Sonic Research Turbo Tuner new ST 300 model

[LSMFT6]

Well........my TT ST 200 just died. Loved that tuner since it came out. So......thinking bout replacing it with the mini......any negatives to its size?

You can't power it with a battery, but I never use batteries for pedals anyway. Very happy with mine

 

[thumbs&fingers]

I would rather not power it with the battery. Thanks for the feed back, Bfunk u 2

 

[Testing123]

I use a Sonic Research ST-300 mini on my pedalboard and an ST-200 as a stand-alone unit when I don't need pedals.
Both work great and have served me very well.

 

[Snaxster]

Our ST-300 line of tuners have the following improvements over the ST-200:

1. While the ST-200 is know for its ultra-fast automatic note selection, the ST-300 is even faster.

2. Brighter display. We use new ultra bright LEDs in the display, and it is clearly visible in direct sunlight.

For about the past year, my only tuner in use was an ST-200. Yesterday I finally got an ST-300 mini, and today I used it for the first time.

The ST-300 is very fast and seems to be more accurate. But for me, seen indoors, its display is worse than the ST-200 display: a blobby, "blown out" orange-red mess instead of tightly bordered, deep red graphical information.

To me this feels like an over-optimization of the display for use in direct sunlight at the expense of usability in other conditions. I would like to be able to dim my ST-300 display, so I will ask Sonic Research if that can be done.

My phone's camera captured fairly accurately the difference I see from standing height. Here are the two models in their ready state:

 

[LSMFT6]

For about the past year, my only tuner in use was an ST-200. Yesterday I finally got an ST-300 mini, and today I used it for the first time.

The ST-300 is very fast and seems to be more accurate. But for me, seen indoors, its display is worse than the ST-200 display: a blobby, "blown out" orange-red mess instead of tightly bordered, deep red graphical information.

To me this feels like an over-optimization of the display for use in direct sunlight at the expense of usability in other conditions. I would like to be able to dim my ST-300 display, so I will ask Sonic Research if that can be done.

My phone's camera captured fairly accurately the difference I see from standing height. Here are the two models in their ready state:

View attachment 1072822

I can't be sure how much of that is from your phone's camera, but my ST-300m's display looks nothing like that. It's always very clear

 

[RockDoc]

Really nice tuners, but I agree about the display on the 200 being easier to read than the one on the 300. The LEDs on the 200 were line segments, whereas on the 300 they're little dots. I can make out the note-letters much easier on the 200.

 

[Snaxster]

For about the past year, my only tuner in use was an ST-200. Yesterday I finally got an ST-300 mini, and today I used it for the first time.

The ST-300 is very fast and seems to be more accurate. But for me, seen indoors, its display is worse than the ST-200 display: a blobby, "blown out" orange-red mess instead of tightly bordered, deep red graphical information.

To me this feels like an over-optimization of the display for use in direct sunlight at the expense of usability in other conditions. I would like to be able to dim my ST-300 display, so I will ask Sonic Research if that can be done.

My phone's camera captured fairly accurately the difference I see from standing height. Here are the two models in their ready state:

View attachment 1072822

I can't be sure how much of that is from your phone's camera, but my ST-300m's display looks nothing like that. It's always very clear

Here is a quick photo with my old point-and-shoot camera. The lighting is slightly different, and the focus is not as good. But it illustrates the same difference:

 

[LSMFT6]

Here is a quick photo with my old point-and-shoot camera. The lighting is slightly different, and the focus is not as good. But it illustrates the same difference:

View attachment 1072875

It's interesting, I wanted to follow up on this and provide my own pictures but discovered that the 300mini doesn't photograph well. My attempts with and without flash came out very similar to yours:

After some trial and error, I finally got one that fully captures how the display normally looks to me (which is to say, perfectly clear)

All I can say is that the third picture is how I've always seen the 300. Can't explain why it's so blurry to you, but I did own a 200 and the transition was seamless for me. Never once thought "wow, this new one is harder to see."

One thing is to consider is the full-size 300, which is a lot closer to the 200 (especially the offending display screen) but with all the latest upgrades.

 

[Snaxster]

It's interesting, I wanted to follow up on this and provide my own pictures but discovered that the 300mini doesn't photograph well. My attempts with and without flash came out very similar to yours:

View attachment 1073089 View attachment 1073090


After some trial and error, I finally got one that fully captures how the display normally looks to me (which is to say, perfectly clear)

View attachment 1073091

All I can say is that the third picture is how I've always seen the 300. Can't explain why it's so blurry to you, but I did own a 200 and the transition was seamless for me. Never once thought "wow, this new one is harder to see."

One thing is to consider is the full-size 300, which is a lot closer to the 200 (especially the offending display screen) but with all the latest upgrades.

Thanks for that. Conspicuous to me is that your last photo was taken quite off axis; that is, off to the side, not looking straight at the display. I will study mine later, but my guess is that the ST-300 display is more readable off axis, as it was clearer to your camera.

In any case, I did write to Sonic Research about this yesterday. Let's see what they say!

 

[SpasticTastic]

The TT tuner is a really hard tuner to take pictures of. The pictures scared me off because I thought it would be blurry, but it looks tons clearer in person.

 

[Snaxster]

Thanks for that. Conspicuous to me is that your last photo was taken quite off axis; that is, off to the side, not looking straight at the display. I will study mine later, but my guess is that the ST-300 display is more readable off axis, as it was clearer to your camera.

In any case, I did write to Sonic Research about this yesterday. Let's see what they say!

Someone from Support at Sonic Research replied to my question. While they seemed to be a genuinely nice person and well-intentioned, I found their reply to be mostly unhelpful. In any case, they did confirm that currently there is no way to dim the ST-300 models' displays.

If I can find a tinted film to apply to my ST-300 mini's display, I will use that. Otherwise I will search out the next best alternative tuner. Probably I can find something as fast, but it won't be made in the USA.

 

[LSMFT6]

If the 300's display appeared in-person the same way it appears in your pictures (and the first two pictures in my post), I wouldn't be using it either.
The fact is, though, mine's very clean from any angle or distance.

Why it's so hard to properly photograph and why it's blurry to you, I really can't say. The photography issues are easier to explain away assuming that the brighter LEDs are somehow messing with the camera and/or its lense.

Shot in the dark, are you wearing glasses? If so, that might be a factor. Maybe the screen on your unit is somehow defective and causes the display to look that way? Just guesses - it's a really great tuner and it's a shame that your issues are making it unusable.

 

[Snaxster]

If the 300's display appeared in-person the same way it appears in your pictures (and the first two pictures in my post), I wouldn't be using it either.
The fact is, though, mine's very clean from any angle or distance.

Why it's so hard to properly photograph and why it's blurry to you, I really can't say. The photography issues are easier to explain away assuming that the brighter LEDs are somehow messing with the camera and/or its lense.

Shot in the dark, are you wearing glasses? If so, that might be a factor. Maybe the screen on your unit is somehow defective and causes the display to look that way? Just guesses - it's a really great tuner and it's a shame that your issues are making it unusable.

Thanks for getting into it. I found precedent that corroborates my experience with the ST-300 mini and suggests an alternative tuner based on the same criteria as mine:

In this case, the Polytune stands above the rest mainly on speed, reliability, and display...

I dismissed the Turbo Tuner after I discovered it was useless for outdoor gigs and TOO bright for indoor use. So bright that the lights all blur together. Hated it...

The Polytune is the fastest of all three (but there's not a big enough difference to really matter). The Polytune has the clearest display with no confusion of notes, and it's 100% readable indoor or outdoor, and it's made of metal.

My friend is a TC Electronic dealer, so I will buy a Poly Tune 2 Noir from him and compare it to my ST-300 mini.

Despite TC Electronic's description of their current tuners as having a "Retina-scorching bright display", I trust mmbongo's firsthand account enough to try the comparison myself. I will report my impressions here.

 

[mysteryclock]

I've never found the 300's display to be too bright. I suppose you could get a small amount of car window tinting film and apply it to dim it to your preference? I think that comes in a variety of darkness levels....

 

[chadhargis]

No issues with my 300 Mini's display. The more I use the tuner the more I like it. I just hooked it up via the USB cable and set the "Always On" function. This means when power is applied to the tuner it turns "on". Very helpful when you plug in your board power supply. It will mute everything in the event the sound guy has the board unmuted. Not likely to happen, but at least I won't be the one making a big ruckus when I hook up my stuff.

 

[tjh]

... I used to use a ST-200 and sold it when needing funds... now considering the full size ST-300, anyone used both the mini and the larger battery operated model with comparison comments on display, etc?

 

[Snaxster]

Thanks for getting into it. I found precedent that corroborates my experience with the ST-300 mini and suggests an alternative tuner based on the same criteria as mine:

In this case, the Polytune stands above the rest mainly on speed, reliability, and display. Boss tuners can be immediately dismissed for thier tiny display, huge size, and poor sounding bypass. The cheapie pedal tuners can be dismissed for obvious reasons. That leaves Turbo Tuners, Korgs, and Polytunes.

I dismissed the Turbo Tuner after I discovered it was useless for outdoor gigs and TOO bright for indoor use. So bright that the lights all blur together. Hated it...

The Polytune is the fastest of all three (but there's not a big enough difference to really matter). The Polytune has the clearest display with no confusion of notes, and it's 100% readable indoor or outdoor, and it's made of metal.

My friend is a TC Electronic dealer, so I will buy a Poly Tune 2 Noir from him and compare it to my ST-300 mini.

Despite TC Electronic's description of their current tuners as having a "Retina-scorching bright display", I trust mmbongo's firsthand account enough to try the comparison myself. I will report my impressions here.

Belatedly, since my friend eventually learned that he couldn't get the Noir version of the PolyTune 2 Mini; so I got a white one instead, then I forgot to follow up here...

Though I couldn't know for sure, I took my best guess upon first using the PolyTune 2 Mini, comparing its strobe mode to the ST-300 mini:

It employs the same generation of display technology that the Turbo Tuner ST-300 mini does, BUT by using a matrix of much smaller dots (maybe 1/3 the size), the PolyTune 2 display 1. does not suffer nearly as much from the very bright blob halo around each dot, and 2. each dot itself seems sharper.

To summarize the effect, I found in their respective displays the ratio of dot (useful visual info) to halo (distracting visual noise) to be much higher in the PolyTune 2 Mini than in the Turbo Tuner ST-300 mini.

Both tuners were fast, and were comparable in their speed and ease of use.