How Good is an Electronic Piano’s Tuning?

There are so many good things to say about electronic pianos.

• They're easy to carry.
• They have many sounds.
• They can be hooked up to a computer.
• They can be used as a midi controller.
• They can be used with headphones so you can practice at night.

But, "They don't have to be tuned" is not one of them. A piano that does not have to be tuned, implies that the piano is already in tune. In all my years as a piano tuner, I have been looking for an electronic piano that is in tune. Almost every electronic piano I check, is so badly out of tune, that I can use any electronic piano after I give a 20 hour course in aural piano tuning, as an example of how badly electronic pianos are tuned, and the beginners who take my classes, with their barely learned aural skills,  can tell. We shouldn't say, "They don't have to be tuned." We should say "They can't be tuned, but they should be tuned!" Many aural piano tuners tune the octave F3 to F4 first, setting each interval size so that they fit with each other. One criteria for equal temperament is that the major thirds increase in beat speed smoothly and evenly. Listen to this recording of a Roland electronic piano. The first recording is of the major thirds from F3A3 to C#4F4. The second recording is filtered around the beating partial of each major third. You can easily hear how bad the tuning is. The major thirds vary wildly from progressive. I have added a graph of the beat speeds so you can see, as well as hear the changing beat speeds. I offer to score aural piano tunings that people send to me, and this one scored 55%. The minimum to pass is %80. Roland Electronic Piano. Major Thirds. Unfiltered. Roland Electronic Piano. Major Thirds. Filtered.

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Graph of Beat Speeds. The beat speeds should be within the green lines. Also, listen to the first beating major third. The beat speed actually starts at 7.8 beats per second, but by the end of the interval, it has risen to 10 beats per second! Electronic pianos have many benefits. But being in tune is not one of them.

About the author 

Mark Cerisano, RPT, B.Sc.(Mech.Eng.)

Instructor and Founder, howtotunepianos.com

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