Since no-one else has mentioned this I'm going to chip in.
IMHO, all you need is a 'tuning app' on your mobile. I've used a couple of apps and I currently use 'Saxophone Tuner' (Android and IOS). What I really like about 'Saxophone Tuner' is that it gives you accurate feedback on any note(s) that you play. So for example (in my case), depending on the position of my mpc on the neck and my embouchure, the app may show most 'lower register notes' as 'within acceptable boundaries' while it may show some of my 'higher register notes' as being slightly flat or sharp. So I can both long-term as well as the current rehearsal adjust to this feedack.
In all cases, the app enables you to:
- 'tune' your sax (via your mpc) with other band member or a backing track
- learn more about (and improve) your 'intonation' across the sax range
FWIW, this post is purely intended as a 'shared personal experience'. I have absolutely no connection or commercial or other interest in 'Saxophone Tuner'. So this post is in no way intended as a 'promo'!
At least three things are all getting conflated here.
First: where shall I place my mouthpiece so that
today, with the embochure, voicing, body, reed, mouthpiece I have, the horn will be at a good average in-tune with the universe, or with the group I'm playing with? Nowadays with many/most players having a digital tuner, the average pitch of a group will be pretty darn close to A=440 if the physical instruments are all warmed up. So basically all I do when I put the horn together is to slide the MP up to the line I marked on the cork some years ago and then just check to see if my middle G is in tune. Unless a pad has fallen out or someone's sneaked into my house and readjusted the positions of all my tone holes, the horn will be as in tune as it was the last time.
Of course if I've misestimated the temp or I've got a cold, or the reed's just about to die, I'll possibly need to shift the MP a bit from the line.
Second: Here I have a
new horn. How can I tell whether it's going to play well in tune with my equipment? For this, you use a tuner and go all the way up and down, identify wonky notes. Maybe there's just a minor pad height to adjust. Maybe that's the way the thing is.
Third:
Am I biting, or too slack? For this you want to match long and short tube note pitches by moving the mouthpiece in and out till the pitch of (for example) long C# and all-open C# match - then turn on the tuner and see if the thing's sharp or flat. If flat, you should tighten up, if sharp you should slacken up. This is NOT - repeat NOT - something you do on the day of the gig and then try to lip everything down that day. This is information for you to use in practicing. Shifts in your "input pitch" require you to reprogram your ears, muscles, airstream, etc., and that takes time. To get the horn better in tune with itself by playing flatter and pushing in might well take a year to move the mouthpiece position a quarter inch.
If you are not trying to alter your embouchure and voicing, and if your horn is known to be reasonably in tune with itself at A=440, then "tuning" only applies to compensating for today's weather patterns and your personal condition, so once you use a middle range note to set your average tuning the same as the rest of the group, all subsequent assessment and adjustment is done by ear with no little LED needles to look at.
For string instruments it's good practice to recheck at a couple point in a session.
www.guitarorb.com
onlinetonegenerator.com
tonegen.net
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