Decided to try out Entropy Piano Tuner, to see what it is all about.
TL;DR
It did not save time. From my perspective, it resulted in an acceptable tuning, though not as pleasant as an aural tuning. Though, it would probably take less time in subsequent tunings as the recording process does not have to be repeated and one gains more familiarity with the software.
The initial phase of recording every note of the piano is time consuming. Every note has to be recorded in order that EPT can do its tuning. I used small diaphragm condensers with a 20 Hz to 20 kHz range. Even so, there were still problems getting the recording quality indicator to improve at the lowest and highest octaves of the piano. It is recommended to only record a single string, that means muting in the bichord and trichord sections.
I needed to re-record some notes which seemed to not fit reasonably with adjacent notes.
For calculation accuracy parameter, I would suggest setting to "infinite" as per the manual. Initially I used the default option, which is not "infinite".
For the tuning, there are a number of references: stroboscope, spectral pitch deviation, keybound pitch. The synthesized reference is notable as it gives you auditory feedback. Using the synthesized reference is sort of like tuning a unison, there is no need to look at the screen. According to the manual the string should be in tune "if the
interference between the artificial sound and the actual sound of the string vanishes entirely." Not as simple in practice, in my experience. I found I was constantly taking off headphones to clarify what the tuning was. Headphones are required for this feature, as speakers would create feedback. Tuning with headphones was a new experience, and I found it partially reduced the detail at which I could hear the strings. Depending on the key, certain references can be more useful than others, so I ended up using different ones in various ranges of the piano.
I only used EPT to tune one string. For bichords and trichords I tuned the remaining strings aurally.
First tuning had some erroneous results on a few notes, so I went back to record a few that seemed off, and rerun the calculation. Went through this cycle a few times actually, but did not end up getting a suitable result for all 88 keys. Five or so keys needed to be tuned aurally.
Initial tuning impressions (from a musical point of view) are that the tuning sounded a bit too perfectly literal, similar to what one would hear on some digital pianos. It sounded right, but did not jump out with that immersive sensation that one gets from a good aural tuning.
The few days following the tuning, touch up was required on some more notes as hearing the tuning playing some real music some things still did not feel right to my ears. The top octave probably needed the most work.
Thoughts: The software has potential, and I would like to see it developed further. Particularly, I like that it is open source. I felt it did not really save any time in the tuning process, in fact I had to go back and rerun several steps to deal with a few notes that were off. That said, I am glad that it is available as an option to those looking for tuning software.
Have any of you used EPT? What was your experience?
Topic: Trying out Entropy Piano Tuner