Tuners: accuracy vs. precision...
In another thread discussing tuners that people use there seems to be quite a bit of confusion about what accuracy is, and the importance of the distinction between accuracy and precision. I thought this was important so am posting this as a new thread...this image should help:
http://www.carolina.com/images/teach...-precision.jpg A tuner should be both accurate AND precise. To my mind, there are very few tuners that are both...and those that are are strobe tuners. Phil |
All the accuracy and precision I need is in an A440 tuning fork and my ears.
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another point about tuners, besides there accuracy and precision, is how that translates into usability. for example, i have a tuner that claims to be extremely accurate and precise, but the way the display works makes it hard to use that accuracy and precision.
neat diagram, phil, i'll have to think about it. the "accurate not precise" kind of stands out to me. (as well as the "not accurate not precise"). they seem to be the interesting ones. |
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I like that diagram. I think I'll use that in other conversations, too.
In engineering terms, we think of accuracy and precision when measuring physical things (like frequencies). If you are measuring the dimensions of a mechanical part using two different calipers or micrometers, and tool-A can read out to 0.0000" but tool-B can only read out to 0.000" inches we say that tool-A has greater precision. That's analogous to your bullseye diagram, where you have a very tight cluster. If tool-C can read within +/- 0.0005 and tool-D can read within +/-0.001 we say tool-C has a tighter tolerance and, therefore, is more accurate. Your diagram is a nice illustration of the concept. I had tremendously bad luck with a crappy strobe tuner. I'm not sure (yet) that strobe tuners are generally better. Why are they? I understand the level of precision and response time of the light is better, but there is a power circuit driving the light at a specific frequency. If that wavers, then the accuracy is lost. A piezo sensor has a circuit reading a frequency. If that wavers, accuracy is lost. I think they are probably pretty comparable, no? Anyway, I greatly disliked my crappy strobe tuner. I had an in-line digital tuner and hated that as well. I used a Android microphone app with pretty good luck, then got Snark piezo tuners and have been very happy. |
The "accurate" and "precise" concept refer to bias and consistency (or validity and reliability). An unbiased (accurate) device gives a correct value on average. A precise device gives highly consistent values.
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and to get really far out, these diagrams, i'd assume, are four shots aimed once and shot 4 times without any correction. another interesting thing is the sample size of 4, which i suppose is just enough to make the point. Quote:
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