Tronical Tune

[Updown]

Thought this could be interesting for some here  :dontknow:  especially if you like alt tunings !!

Coming soon ......

You may not be familiar with the company Tronical
But you will know their work because they are responsible for Gibson’s Robot Guitar tuning systems.
I use to have a Gibson DarkFire which had the use of Tronical Tuner system.

Tronical GmbH remains a separate company from Gibson.  :icon_thumright:

Well judging by this video it appears that Tronical are about to launch some standalone systems
that can be retrofit to pretty much any guitar be it a Les Paul or Stratocaster.

The system will feature:
Multistring tuning
12 factory presets *Standard E
                            *Eb
                            *Eb with drop D
                            *Drop D
                            *Double drop D
                            *DADGAD
                            *DADDAD
                            *Open E (E,B,E,G#,B,E)
                            *Open G (D,G,D,G,B,D)
                            *Open A (E,A,E,A,C#,E)
                            *Open D (D,A,D,F#,A,D)
                            *Dorbro (G,B,D,B,G,D)
6 user presets
Custom tuning
Reference tuning
Calibration mode
Accuracy mode
Reset mode

Priced I think ... around $299

It uses an internal piezo vibration sensor to "read" the string pitches from the headstock.
No other modifications are required.
Long life removable Li-Ion Battery, and future expansion options are possible.

Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0D8k5TwtcI&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_fShdVnitU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCarw7ZTids&feature=player_embedded

http://www.tronical.com/tronical-tune-registration/

http://www.guitarnoize.com/tronical-tune-robot-guitars-for-everyone/

 

[Cagey]

Interesting. I wonder how long the battery lasts? Those little servo motors gotta be drawing some real current.

 

[Updown]

The DarkFire used a rechargeable 7.4 Lithium battery which was something like 500+ tunings.
Before needing a recharge.
But that was more complex than this new type.
ie: using it in Guitar to Midi via my VG-99 it was always on, using the battery up.
So I was recharging lots with that.
Battery lasted all the time I had it thou.

Not sure on the battery size in this but it is a long life lithium battery.
:dontknow: .. if it's a rechargeable type.
Or the toss away type.

I think these are going on Epiphone Acoustics too.  :icon_scratch:  Sure I saw one somewhere.

Good for those that want it for different tunings on the one guitar, thats for sure !!
Thats where my GK-3 comes in to play  :icon_biggrin: .... Alt tunings via VG-99

:dontknow:  Just have to wait and see.

 

[Jeremiah]

They need to make one for 12-strings.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Oh. They are back again? I thought Gibson bought the company?

Well - good for them.

In the mean time I have build a Warmoth guitar for every tuning I want. So I really don't need their system anymore.  :laughing7:

 

[keeper006]

That is crazy inovation. People make great new stuff all the time.  :headbang:

 

[Updown]

*Update*
Still 18 weeks away from a ship date (thats April 2013)

List of .... http://www.tronical.com/

:redflag:  Hope your sitting down for the prices   

http://store.tronical-components.com/tronicaltune/

Might be interesting for some  :dontknow:
I'll be passing thou .....

 

[Cagey]

For that kind of money I'll tune my own guitar. It's just not that difficult.

 

[anorakDan]

How hard is tuning? :dontknow: It's only six strings! I just don't understand any need for all these fancy, money wasting gadgets. Does anyone really change their tuning mid-song? So it takes what, a few seconds to tune or re-tune between numbers.
I hate to sound like an old geezer, but in my day, we tuned by ear. If your bridge is tuned harmonically, you just tune it up. You even get good at hearing sharp/flat with some practice.
Even these clip-on electronic tuners I feel are just an excuse for not having to learn to tune properly. Training your ear is just as important as a musician as training your fingers. Am I way off-base or are guitar players getting lazy?

 

[Cagey]

How hard is tuning? :dontknow: It's only six strings! I just don't understand any need for all these fancy, money wasting gadgets. Does anyone really change their tuning mid-song? So it takes what, a few seconds to tune or re-tune between numbers.

I'm constantly amazed at how much difficulty some people have with tuning. I even knew someone years ago who used to take their guitar in to the store and have them tune it.

I'm an old geezer, too, which is probably why I don't have trouble with it. For one thing, there really weren't any good tuners back when I was a grasshopper, at least not for the everyday player, so you had to learn to do it manually. You got a reference from somewhere (piano, tuning fork, pitch pipe, whatever), and went from there. The other thing is time in grade. Your ear gets trained whether you like it or not (or, it should).

 

[Dan025]

i think a lot of the tuning issues is that people are sensitive to the imperfections in both the physics and the spread of the musical scale. the near overlaps of a log scale with 12 divisions and whole number ratios is not perfect and total coincidence. factor in harmonic stretch and interference and you have a mess of detectable disonance. i think people are always tuning because they are looking for that perfect compromise and dont even know it. the truth is the compromise changes with different songs.

ive seen phil x retune for certain songs where he says such and such a string needs to be slightly flat for this tune. it's true. i know when i was young i could always hear a beat when i played diads and spent more time trying to tune the thing only to realize i was not in tune to the tuner than can count. later when i understood the math better and read up on piano tuning meathods it became clear to me that tuning is a futile effort and it's better to just play. the audience of drunk people have no idea, they are more focused on the melody than the harmonies.

anyway the thing that impresses me most about that setup is the shear strength of those little servos. damn that must have cost money to develop. the software is fairly easy. i mean it may not be easy to program a tuner but once you do it's pretty easy to use that output to run a servo of pretty much any kind, to be honest they can easily make the electronics much smaller for this. but those tiny servos need some tiny gears and the strength of the teeth and the size of the shaft all has to be engineered along with the torque of the motors to the gear ratio. and the bigger the electro magnet the smaller the gears need to be, or the more gear reduction the smaller the electro magnet has to be. to fit it all under a stardard tuner without parts breaking under the string load is impressive.

 

[tfarny]

I think it's a solution in search of a problem. Especially since you can get a $20 clip-on headstock piezo based tuner and change tuning yourself in about two minutes at most, even for the most drastic changes, and not modify your guitar at all. To really make use of this "innovation," you'd need to be someone who played live often with many tunings in the same set. Who does that? At most, people drop their E string between songs using a pedal tuner. Takes about 10 seconds while the singer tells a fart joke.
Tuning is already fast and easy.

 

[Cagey]

I suppose there's a certain "geek factor" involved with having a bit of electro-mechanical automation. Guy picks up his guitar and says "Watch this!" and the thing tunes itself. Everybody ooohs and aaaahs. Kinda like watching a car park itself, or PeeWee Herman's "Breakfast Machine", or any other Rube Goldberg contraption that's interesting but makes a simple task unnecessarily complicated.