then use the tunebot to get all the lugs in sync with each other.
I take drums off. Im not really looking for little tips, i've heard them all before and tried everything. The suggested tunings never sound good to me, generally to high. I was hoping for someone to chime in with a very similar set to mine and precise detail on what was done. The Glenn Fricker vid on tom tuning was awesome but didnt incorporate a tunebot. I probably sound like an amateur, but i've been tuning drums for 10+ years and my set sounds quite great, just not "perfect" and the tunebot just collects dust, thought maybe a little tutorial would put me put some faith back into the tunebot. Thanks everyone 
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
This is exactly the type of thing I was talking about. Thanks for posting. I haven't tried my tunebot for a while, I'm going to start over with it and see how I make out. Maybe I'm trying to tune too low for the drums size. I feel like my toms are a bit lower than the ones just posted. But I'm not hear my kit now. My drums sound decent but I don't get solid tunebot readings.
ArthurD
Member
Another tip is to calculate the lug pitches, then tune to them. Next put it in note mode, and let both skins ring... fine tune to the note
mva801
Member
- Nov 18, 2009
- 1,870
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How old are your heads? Are the drums in good shape? I only ever watched the very first video or two when the tunebot first came out. It explained how to use it easily enough. I've always had a pretty easy time getting it to read the pitches really well. If the drum is producing a note, the tunebot will read it. In my experience at least.
Drums are 100% mint/brand new. New heads. I think i just need to give it another shot. I think i bought it thinking it was going to be gods gift to tuning drums and when it wasnt i just went back to using my ear. Im going to experiment some more with it. thanks everyone.
okay what i have found is that sometimes i have to mute the middle of the heads to get a more accurate reading. also there is nothing wrong with using your ears to find what you like and then going back and using the tunebot calculator to find some good pitches that are close to what you already have and are in key.
but for what you said i would try something like this
http://gyazo.com/a22876214ab7e506a177bec50d217f97
and if that still isnt what your after go to the calculator and drop the resonance and pitch one more.
but for what you said i would try something like this
http://gyazo.com/a22876214ab7e506a177bec50d217f97
and if that still isnt what your after go to the calculator and drop the resonance and pitch one more.
