Peterson Electro-Musical Products
Encyclopedia
Peterson Electro-Musical Products, Inc. is a leading music-electronics manufacturer. The company was founded by Richard H. Peterson in 1948. The Peterson company introduced the first commercial handheld electronic tuner
for musicians, the Model 70, in 1964, and later its models of strobe tuners became popular among touring and studio musicians such as the Grateful Dead
, The Who
, Pink Floyd
, Frank Zappa
, Jimi Hendrix
, and Neil Young
. Since its inception the company has also contributed notable inventions and innovations to the electronic organ
, and its products are in use in many thousands of pipe organs, and hundreds of thousands of electronic organs, worldwide.
Founder Richard H. "Dick" Peterson (born February 26, 1925, died January 29, 2009), was born in Chicago
and in his teens began developing a keen interest in radios, vacuum tube
circuits, and pipe organs. He served as a radio operator for the U.S. Army near the end of World War II
, and while stationed in New York City
, developed a further fascination with both the sound and mechanics of pipe organs. He founded Haygren Organ Company to build electronic pipe organs with a sound that better matched that of real pipe organs, and was the first to employ the concept of using numerous independent oscillators in the organ design to produce a genuine ensemble. He also focused on the realistic attack and decay of each individual electronic note.
Founding
Peterson founded Peterson Electro-Musical Products in 1948. He soon licensed his inventions to the Gulbransen Piano Company of Chicago to be used in home electronic organs. In 1957, Peterson completed the world's first transistor
organ for Gulbransen. The company went on to consistently produce innovative products for musical tuning, electronic organs, home security, and keyboards, and later became a leader in developing and producing electronic and electro-mechanical equipment utilized in authentic pipe organs worldwide.
Expansion
In 1964, the Peterson company built a new 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) headquarters in Alsip, Illinois
, on a plot of 2.5 acres (10,117.2 m²). Two additional buildings totaling 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) were built on the company's factory "campus" between 1975 and 1977. In 1985 the prominent Conn Tuner company faded, and their Strobotuner division was bought by Peterson, who continue to service their line of products.
More recent years
In 1991 Dick Peterson's son Scott R. Peterson was appointed as Company President, after previously serving as Design Engineer, Production Manager, and Vice President.
In 1998, the Peterson Company celebrated it's 50-year anniversary by creating the "Beer Bottle Organ" prototype in the exhibit area of the American Institute of Organ Builders convention. The "BBO" used pipe organ components and beer bottles with liquid, precisely tuned with a Peterson strobe tuner, to produce a clear, flute
-like musical sound when played with a keyboard or via recorded MIDI files.
Peterson Electro-Musical Products, Inc. is still family owned, and continues to be a leader in its fields. The company still has an active research and development program for both tuner and pipe organ-equipment product lines.
First handheld tuner
Peterson engineer, Bill Hass (born February 6, 1939, died May 3, 2008), built the very first commercially available, battery-powered handheld tuner, the Model 70, in 1964. The Model 70 was a chromatic tuner with twelve fixed pitches that emitted a reference tone. Setting the tuner to a pitch and matching the tone on an instrument was how tuning was achieved.
First Peterson strobe tuner
In 1967, Peterson introduced its first strobe tuner, the Model 400. It was the first solid-state strobe tuner on the market, and was a breakthrough in that it did not require calibration and allowed musicians to select one-cent
increments. The tuner was highly influential in Peterson Tuner's growing presence in the fledgling tuner industry.
Tuning in the 1960s and 1970s
The rise of popular music as a business force in the entertainment industry in the 1960s and 1970s also brought an increased demand for professionalism in performance and recording. The only commercially available tuners during this era were manufactured by Peterson and Conn, which led to their presence on most major records and live concerts during this era. The Peterson models became highly popular among leading touring and studio musicians, and were frequently used onstage by such bands as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Rolling Stones
, Grateful Dead
, The Who
, Pink Floyd
, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Queen
, Neil Young
and Crazy Horse
, the Bruce Springsteen Band
, and many others. The tuner also became very popular for precision tuning by school bands, top-level orchestras and musical instrument manufacturers.
World's first LED guitar tuner
In 1980 Peterson introduced the Model 100 tuner, which was designed exclusively for guitars. The tuner used the strobe concept to create a rolling LED
display indicating errorin pitch by speed of the rolling LEDs. The Model 100 sold successfully in the early 1980s and stayed on the market for nearly a decade.
Peterson Strobe Center 5000™
In the 1990s, Peterson made the first significant change to the spinning wheel strobe since it introduced the Model 400 in the late '60s. They introduced the "Strobe Center 5000™" (SC5000), which employed twelve digital stepper motors (one motor for each of the twelve notes in an octave) controlled by microprocessors, and allowed the strobe to change keys, temperaments, and load stretch tuning tables into a memory bank. It is also the only true “polyphonic” tuner made. Widely used by school band programs for its visibility and by the instrument manufacturing sector for its ability to show harmonic content, the Strobe Center 5000 continues to be Peterson's flagship strobe tuner.
AutoStrobe™ tuners series
After the Strobe Center 5000, Peterson Tuners re-designed their mechanical strobe tuning line and introduced a line of AutoStrobe series tuners, which selected the note automatically and offered programmability for advanced users. Besides the Strobe Center 5000, the AutoStrobe tuners are the only true strobe tuners made anywhere today. Models include:
Peterson Sweetened™ Tunings
Peterson Virtual Strobe™ tuners offer specialized tuning solutions for various instruments referred to by Peterson Tuners as Sweeteners. According to Peterson, "Sweetening" a tuning is using consonance
and dissonance
to affect the sound of a specific instrument, ultimately aiding in the creation of tension and release in music.
Peterson strobe tuners are loaded with presets that see a particular tuning as a group of notes (not just individual pitches) and, because of their high tuning resolution, can optimize the notes within these groups to be more consonant with one another and pleasing to the ear.
The term 'Sweetener' was coined by Peterson to make a clear distinction between temperament
s and these 'other' exclusive sets of offsets. A temperament, by definition, implies the use of no more than 12 offsets, one for each pitch in the 12-tone chromatic scale
. These offsets form a "template" octave
. C0, C1, C2 through C8 for example, all have the same cent offset that has been defined for 'C'.
Peterson Sweetened presets are not temperaments because they do not necessarily pertain to a scale. They are sets of offsets designed with a particular instrument in mind. The GTR Sweetener, for example, is only meant to battle the common tuning problems inherent to a 6-string guitar. Unlike temperaments, the Sweetener offsets only have musical benefit when applied to their intended instrument.
Virtual Strobe™ models
In 2001, the model "VS-1" Virtual Strobe Tuner was introduced. Peterson's intention with the Virtual Strobe line was to create tuners that are portable, handheld, and affordable to musicians and students at large. The VS-II in 2003 had an improved display, additional features, and "Sweetened Tunings". It was also the first tuner that recognized and introduced dedicated tempered tuning presets for pedal steel guitar players. The V-SAM™ model, introduced later that year, added an audio output speaker and a metronome to the feature set of the popular VS-II. The VS-II was superseded by the StroboFlip in 2006.
StroboStomp
In 2004, the Virtual Strobe tuner model was updated to a stomp box format. The StroboStomp™ was constructed to be sturdy enough to handle stage use and heavy touring. The StroboStomp2™ replaced the first model in 2007, becoming the best-selling strobe-based pedal tuner on the market. Both models of the StroboStomp featured true-bypass technology that would not 'color' the tone of the connected instrument and offered a studio-grade, on-board DI (direct injection box). The StroboStomp was discontinued in 2007. The StroboStomp2 was discontinued in 2009 and replaced by the VSS-C Stomp Classic™. The StroboStomp was the first ever true-bypass tuner and the first strobe tuning pedal tuner to be available commercially.
VS-F StroboFlip™ Compact Strobe Tuner
In 2006, the VS-II was replaced with the StroboFlip, a smaller version that could be used by musicians without a pedal board. It featured an innovative "Pitch Holder™" that connected to the tuner with a tripod-like mount, allowing it to clamp onto music or mic stands. It is also the first tuner to specify the correct interval tunings for resophonic guitar and orchestral strings.
VS-R StroboRack™ Rack-Mount Strobe Tuner
In 2007, the StroboRack was introduced and featured a large 7" tuning display that made it easily visible from a variety of angles and environments. The StroboRack is the world's first single-space rack-mount strobe tuner.
StroboSoft™ Software-Based Strobe Tuner
In late 2005, Peterson Tuners announced the release of the StroboSoft, a software based strobe tuner that can be used on Mac or PC to tune on your computer. StroboSoft provides the same tuning accuracy as the hardware products and can be used as a stand-alone tuner or as a VST/AU (StroboSoft™ 2.0) plug-in. The software package contains utilities for tuning and sound analysis including a spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope, and linear pitch graph.
VSS-C Stomp Classic™
In 2010, the Stomp Classic replaced the prior StroboStomp2 product and added an improved DI, a larger display and multi-octave programmability. The stomp box design was also redesigned and modeled after the 1970s Conn ST-11 Strobotuner. It is capable of being connected to a computer via USB and accepts altered tunings and Sweeteners previously created on a special software editor made especially for the tuner.
SC-1 StroboClip™ Tuner
The StroboClip, introduced in 2010, is the world's first strobe tuner in a clip-on form. It contains a large preset list of Sweetened Tunings for a variety of acoustic instruments but can be used for electric guitar and bass players during on-stage performance. The StroboClip became the first hardware tuner to feature the correct interval tuning for not just guitars and basses, but also for such diverse instruments as bagpipes, oud, banjo, sitar and Arabic maqamat (Eastern temperaments).
's iPhone
and iPod Touch
. The application leverages the Virtual Strobe display and provides chromatic tuning with Peterson's renowned standard tuning resolution of 0.1 cent. In 2010, Peterson released a native iPad® version that offers unique functions on the iPad platform that includes VGA output support for classroom usage and manual note selection. An adaptor cable designed specifically for use with the Apple devices was also introduced to support the app and offer users an entry-level package solution.
Electronic tuner
The term electronic tuner can refer to a number of different things, depending which discipline you wish to study.In the Discipline of radio frequency electronics an electronic tuner is a device which tunes across a part of the radio frequency spectrum by the application of a voltage or appropriate...
for musicians, the Model 70, in 1964, and later its models of strobe tuners became popular among touring and studio musicians such as the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, and Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
. Since its inception the company has also contributed notable inventions and innovations to the electronic organ
Electronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
, and its products are in use in many thousands of pipe organs, and hundreds of thousands of electronic organs, worldwide.
Company history
FounderFounder Richard H. "Dick" Peterson (born February 26, 1925, died January 29, 2009), was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and in his teens began developing a keen interest in radios, vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
circuits, and pipe organs. He served as a radio operator for the U.S. Army near the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and while stationed in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, developed a further fascination with both the sound and mechanics of pipe organs. He founded Haygren Organ Company to build electronic pipe organs with a sound that better matched that of real pipe organs, and was the first to employ the concept of using numerous independent oscillators in the organ design to produce a genuine ensemble. He also focused on the realistic attack and decay of each individual electronic note.
Founding
Peterson founded Peterson Electro-Musical Products in 1948. He soon licensed his inventions to the Gulbransen Piano Company of Chicago to be used in home electronic organs. In 1957, Peterson completed the world's first transistor
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
organ for Gulbransen. The company went on to consistently produce innovative products for musical tuning, electronic organs, home security, and keyboards, and later became a leader in developing and producing electronic and electro-mechanical equipment utilized in authentic pipe organs worldwide.
Expansion
In 1964, the Peterson company built a new 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) headquarters in Alsip, Illinois
Alsip, Illinois
Alsip is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,725 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Chicago.Alsip was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. The village is named after Frank Alsip, the owner of a brickyard that opened there in 1885...
, on a plot of 2.5 acres (10,117.2 m²). Two additional buildings totaling 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) were built on the company's factory "campus" between 1975 and 1977. In 1985 the prominent Conn Tuner company faded, and their Strobotuner division was bought by Peterson, who continue to service their line of products.
More recent years
In 1991 Dick Peterson's son Scott R. Peterson was appointed as Company President, after previously serving as Design Engineer, Production Manager, and Vice President.
In 1998, the Peterson Company celebrated it's 50-year anniversary by creating the "Beer Bottle Organ" prototype in the exhibit area of the American Institute of Organ Builders convention. The "BBO" used pipe organ components and beer bottles with liquid, precisely tuned with a Peterson strobe tuner, to produce a clear, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
-like musical sound when played with a keyboard or via recorded MIDI files.
Peterson Electro-Musical Products, Inc. is still family owned, and continues to be a leader in its fields. The company still has an active research and development program for both tuner and pipe organ-equipment product lines.
Tuner product history
The first Peterson tuner, the Model 150, was released in 1952, after being developed for Peterson's own use in tuning organs. Along with the Model 200 following in 1959, they were the first products to carry the Peterson name. These tuners used vacuum tube technology and produced a wide range of finely adjustable audio tones. The design was advanced to solid state tuner with the Model 300 in 1966.First handheld tuner
Peterson engineer, Bill Hass (born February 6, 1939, died May 3, 2008), built the very first commercially available, battery-powered handheld tuner, the Model 70, in 1964. The Model 70 was a chromatic tuner with twelve fixed pitches that emitted a reference tone. Setting the tuner to a pitch and matching the tone on an instrument was how tuning was achieved.
First Peterson strobe tuner
In 1967, Peterson introduced its first strobe tuner, the Model 400. It was the first solid-state strobe tuner on the market, and was a breakthrough in that it did not require calibration and allowed musicians to select one-cent
Cent (music)
The cent is a logarithmic unit of measure used for musical intervals. Twelve-tone equal temperament divides the octave into 12 semitones of 100 cents each...
increments. The tuner was highly influential in Peterson Tuner's growing presence in the fledgling tuner industry.
Tuning in the 1960s and 1970s
The rise of popular music as a business force in the entertainment industry in the 1960s and 1970s also brought an increased demand for professionalism in performance and recording. The only commercially available tuners during this era were manufactured by Peterson and Conn, which led to their presence on most major records and live concerts during this era. The Peterson models became highly popular among leading touring and studio musicians, and were frequently used onstage by such bands as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
and Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse (band)
Crazy Horse is an American rock band best known for its association with Neil Young. It has been co-credited on a number of albums throughout Young's career and has released five albums of its own.-Early years:...
, the Bruce Springsteen Band
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, and many others. The tuner also became very popular for precision tuning by school bands, top-level orchestras and musical instrument manufacturers.
World's first LED guitar tuner
In 1980 Peterson introduced the Model 100 tuner, which was designed exclusively for guitars. The tuner used the strobe concept to create a rolling LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
display indicating errorin pitch by speed of the rolling LEDs. The Model 100 sold successfully in the early 1980s and stayed on the market for nearly a decade.
Peterson Strobe Center 5000™
In the 1990s, Peterson made the first significant change to the spinning wheel strobe since it introduced the Model 400 in the late '60s. They introduced the "Strobe Center 5000™" (SC5000), which employed twelve digital stepper motors (one motor for each of the twelve notes in an octave) controlled by microprocessors, and allowed the strobe to change keys, temperaments, and load stretch tuning tables into a memory bank. It is also the only true “polyphonic” tuner made. Widely used by school band programs for its visibility and by the instrument manufacturing sector for its ability to show harmonic content, the Strobe Center 5000 continues to be Peterson's flagship strobe tuner.
AutoStrobe™ tuners series
- The AutoStrobe 490 - designed for tech benches, repair shops, factories and rack-mounted (R490) for onstage use.
- The AutoStrobe 490ST - designed for piano tuning and other instruments requiring stretch tuning.
- The AutoStrobe 590 - designed for use in schools, band rooms and orchestra halls.
Virtual Strobe™ product line
In 2001 Peterson Tuners developed a line of Virtual Strobe™ electronic strobe tuners that utilize LCD dot-matrix displays to emulate the response of a mechanical strobe disc wheel, creating a stroboscopic effect. Peterson began using the "Strobo" name for all of its new Virtual Strobe™ line of products. According to the company, this was a response to other manufacturers incorrectly marketing non-strobe tuners under the name "Strobe". The Peterson 'strobo' tuner line guarantees 1/10th cent accuracy, or higher by using patented technology. The Virtual Strobe display is able to deliver a higher resolution over traditional needle and/or LED-based tuners enabling users to dial in extreme precision when tuning.Peterson Sweetened™ Tunings
Peterson Virtual Strobe™ tuners offer specialized tuning solutions for various instruments referred to by Peterson Tuners as Sweeteners. According to Peterson, "Sweetening" a tuning is using consonance
Consonance
Consonance is a stylistic device, most commonly used in poetry and songs, characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession, as in "pitter patter" or in "all mammals named Sam are clammy".Consonance should not be confused with assonance, which is the...
and dissonance
Dissonance
Dissonance has several meanings, all related to conflict or incongruity:*Consonance and dissonance in music are properties of an interval or chord*Cognitive dissonance is a state of mental conflict...
to affect the sound of a specific instrument, ultimately aiding in the creation of tension and release in music.
Peterson strobe tuners are loaded with presets that see a particular tuning as a group of notes (not just individual pitches) and, because of their high tuning resolution, can optimize the notes within these groups to be more consonant with one another and pleasing to the ear.
The term 'Sweetener' was coined by Peterson to make a clear distinction between temperament
Temperament
In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned...
s and these 'other' exclusive sets of offsets. A temperament, by definition, implies the use of no more than 12 offsets, one for each pitch in the 12-tone chromatic scale
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
. These offsets form a "template" octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
. C0, C1, C2 through C8 for example, all have the same cent offset that has been defined for 'C'.
Peterson Sweetened presets are not temperaments because they do not necessarily pertain to a scale. They are sets of offsets designed with a particular instrument in mind. The GTR Sweetener, for example, is only meant to battle the common tuning problems inherent to a 6-string guitar. Unlike temperaments, the Sweetener offsets only have musical benefit when applied to their intended instrument.
Virtual Strobe™ models
In 2001, the model "VS-1" Virtual Strobe Tuner was introduced. Peterson's intention with the Virtual Strobe line was to create tuners that are portable, handheld, and affordable to musicians and students at large. The VS-II in 2003 had an improved display, additional features, and "Sweetened Tunings". It was also the first tuner that recognized and introduced dedicated tempered tuning presets for pedal steel guitar players. The V-SAM™ model, introduced later that year, added an audio output speaker and a metronome to the feature set of the popular VS-II. The VS-II was superseded by the StroboFlip in 2006.
StroboStomp
In 2004, the Virtual Strobe tuner model was updated to a stomp box format. The StroboStomp™ was constructed to be sturdy enough to handle stage use and heavy touring. The StroboStomp2™ replaced the first model in 2007, becoming the best-selling strobe-based pedal tuner on the market. Both models of the StroboStomp featured true-bypass technology that would not 'color' the tone of the connected instrument and offered a studio-grade, on-board DI (direct injection box). The StroboStomp was discontinued in 2007. The StroboStomp2 was discontinued in 2009 and replaced by the VSS-C Stomp Classic™. The StroboStomp was the first ever true-bypass tuner and the first strobe tuning pedal tuner to be available commercially.
VS-F StroboFlip™ Compact Strobe Tuner
In 2006, the VS-II was replaced with the StroboFlip, a smaller version that could be used by musicians without a pedal board. It featured an innovative "Pitch Holder™" that connected to the tuner with a tripod-like mount, allowing it to clamp onto music or mic stands. It is also the first tuner to specify the correct interval tunings for resophonic guitar and orchestral strings.
VS-R StroboRack™ Rack-Mount Strobe Tuner
In 2007, the StroboRack was introduced and featured a large 7" tuning display that made it easily visible from a variety of angles and environments. The StroboRack is the world's first single-space rack-mount strobe tuner.
StroboSoft™ Software-Based Strobe Tuner
VSS-C Stomp Classic™
In 2010, the Stomp Classic replaced the prior StroboStomp2 product and added an improved DI, a larger display and multi-octave programmability. The stomp box design was also redesigned and modeled after the 1970s Conn ST-11 Strobotuner. It is capable of being connected to a computer via USB and accepts altered tunings and Sweeteners previously created on a special software editor made especially for the tuner.
SC-1 StroboClip™ Tuner
The StroboClip, introduced in 2010, is the world's first strobe tuner in a clip-on form. It contains a large preset list of Sweetened Tunings for a variety of acoustic instruments but can be used for electric guitar and bass players during on-stage performance. The StroboClip became the first hardware tuner to feature the correct interval tuning for not just guitars and basses, but also for such diverse instruments as bagpipes, oud, banjo, sitar and Arabic maqamat (Eastern temperaments).
Mobile Tuning Apps for Apple® Devices
Peterson Tuners released a Virtual Strobe™ tuning application in 2009 as a professional-grade tuning app for AppleMacintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
's iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
. The application leverages the Virtual Strobe display and provides chromatic tuning with Peterson's renowned standard tuning resolution of 0.1 cent. In 2010, Peterson released a native iPad® version that offers unique functions on the iPad platform that includes VGA output support for classroom usage and manual note selection. An adaptor cable designed specifically for use with the Apple devices was also introduced to support the app and offer users an entry-level package solution.
Sponsors
The following is a short list of notable musicians who frequently use Peterson Tuners in their gear setup:- Carl VerheyenCarl Verheyen-History:Verheyen has authored many instructional books, including Improvising Without Scales, as well as Studio City, a collection of articles written for the magazine Guitar for the Practicing Musician from 1996-1999...
- Robert Randolph
- Kirk Hammet
- Dean BernardiniDean BernardiniDean Bernardini is the bass guitar player and backing vocalist for the hard rock band Chevelle, as well as being a brother-in-law to the Loefflers. He joined the band in 2005 after the departure of Joe Loeffler, who had been a member of the group since 1994...
- Pete LoefflerPete LoefflerPete Loeffler is the lead guitarist and lead singer for the Chicago alternative metal band Chevelle. His vocal delivery varies from clean melodic singing to a gut-wrenching scream....
- LeRoi MooreLeroi MooreLeRoi Holloway Moore was an American saxophonist best known as a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band. Moore often arranged music for the songs written by frontman Dave Matthews...
- James HetfieldJames HetfieldJames Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
- Nils LofgrenNils LofgrenNils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock music recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
- Dave MurrayDave Murray (musician)David Michael Murray is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as one of the earliest members of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden.-Biography:...
- Dave Ellefson
Further reading
- Video: Peterson Tuners Classic Stomp (Joe Coffey of Premier GuitarPremier GuitarPremier Guitar is an American monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. Founded in 2007, it is based in Marion, Iowa, and has an editorial staff composed of experienced musicians. Content includes instructional material, guitar gear reviews, and guitar news...
, 2010) - Video: Beer Bottle Organ
External links
- Peterson Electro-Musical Products, Inc.
- ICS-4000 Integrated Pipe Organ System
- Peterson Tuners on MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
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- Peterson Tuners on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....