TromboneChat

[Prelude: I am NOT looking for any kind of phone-resident tuning app.]

Anybody know of something small like the Snark ST-2 that can actually tune the low range of a bass trombone or tuba with its built-in mic (as opposed to using its clip-on "vibration" mode? In "VIB" mode, the Snark works fine all the way down into the contra range. In "MIC" mode, it's hopeless once you get to the bottom of the staff.

I'm looking for something that I can just clip to my stand at home, doesn't involve wires (to an external mic), is small like the Snark, but actually tunes the low range.

viewtopic.php?p=199887#p199887

This works well for me and *is* fully chromatic.

heldenbone wrote: Tue Aug 05, 2025 8:44 am viewtopic.php?p=199887#p199887

This works well for me and *is* fully chromatic.

Yeah, but none of the D'Addario tuners have a mic. They're all vibration driven and need to be clipped to the instrument. Still, it's a good suggestion and I should probably get one just to have around and for checking tuning when not at home. They're certainly cheap enough.

After an immense amount of time spent in searching, I think that what I'm really looking for doesn't exist -- because there's no market for it: a clip-on tuner with a mic that tunes the bass range. I think I'm a niche market of 1. Compromises must be made.

For what you think you want, you should probably be prepared to do a bit of work prying something open and solder couple wires, perhaps with a micro switch in the external wire. Then glue it all back together and revel in your ingenuity.

Yeah, but what I really want is the mind-control switch (similar to the "think system" of Prof. Harold HIll). But I can't seem to source one. Besides ... wires are so old tech, and I'm not set up for chip modification. I'll have to live with what I can get.

If you find a regular tuner you like, I will sell you some superglue and clothespins.

Clothespins are also old school. I have a much better variety of steel spring clips. But I am a huge fan of contemporary adhesives of various sorts. I don't hardly use screws (and never nails) for much of anything any more.

I have a few tuners that *almost" fit into the phone holder clamped to my stand. And another one I'm considering using magnets to stick to the underside of the stand's music desk.
But I'm still looking for a tuner that works well in the low range.

My Korg TM-50 doesn't seem to have any problem with the (valved) pedal range of a bass trombone. It fits nicely into a cell phone holder I just got from Amazon that clamps to the post of my Manhasset stand. In fact, I got two of those holders, and my old DR-05 recorder is in the other. Yeah, that stand post is getting pretty cluttered (there's a hook clamped to it up high, and a music stand shelf clamped to it near the floor) , but at least everything is in the same place.

I use an older version of this https://www.petersontuners.com/products/stroboClipHD/, clipped to the bell (for trombone). It doesn't really work for the tuba, only because I can't find a place to clip it within eyesight.

heldenbone wrote: Tue Aug 05, 2025 8:44 am viewtopic.php?p=199887#p199887

This works well for me and *is* fully chromatic.

It just arrived. This thing really works! And it's entirely consistent with my ear. Those old tuners I'd been using must have degraded over time.

ghmerrill wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 11:36 am [Prelude: I am NOT looking for any kind of phone-resident tuning app.]

Anybody know of something small like the Snark ST-2 that can actually tune the low range of a bass trombone or tuba with its built-in mic (as opposed to using its clip-on "vibration" mode? In "VIB" mode, the Snark works fine all the way down into the contra range. In "MIC" mode, it's hopeless once you get to the bottom of the staff.

I'm looking for something that I can just clip to my stand at home, doesn't involve wires (to an external mic), is small like the Snark, but actually tunes the low range.

Just clip the snark on the attachment point for the slide crook and use in VIB mode. The snark, as you pointed out, *does* tune the bass in all registers. Putting it on the bell is dumb. Put it on the slide

Pleased to hear you too are getting good results with the D'Addario. Cheers.

harrisonreed wrote: Fri Aug 08, 2025 3:24 pm Just clip the snark on the attachment point for the slide crook and use in VIB mode. The snark, as you pointed out, *does* tune the bass in all registers. Putting it on the bell is dumb. Put it on the slide

I would have preferred "sub-optimal" to "dumb". I guess I got the bell habit from using a clip-on mic a few times with my big tubas and other tuners. The slide crook works much better in this case.

The Snark does tune the bass in all registers, but the D'Addario seems a bit better -- less sensitive to minor fluctuations. So now I have two -- I guess one for home and one for travel.

That's fair! I've never used that brand before. Besides being more accurate, does it give you any other features like the metronome or anything? My Snark seems to have evaporated...

FWIW I wasn't trying to say that you are dumb -- based on our PM conversations you're clearly brighter than me. Just about everyone puts the clip-on tuners on their bell. Because that just seems like where you should do it. I used to too. That doesn't make us all dumb -- it seems like the right way to do it.

But maybe you are now on my side of the fence about it now that you've tried the slide crook method!

harrisonreed wrote: Sat Aug 09, 2025 10:21 am That's fair! I've never used that brand before. Besides being more accurate, does it give you any other features like the metronome or anything?

No -- it's a tuner. That's it. I rather like that. As the Germans say "Klein aber fein." I also have a micro-metronome that's just a metronome. I've sort of moved to a "One function, one machine." model.

Violating that (but for other reasons) I've just installed TonalEnergy. I'm fascinated with its "functionality", but the documentation is making me homicidal towards the developers (who obviously also wrote the documentation). It's in the long-established developer format of "This thing is really cool. It can do this ... and this ... and this ... and it has this button over her in case you want to do this." And I'm like "But all I want is to record something, play it back, and analyze it reasonably." After two days of trying to do this with any degree of rationality, I'm maybe a little closer.

FWIW I wasn't trying to say that you are dumb

Yeah, I know.

But maybe you are now on my side of the fence about it now that you've tried the slide crook method!

Yeah. It's great.