aznriceball
02-19-2006, 02:28 PM
Hello fellow MXicans!
I don't in the least bit feel like starting on the psych paper, so heres a nice review on a piece of gear I picked up the other day in my infinite curiousity of gimmicks and non-gimmicks.
Part I What's this?
Last month I was shopping online and I saw a drum dial. Seeing as how I see people both praising it and dismissing it as nothing, I figured its 60 bucks and theres 30 days return, no biggie.
So it comes, and I'm in no rush to try it. I've been playing for 2 years, and had to learn to tune right away, and I was in no hurry to have a device tell me I was doing diddly squat for 2 years. But alas, like going to read exam scores, you have to do it, or you'll find out some other, more painful way.
Part II Tuning
First the toms. I figured I tuned a bit higher than average, so I went to check it. My tensions on all lugs ranged from about 76-80 (with a weird 83) on batters and and around 78-84 on resonants (with a weird 90). So not too icky, I set all batters/resos to about 74/80 on 10"/12" toms and 74/77 on 13"/14" toms.
Next, I go after that cheapo piccolo..with an ungodly range on the batters from 86-94 (with a 99 in there..), and a resonant ranging 67-70. I ended up going 88/70.
The main snare...god...it deserves its own thread but oh well..
The batter being fairly..fair, was around 88-90 at each lug, but the reso...ranging from 59-72..yeesh..that was not fun.
Needless to say, for part I, all it did was do what our ears did, except slightly faster and a bit more accurately. Would I have kept it just for this? Maybe, but I sure as feck wouldn't pay 60 bucks for it.
6.4/10
Part III Killed my buzz...
Getting rid of that sympathetic buzz. I know, nobody hears it but us, and not when really playing. But we'd all like to cut it back a little bit.. My 10"/12" toms were going to be set at 74/77 like my low toms..but they, especially the 12" tom caused the most sympathetic buzzing on my snare (and only my main..my piccolo could've been a elephant for all the buzzing it did).
So by having the resonants on the snare and toms at least 8-10 pts apart I was able to reduce the majority of the sympathetic buzz without sacrificing all the buzz I needed from when I actually did play the snare. Theres still a bit, but its past a curve where I would begin to lose tone and resonance, and the little buzz gives a bit of character :)
8.6/10
Part IV Speed
Once you know your pitches and settings, this thing is a mighty fine tool. I stress pitches, because you may forget this thing and you still need to do it the old fashioned way. This thing may be great for helping you get the job done faster, but make no mistake, they are NO SUBSTITUTE for your ears. Unless you're deaf..
7.1/10
Overall
This thing is a nice little tool for you, but as always, is an infinitely more useful tool if you learn the skills to actually tune for yourself. What good is being able to do calculus on your calculator if you can't absorb the abstract concepts and apply them whenever you need them? The dial is also infinitely more helpful in helping you understand tuning if you use it just like that: a learning tool, not a shortcut. Is it worth the 60 bucks? Sure.. Is it necessary? Hardly
Drum Dial Score: 7/10
By aznriceball
I don't in the least bit feel like starting on the psych paper, so heres a nice review on a piece of gear I picked up the other day in my infinite curiousity of gimmicks and non-gimmicks.
Part I What's this?
Last month I was shopping online and I saw a drum dial. Seeing as how I see people both praising it and dismissing it as nothing, I figured its 60 bucks and theres 30 days return, no biggie.
So it comes, and I'm in no rush to try it. I've been playing for 2 years, and had to learn to tune right away, and I was in no hurry to have a device tell me I was doing diddly squat for 2 years. But alas, like going to read exam scores, you have to do it, or you'll find out some other, more painful way.
Part II Tuning
First the toms. I figured I tuned a bit higher than average, so I went to check it. My tensions on all lugs ranged from about 76-80 (with a weird 83) on batters and and around 78-84 on resonants (with a weird 90). So not too icky, I set all batters/resos to about 74/80 on 10"/12" toms and 74/77 on 13"/14" toms.
Next, I go after that cheapo piccolo..with an ungodly range on the batters from 86-94 (with a 99 in there..), and a resonant ranging 67-70. I ended up going 88/70.
The main snare...god...it deserves its own thread but oh well..
The batter being fairly..fair, was around 88-90 at each lug, but the reso...ranging from 59-72..yeesh..that was not fun.
Needless to say, for part I, all it did was do what our ears did, except slightly faster and a bit more accurately. Would I have kept it just for this? Maybe, but I sure as feck wouldn't pay 60 bucks for it.
6.4/10
Part III Killed my buzz...
Getting rid of that sympathetic buzz. I know, nobody hears it but us, and not when really playing. But we'd all like to cut it back a little bit.. My 10"/12" toms were going to be set at 74/77 like my low toms..but they, especially the 12" tom caused the most sympathetic buzzing on my snare (and only my main..my piccolo could've been a elephant for all the buzzing it did).
So by having the resonants on the snare and toms at least 8-10 pts apart I was able to reduce the majority of the sympathetic buzz without sacrificing all the buzz I needed from when I actually did play the snare. Theres still a bit, but its past a curve where I would begin to lose tone and resonance, and the little buzz gives a bit of character :)
8.6/10
Part IV Speed
Once you know your pitches and settings, this thing is a mighty fine tool. I stress pitches, because you may forget this thing and you still need to do it the old fashioned way. This thing may be great for helping you get the job done faster, but make no mistake, they are NO SUBSTITUTE for your ears. Unless you're deaf..
7.1/10
Overall
This thing is a nice little tool for you, but as always, is an infinitely more useful tool if you learn the skills to actually tune for yourself. What good is being able to do calculus on your calculator if you can't absorb the abstract concepts and apply them whenever you need them? The dial is also infinitely more helpful in helping you understand tuning if you use it just like that: a learning tool, not a shortcut. Is it worth the 60 bucks? Sure.. Is it necessary? Hardly
Drum Dial Score: 7/10
By aznriceball