Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner 

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

I bought this product out of curiosity more than anything. And I got sucked in because I like new tech. I was interested to see what musical notes some of my drums represented (to see if those shell frequencies stamped inside my drums actually meant something meaningful... They don't BTW). Now I feel ashamed that I was taken for a ride. It was a mistake. Ah, but there are no mistakes in life, just lessons...

As a practical and easy tuning device, this product is a waste of money. It has a hard time zeroing in on frequencies. It is easily affected by overtones, even with the filter. It doesn't work well on bass drums or snare-side heads especially, and you will not be able to use it in any type of noisy environment, like backstage, or if you have to change a head between sets. The Tune-Bot takes something very simple and makes it very, very complicated. It applies too much science, where science is just not necessary. We are tuning drums here, not flying the Space Shuttle.

Drums are not perfect pitch instruments, they are made of wood (a non-perfect, natural material), with polyester film stretched over them. So what if one lug is 5 Hz lower than another? If the drum sounds good, why over manage it? It will just make you nuts.

I've been playing drums for over 35 years. I'll share some simple, friendly advice to those of you less experienced: Learn to tune by ear and feel, and trust your ears. It's not as complicated as all the voodoo you see on the internet, or as all the folks with miracle tuning devices (like this one) make it out to be. The only tool you need is a drum key. Tuning is not that hard. And with just a little practice you can get really good at it, and get great drum sounds. No mathematical formulas, pitch measurements, filters, ratios, charts, etc. You shouldn't need a calculator to tune your drums!

Honestly, save your money and buy something you really need, or something to add to your kit to make more music. There is a lot of cool drum and percussion gear worth your hard-earned money. The Tune-Bot is not.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

I have had this tuner for several months and tuned 3 different drum kits with it. I can tune each drum on my rock kit(bass and 5 toms) in about 30 minutes then about 10 minutes of fine tuning after I get the kit back together. It sounds great.

Two key things for me:
1. The big issue this solves for me is to get each drum very close to in-tune AND properly spaced in relation to each other. I used to get each drum to sound great by itself and then put the set together and the sonic spacing between drums would be uneven. Not a big deal on my jazz kit with only two toms ... but a big deal on my rock set with 5 toms.
2. Be realistic about the tuning you're trying to accomplish ... I can't get a super low fundamental tone at the low reso setting ... just too big a spread between top and bottom heads ... the low tuned head won't hold the pitch. I have had much better success with the high or mid reso spread ... in tune the resonance sounds so good I have rarely had to use other muffling.

My best advice is go directly to their web site as soon as you get this and read both the 7 page manual and the 10 page tuning tips. Once you understand the concept of fundamental pitch and spacing the top and bottom heads to control resonance, use the tuning calculator to dial in the tuning you're after.

This is a great tool ... understand how to use it to accomplish what you're after and it's worth every penny.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

Simply the easist method I have even seen and used for tuning drums. Usually do it be ear but this product has shown me how much better the drums can sound when tuned properly.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

This product works very if you have average intelligence and can READ instructions. For years I have tuned by ear and still do in most cases, however the Tunebot works very well at dialing in a close tuning if you tune to a specific pitch. I play DW Collectors drums and each shell is stamped with a resonance pitch. I tune very close to what DW recommends and usually by 3rds depending on the key of the majority of songs I'm playing to. For the folks who have problems with using this device I would suggest (1) reading the instructions and follow each step exactly. (2) buying new drumheads (3) buying a drumkit that actually produces a percussive sound and tone or (4) start playing guitar. The Tunebot is not meant to replace your ears, but will put you in the ballpark relatively quickly and EASILY if you follow instructions. I will agree that it does produce some erroneous readings from time to time, but commonsense adjustments with the unit should remedy most of these. Using this, I've been able to completely retune a 5 piece kit in under an hr. It works far better than a drum dial or torque key. One of the most useful drum tuning products to come along ever. It will not replace your ears, but it will get you closer to where you want to be much quicker than any other method out there.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

I got a Tune-bot for Christmas, and I am disappointed. I read the instuctions, watched a couple of videos, and tried it. And tried and tried...After a few days, I gave up. I've tried tuning two snares & two toms, with no luck. I can hit the head at the same lug three-four times, and get a wildly different reading each time. I've tried the filter, same thing. I wonder, is this still a prototype? I've never used a Drum Dial, so I can't compare the two. Save your money, trust your ears.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

Great for pitching the drumheads. Also good: whether playing out, recording or rehearsing, the memory function allows a really good recall of your favorite tunings. You can always write the pitch-values down, if you have more instruments than the memory allows.

I plan to try it with other instruments, other than drum; say, stretch-tuning a piano. Has anyone tried this?

I think that this is a swell product, check it out. I don't yet know about the reliability of this piece, as I've only had it about ten days. So far, no problems.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

I am using the tune bot to tune a banjo head. The note recorded by the tune bot was rather inconsistent after each tap (even after applying the filter). But after a while I do believe it help me find the note I was looking for and improved the tone of my banjo.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

This is a great tool for beginners or seasoned pros alike. While it won't help you know which pitch is the best for your drum or style of playing, it will tune the heads relative to each other. If you know about where you want your tunings already, it will help you fine tune everything. Also, the manufacturer's website had some great suggestions for starting tuning frequencies.

Bottom line, it does what it says it does, nothing more. I found it especially helpful for tuning new heads. Since they stretch so much that first week or so, this tool made tuning a daily pleasure to get everything back to normal before a rocking session.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

I had been reading about the Tune-Bot and even watched the videos on YouTube showing it in action. I really wanted to check it out because tuning drums has always been a bit a challenge for me. It isn't tuning a single head that is the problem, but rather getting the right relationship in pitches between the batter and resonant head.

As it turned out, I had gotten some gift cards and decided to go ahead and take the plunge due to the fact that I could get it for almost half price out of pocket. I did have some apprehension though because I've tried torque keys and drum dials with little luck - I found my ears were always better than the tuning products, and I was worried that the case would be the same with the Tune-Bot.

It wasn't. I absolutely love this thing and I can say with absolute certainty that if I was ever to lose or break the one I have I would replace it immediately, and I would gladly pay full price. My toms have never sounded so good. What I really like about the Tune-Bot is that it's accurate, and it's repeatable, every time. It completely eliminates the guess work. I don't even save my settings - I just have a folded, printed copy of the tuning recommendations chart from the website that I keep with the Tune-Bot in the drawstring bag. I just look at the chart and tune exactly according to the high-resonance settings, and the drums sound rock solid, every time. I always got a lot of comments about the sound of my drums because I have always taken a lot of time to tune them, but I get even more compliments now. The best part is that it takes me a fraction of the time.

Another plus for the Tune-Bot is that as a church drummer, I often am in situations where I'm playing a house kit at a church where I'm subbing. I take the Tune-Bot along and I can quickly make even poorly tuned toms sound good. I used it that way just this last Sunday - it took me about 10 minutes to tune up 3 toms.

It's a great product and I highly recommend it to any drummer who wants their drums to sound their best.

Comments about Tune-bot Electronic Drum Tuner:

I've been playing for 24yrs as a hobby and haven't been able to "perfect" tuning. I have done ok but sometimes when I play flams or double stops on two toms I can tell they are out of tune/pitch. I used this once and everything sounds right on. I tried the recommended frequencies from the manufacturer for my toms and found that they sounded great but I like my birch toms a little lower than they suggested so I tuned down to my frequency and locked them in. I highly recommend this to anyone struggling with learning the ins and outs of tuning by ear. With some practice, I may not need this all the time. I can feel my ear honing in on the right sound.

As for the the cons, there are sometimes when the frequency jumps around but if you hit the same spot a few times and one jumps out of "normal" it is easy to get right back on track. This is a great tool something I have been looking forward to for a long time!! Highly recommended!!