Peterson V-SAM Virtual Strobe Audio Metronome Review

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(More customer reviews)I am called on to tune harpsichords, and this is often done using unusual temperaments and pitch standards far from A=440Hz. I formerly used the excellent Korg MT-1200, because it could be programmed to any temperament, and because it allowed a very wide range of pitch standards (I often need to tune to A=411, for example). Korg has discontinued the MT-1200, replacing it with the model OT-12, which has most of the same features but is not programmable. When the MT-1200 that I used went bad (its memory chip failed, so it needed to be re-programmed every time I used it, quite a hassle), I went on a search for something else that would do the job.
After consulting with harpsichord players, builders, and other experts, I learned about the Peterson V-SAM. None of my experts had actually used this tuner, but had heard that it was an amazing new device that was great for harpsichords. I called Peterson (for a very long time known as a venerable manufacturer of stroboscopic tuners) and their sales people confirmed that the V-SAM was excellent for this kind of instrument. I let my experts know what Peterson had told me, and so they independently bought V-SAMs at the same time I bought mine.
About a week after I got my V-SAM, I started getting calls from the others. Nobody could make the V-SAM work with harpsichords. It was unstable, and would frequently not even recognize that a note was being played on the instruments. Suspecting a faulty unit or perhaps a faulty manufacturing run, I checked my V-SAM with some wind instruments. It worked fine. Several calls to Peterson tech support revealed that if I simply added an external microphone, the V-SAM would work great on the harpsichord. I tried hand held mics, clip on mics, and suction-cup mics, and nothing helped. The others had similar experiences.
Finally, I was able to talk to engineering at Peterson, and was advised that the V-SAM was never designed to work with instruments like pianos or harpsichords. They said the tuner was intended to be used with instruments that can sustain their tones, like violins and wind instruments.
I have since returned my V-SAM, as have all my associates. I want to stress that this is not really a fault of the unit...Peterson is a good company with a high quality product. The problem is that this design is not suitable with certain instruments that produce transient tones. Unfortunately, Peterson sales and tech support did not know this and led me astray. Likewise, most retailers simply parrot what Peterson says or implies in their sales capacity, and hence the bad information is kept circulating.
In my opinion the V-SAM is a fine product for most applications, but if you want to use it with instruments that produce tones that decay quickly, look elsewhere.


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The Peterson V-SAM' presents a combination of programmable Virtual Strobe' tuner, audio tone generator, and metronome in a hand-held format. It marries the revolutionary Virtual Strobe Technology', first introduced in the VS-1 tuner, with a new, brighter, high-contrast display. The high-output tone generator within the V-SAM offers 10 octaves of audible tones, which conform to a selected preset or custom temperament and are adjustable in 0.1 cent increments. This permits ear-training possibilities previously unavailable in a hand-held device.Versatile MetronomeThe V-SAM's audio/visual metronome allows tap or dial-in tempo, adjustable beats per measure, beat subdivisions, and a stopwatch function.Built to be BetterThe V-SAM's "tuner mode" expands upon the Peterson VS-1' with an even wider variety of alternate temperaments and the ability to select temperament tonal roots. In addition, the user can create and store custom temperaments and use them with the same flexibility as preset ones. The V-SAM automatically detects a note being played in real-time and is accurate to 1/1000th of a semitone. It can transpose displayed notes based on any of 12 scale notes.

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