What is strobe tuning?

A company called Peterson makes a cool-looking but expensive ($300) gizmo called a strobe tuner. It's all analog technology, so it's super accurate; better than anything else out there. Works by hooking up a strobe light and spinning, patterbed wheel to a microphone; the frequency of the strobe and the speed of the wheel are determined by the frequency picked up by the mic. The interaction of the wheel and the strobe shows you whether you're on pitch or not; if you are, the wheel shows a solid bar. If you're off, the bar oscillates to the left (flat) or right (sharp).

When I was in high school, our band used to have one. I should have nicked it.

 

I have often wondered about this but I had no idea it was anything that intricate. I know Korgs DTR-2 has a strobe tuning mode and I am pretty sure that is not it. Does anyone who has a DTR-2 have insight into this?

 

I'm pretty sure that's a strobe simulation, which uses the LED's to simulate the real-time tuning response of a strobe, maybe not quite as accurate though.

 

The basic idea is the same, between a Peterson Strobe Tuner and Korg's DTR-1.

The Peterson version is used by many repair shops and luthiers for tuning and intonation adjustments, so it's kind of considered a must-have by them.

On the other hand, I own the DTR-1 and use the strobe a little bit when testing intonation. I've heard from some shops that the DTR-1 is pretty accurate, others say it's definitely not perfect.

What is?

 

I don't believe that the DTR2 has a strobe feature. The DTR seems to have a LED needle thing happening that is pretty underwhelming given the $160 price tag. If anyone knows how to access a strobe simulation feature on the DTR2, please let me know (I didn't see it in the manual...).

However, the Boss TU-2 pedal does have a strobe feature that I like a lot. Basically the LED's simulate a spinning effect, and the speed at which the LED's spin indicated how flat or sharp you are. When the LED's stop moving, you're in tune.

 

The DTR-2 does NOT have a strobe feature; the DTR-1 does. I own the DTR-1. The DTR-1, by the way, retails for somewhere around $300.

 

Stompbox? I hope I didn't give you the impression that the Korg DTR-1 is a stompbox tuner: it's a rack tuner.

 

Your ears Thats it. Thanks for the info guys

 

He's talking about the BOSS, which does the spinning LED thing like the DTR-1.

 

I'm not familiar with that one.

 

The TU-2 is good tuner. Can mute when tuning, decent price. $80.99 with the parallel cords Here. It's actually called the "Stream" mode. Works as explained. My guitarist loved mine so much, he had to have one. Looks cool to

 

my dad has a strobe tuner from the 70's. I use it a lot.

 

The parallel cords power other pedals. Yes, you need an adapter.Parallel Cords .