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Rhino C-DAT Chromatic Digital Auto Tuner

Article from Recording Musician, March 1993


Rhino's C-DAT is a very traditional guitar tuner, with the shape and feel of a compact multimeter, a clear main display and a minimum of controls. Facilities comprise input jack, output jack, built-in mic, a socket for an external PSU (C-DAT will run on a PP3 9V battery), and an on/off switch which also has a battery test notch, like the majority of tuners. The basic tuning standard of the C-DAT is A=440Hz, although this can be set to anywhere between 434Hz and 446Hz. The only three buttons on the tuner (labelled Pitch, Down and Up) are used for this job.

The display is rather informative for such a small unit: a row of seven LEDs serves several functions, and is labelled with note names (C to B), guitar string names where applicable, and indicators of what the overall tuning reference is (between 434Hz and 446Hz). The main tuning area of the display consists of a familiar meter with +/-50 cents (half a semitone) accuracy. One of two LEDs labelled Too Low and Too High flashes when you're off pitch, and both flash together when your note is in tune. And how do you select your note? You don't — C-DAT does it for you automatically. This is both the best and the worst bit of Rhino's unit: play a note, and its pitch is analysed and displayed automatically, with half a semitone accuracy one way or the other. You tune the string (or your instrument) until you a) get the right note and then b) until you get the note in tune. The down side of this is that it takes what seems like ages to detect the note, although the elapsed time is probably only in the order of a second or so. Apart from this, the reaction of the unit is very reliable.

Of course, non-guitarists will find the C-DAT useful too, since it has a built in mic and will work over quite a wide range (checking with a synth, this seemed to be about four or five octaves), and is fully chromatic — the semitones between the seven main notes are indicated by the two LEDs to either side of the desired semitone lighting together (F and G light up for F#, for example). Simple.

Tuners are a useful, nay essential, addition to any studio owner or musician's collection of hardware; this one is as easy to use as they get, and has a price that won't hurt your pocket.

Further Information
Rhino C-DAT £35 including VAT.

Washburn UK Ltd, (Contact Details).



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Philip Rees V10 MIDI Thru Box

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MIDI Busker


Publisher: Recording Musician - SOS Publications Ltd.
The contents of this magazine are re-published here with the kind permission of SOS Publications Ltd.


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Recording Musician - Mar 1993

Donated & scanned by: Mike Gorman

Gear in this article:

Tuner > Rhino > C-DAT

Review by Derek Johnson

Previous article in this issue:

> Philip Rees V10 MIDI Thru Bo...

Next article in this issue:

> MIDI Busker


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