Tune-Bot GIG

I've been playing drums for a long, long time, but I've always struggled with tuning and tuning quickly. The tune bot made this process almost foolproof. It has a lot of features that I haven't even explored yet, so that's why the ease of use is 4 stars--it's not hard to use, but there is a lot that you can do with it, so you do need to sit down and work through the features and use the websites or the app to figure it all out. You also might need to do a little math to dial in your specific setup. BUT, I'm sure this gets easier over time, and the results have been absolutely worth it. I didn't want to admit I needed to spend this much money to make my kit sound good. But, it doesn't just sound good, it sounds great, and I feel confident about the sound. The only hiccup was with tuning the snare, and that was a little odd. It just seemed to have some difficulty with some of the lug resonances on the snare head. I did take the snare off when I tuned it, but my snare has just always been a little hard to tune. That's part of why I wanted to get this gadget. But I've read that some other folks seemed to have a similar issue on the resonant head of the snare--it almost seemed like, on the higher tensions, that there were times when it just read the tension wrong, like 100 off, but I knew it was obviosly not the low reading that came up. I could dial up, and then suddenly, over a certain tension the reading just dipped by, like, 100 points. That didn't make sense. So, I kind of went with it and used my ear a bit, and I got them in line together. Overall the sound is still superior to any tuning I've done in the past. The sound of the bass drum is also much better after applying the tune bot formulas and getting real readings. I love being able to get nice intervals between my toms. The bot can save settings too, and it can adjust for multiple setups. I haven't even gotten into any of that yet. Probably one could get away with the basic bot instead of the studio. But, it didn't seem like the 20 buck different between the two was enough to get the lesser tool. Others may have a better idea of that, since I've never played with the regular tune bot. Great tool, I wish I hadn't waited to get it.

UPDATE: I just changed all the heads on eight drums in about 30 minutes. It doesn't get any easier than that, and the results were dead on as always. This is one of the best gadgets I've ever purchased! ORIGINAL REVIEW: As a new drummer, I have really struggled with tuning. The DrumDial lets you get even tension on the head at all lug positions, but if you blindly follow the needle on the dial, you can merrily over-torque your lugs to the point of warping your hoops. The Evans torque key lets you get even torque on all the lugs, but discovering the correct target torque is fiddly, and imprecise. Neither of these tuning aids really has anything to do with the pitch of the drum, and neither one can help you get your drums in tune with each other. After using both of these devices along with my ear, I finally got my drums in some kind of tune. When I heard about the Tune-Bot Gig, I was skeptical about dropping more money on yet another tuning gadget, but I was also intrigued. I let the thing sit around for a few days before I finally tried it, and then I struggled briefly figuring out how to use it correctly. I really wasn't set up to be a fan of this gadget, but then I worked through the issues. I started by finding the one tom I liked the best, and determining what pitch it played. Next, I used the Android app to generate a tuning for my set of toms with something close to that pitch in that position. Finally, I tuned all five toms to that scheme, moving some a lot more than others, and then I tuned my snare to a note exactly halfway between the two highest toms. Basically the trick to this is to ignore the fundamental pitch, and tune each head to the specified lug pitch individually, then check your work afterwards by letting both heads resonate. You will find the tunings they suggest are spot on for producing a desired fundamental pitch, even if you are doing something apparently weird with the lug pitch. In maybe 30 minutes of work with the Tune-Bot, I really dialed in the focus knob on my kit. WOW! The toms are still highly resonant, the way I prefer them, but I have solved at least 75% of my snare buzz resonance problems by positioning the snare on a different note from any of the toms. The intervals between the toms have smoothed out, and it is suddenly apparent how much worse they sounded before. My lowest tom came up a lot in pitch, but it still thunders nicely, while my nice high tom came down just a hair to sit on a note that works better with the rest of the toms. That definitely made a positive difference, and it didn't take very much work to get there. I am highly amused with this gadget! If Amazon had half stars, I would deduct half a star, because the Tune-Bot really had some serious problems with the higher pitched drums. The target is 258 Hz, for example, and you're tuning 220, 230, 240, 250, 253, 375. Wait, what? How did I go all the way to 375 with that tiny adjustment? The answer is that I didn't. I know from my experience building tuned wind chimes that it is very hard to tune percussive things with a conventional chromatic auto tuner. The apparent fundamental frequency you hear is made up of a very complex mixture of different overtones, which is also how you can tune each head to some apparently ludicrous pitch, and end up yielding a much lower fundamental once both heads are free to resonate. What happens with the Tune-Bot is that sometimes it picks out the wrong overtone, and it shows you that pitch, instead of the pitch of the overtone you are working on tuning. Working through that aspect of things was the most fiddly part of using the Tune-Bot, but by moving the unit to the opposite side of the drum from the lug I was tuning, and by relying on my ear to tell me that I hadn't really jumped 100 Hz in pitch, I was finally able to muddle through and get everything tuned quite impressively well. Even the Tune-Bot doesn't replace your ears, but it helps a great deal, and combined with the app or the tuning builder on the website, the complete system really helps you target and achieve a tuning that works very well. Considering how poorly a standard chromatic auto-tuner performs at this kind of task, what they have achieved with this gadget is truly impressive.

Great product I love it. Makes life so much easier for me. Now with this product you could tune your drums to another level. Love it !

I have used many tuners over the decades, mainly guitar tuners of various types (none of which would work with drums, by the way) and after much consideration I decided I needed a Tune-Bot because they appeared to accurately capture pitch, so I got the Tune-Bot Studio. And am I glad I did! This thing is awesome. It is very accurate and works flawlessly for tuning. The drum set saves idea is great and works very well but my only complaint is that you can't manually configure a kit without the unit detecting the tone when it is played. It would be nice to be able to be away from the kit with the TBS and be able to enter pitch numbers manually. Basically, building a tune-set while chilling on the couch. That would be a fantastic feature! Still, this thing is great. Best thing for accurate and reliable tuning. You can literally tune your kit to the band.

Easy to use and gets the drums tuned to pitch i have 8 pieces which includes double Bass. I recommend this to anyone who want a quick and spot on tuning

Bought this to try when we replaced batter and resonant heads on our drums at our church. We were really pleased with the sound of each drum in the set. I would consider myself a poor tuner, but with this tool we were able to get a really good sounding kit. There was a learning curve, this was my first time trying the Tune-Bot Studio. I highly recommend this tool!!! Even a novice like myself can get a professional sounding kit!

I never really thought that a tune bot would really work as well as advertised, but it has become a staple in my drum tool kit. Between my ear and the tune bot I can really dial in the intervals between the top and bottom head and keep the lugs balanced. Having the targeted precision to control sustain and pitch and feel with less guess work saves me a lot of time. I’ve always felt like I have a pretty good ear and kept my drums sounding great, but this showed me how much better I could sound. Now I mostly use it to set my initial tuning and pull it out every few sessions to check after I do fine tuning by ear just to make sure the each head is in tune with itself and not just my ear thinking it is - usually I’m close, but it’s kind of like a metronome keeping you honest and exposing some human errors or weak points. I highly recommend a tune bot for any drummer.

When this works, it's a real time saver. I find it maddening when tuning the snare side head though. I assume it struggles with higher frequencies or something. The readings are all over the place. It can be very frustrating. I think it works best on the rack and floor toms. I wanted to order the more expensive model but everywhere I looked, it was out of stock. So, I settled for this one. Not sure if it would've made much difference. I do think this works WAY better than the Tama Tension Watch or other drum dials. Those are terrible! I got the worst results trying to use one of those. I hate tuning drums and I know it's an art that takes a lot of practice and a really good ear to do it best. But, I always wanted something that would help me get there faster. I think the idea of this spot on, it's just not as reliable on every drum tuning as I had hoped.