Question…using cleartune tuning app. where should the needle drop on each note on the chanter, drones, reg keys in Concert Pitch? I am picking up a fullset soon and looking for a tuning reference. I had a 3/4 set in the past for a brief stint and I used Eskin’s regulator app to tune up.
I have come across the layout below in past reads. If the example is correct is it safe to assume the reg key will have the same value as the matching chanter note?
EX.
D 0
E +4
F# -14
G -2
A +2
B -16
C natural -32 (ratio 7:4 in tune with the 7th harmonic) or alternately +18 (ratio 9:5)
C# -12
The more I make reeds, the less I think there exists reliable theories or electonic tuning devices.
The best and only way to solve the problem is to use the tenor drone as a reference, and tune by ear everything on it.
The tuner is only used as diapason, and to visualise better where a peculiar note is out of tune, wich is not always obvious in the early stages.
Don’t trust the numbers: nobody has the same opinion about them, since everybody agrees on what is an out of tune pipes…
Same with regulators, yet you’re right: they’re supposed to follow the chanter notes. But little adjustments are allowed or needed, if you want to get some specific chords. This is called: tempering the scale…
The regulators should be tuned as the chanter. For Just Intonation, the tuning that best harmonizes with the drones, the ratios of the frequencies of the notes of the scale are thus:–
D 1:1
E 9:8
F# 5:4
G 4:3
A 3:2
B 5:3
C 7:4 (this is cross fingered; something close to 16:9 and 9:5 are sometimes desirable)
C# 15:8
D’ 2:1
If your reeds are not stable with pressure or functioning correctly then all the tuning stuff in the world wont really matter. Check your reeds first then tune by ear to how they are set up. Make sure your drone reeds are stable with pressure or your set will always seem like the tuning is changing or the set will appear to fall out of tune easily.
Your drone quills should be airtight and strong, on pitch, trusty, old and weathered, beaten down, and sprung up again for years, until no fluctuation in pressure can hinder them.
The chanter shall be the strongest of your reeds. It, alone, is the master. All other reeds defer to its needs.
The regulators, hopefully, might be somewhat compliant, (if they are harmoniously inclined,) or at least somewhat squishy in their pitch, or can be made such that, in relation to the chanter, and maybe with a little tricky chanter fingering, they can achieve the desired concordance.
That’s about the best you can hope for.
If you play all day, every day, all that stuff gets easier.
anyway how your chanter is tuned - the regs have to be tuned to the chanter, never otherwise. The best choice for the chanter is close to a kind of just tuning.
You can’t tune precisely per cent as a piano because of shifting pressure, but an average tuning +/- 2-3 cents which is good enough to be tuned to fiddles, flutes and whistles. The tuning to the tenor drone is perfect, much better than tuning to a tuner. The tuner is a good assistant on stage and in sessions.
In terms of “use your ears” I personally can’t pick up my pipes and get the tenor drone in perfect tune without a reference. Assuming the tenor drone is used to get all other notes on the set in-tune.
The problem with the use of Tuners is that they do not ‘warm up’ like the pipes do. As tuning everything ‘in’ will take a while and even a set of pipes which has been exposed to a steady temperature for an hour before you commence will ‘warm up’ and rise in pitch as you play it. So there is no point in setting the drone to a Diapason that you wish to achieve at the end of the process. This is why I like to use a Tuner which can easily be adjusted to follow the current pitch of the set… and keep an eye on that to see how the warming up process is going and to check the pitches of notes ,when my ears get tired. Remember though, that as a maker I will spend many hours gradually brining a set into tune which is quite different to a Piper who’s set was well in tune but he/she needs to make some small adjustments for the day.
