Electronic Tuner

Electronic Tuner

In the discipline of radio a tuner is a device which receives radio stations. More specifically, it denotes the part of such a device that is connected to the antenna. An electronic tuner is such a device, which is not adjusted mechanically, but by electronic means. For more details see the Wikipedia article Tuner (radio).

In the discipline of music an electronic tuner is a device used by musicians to detect and display the pitch of notes played on musical instruments. The simplest tuners use LED lights to indicate approximately whether the pitch of the note played is lower, higher, or approximately equal to the desired pitch. More complex and expensive tuners indicate more precisely the difference between offered note and desired pitch.

Tuners vary in size from units that can fit in a pocket, clip on an instrument, sit on a table-top, all the way up to 19" rack-mount units. The more complex and expensive units are used by instrument technicians, piano tuners and luthiers.

The simplest tuners only detect and display the tuning for a single pitch (often "A" or "E") or for a small number of pitches, such as the six pitches used in the standard tuning of a guitar (E,A,D,G,B,E). More complex tuners offer chromatic tuning, which allows all the 12 notes of the scale to be tuned. Some electronic tuners offer additional features, such as adjustable pitch calibration, different tempered scale options, the sounding of a desired pitch through an amplifier and speaker, and adjustable "read-time" settings which affect how long the tuner takes to measure the pitch of the note.

Considered one of the most accurate tuning devices, strobe tuners, work in a different way to regular electronic tuners; they are basically stroboscopes. These can be used to tune any instrument, including the initial "beating" of steelpan drums, bagpipes, accordions, calliopes, bells, the pins in Music Boxes or any audio device much more accurately than regular LED, LCD or needle display tuners. However, strobe units are generally much more expensive, and the mechanical elements of a mechanical (rather than electronic-display) strobe require periodic servicing. Therefore, these tuners are mainly used by specialists and professional instrument technicians.

Read more about Electronic Tuner:  Types, Strobe Tuner, Intellitouch Tuner

Famous quotes containing the word electronic:

    The war was won on both sides: by the Vietnamese on the ground, by the Americans in the electronic mental space. And if the one side won an ideological and political victory, the other made Apocalypse Now and that has gone right around the world.
    Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)