Tune-Bot Review:10 Bullets

I've had a few weeks now to play around with Tune-Bot, so I finally feel comfortable committing some thoughts to paper. In short, Tune-Bot is not a silver bullet, but it will help you make your drums sound better once you follow the Tuning Guide and learn how to deal with some of its idiosyncrasies.

I'm not gonna write a proper review since there are some excellent video reviews on YouTube. For example, the Drummer Connection guys (the ones with the clear acrylic drums) really did a fine job in their review. I feel it represents the product's strengths and weaknesses accurately. If you are trying to make a decision to buy one, watch their video. My little article here is for the folks who already bought one but maybe feel a bit frustrated. I was certainly frustrated at first, but then I read the Tuning Guide, played around, and got Bot-Religion.

So here are some tips once you've got your Tune-Bot:

1. Don't whip it out of the box and slap it on a drum without reading the manual!
2. The best manual is the Tuning Guide. Print it out and use it!
3. Using the Tuning Guide, choose target frequencies for your drums (page 2).
4. Decide which top/bottom ratio you want to try first. Then try them all! Just for fun.
5. It's handy to have a pencil and calculator on hand (or a smartphone, if you prefer)
6. Don't start tuning while your band mates are around. You'll drive them nuts. Your first experiments should really be on your own, in a nice stress-free environment (since sometimes the learning process can be frustrating enough).
7. Don't start using the Tune-Bot until you've got the head roughly tuned by ear. I mean, I have a pretty bad ear, but even I can get a drum into the ballpark, and then Tune-Bot helps me detect the variations that I can't hear on my own.
8. When checking individual lug frequencies, always place the drum on the floor or on a throne! 
9. Filter mode is your friend! Use it! When tuning a metal snare, it's indispensable! On my first pass with the bot I somehow missed out on the filter (translation: I didn't read the manual). I got readings all over the place and was cursing myself for buying a useless piece of garbage. Then I found the manual, and I found the filter.
10. Don't follow the Tuning Guide blindly! The guide is a GUIDE, but you need to also trust your ears. That is, if you are trying to get the entire drum tuned to 124 Hz, you may only be able to achieve that by honing in on lug frequencies that differ from those listed in the guide. And regarding your ears, you may find that you'll learn to recognize differences that you may have missed before. I'm convinced that the Tune-Bot trains your ear as you use it.