tough sounds to reproduce ???

(sorry) The exact resonant frequency of the speaker cabinet (or cartridge, or laser head) (again, sorry)

Thanks Abstract. The rebuilder who voiced my B has played near too many drummers in trios over the past couple of decades. I've managed to sell two Subies to TWO other good tuner/rebuilder/musicians (bass players) in the past year, and all three of them agree that the low-treble of the B is commonly known as the "money octave" because one can constantly chase its voicing anomolies over time. And MY tuner (head of the guild) drives a Volvo...although that'll be temporary!
RE: computer tuning
Do you mean that tuning aid the techs use with the xirxling LEDs? Those little boxes cost a lot ($1200-$2k?) exactly BECAUSE they have memories stuffed with exact tuning pitches for LOTS of different piano makes and sizes. Joe just dials up Steinway B and starts there...all the partials line up right away, so fine-tuning becomes a breeze.
Voicing via hammer-felt hardness, thickness, and geometry is the tricky stuff...and we ALL hear it differently!
RE: mased violins
Heard Zander and the BPO doing Mahker's 9th last Saturday,
and was initially surprised by the brightness of the strings. Remembered that by being in the balcony we were on axis to their boards' radiation. My old friend and recording engineer/acoustician Tom Horrall added that he could only imagine how hotter still they sounded to the mics
arrayed much closer, but in-line with our axis.
No wonder massed strings can be so relentless in many recordings!
RE: Mapleshades
I kinda like Sprey's PZM recordings, yet another friend who teaches recording tech at Berklee listened to a couple of them and quickly taught me how to hear their phase errors.
But I soon forgot what he said!
He wants me to try Earthworks mics for my piano, but I'm hesitant to make the investment.
Sorry to get off-track.
I like the analysis of oceanside sounds....

Subaruguru, xirxling is not exactly what I was talking about, but it's close--it is in fact the right way to tune a piano. This device has been duplicated for PC applications and works remarkably well--even with a bad microphone and sound card--I'm still wondering how they manage that. The real problem is the simplistic computer systems that don't recognize the harmonics like the xirxling and tune all pianos the same--by note only. It just doesn't work that way--and it sounds horrible--but I'll bet more than 50% of the pianos out there are tuned by this method. There are two ways to tune it--the old fashioned way--get C right and tune everything else by ear (harmonics). I used to have a good tuner that did that--or now use the computer that has databased all the piano's out there--but keep in mind that database is just an average of all the Stienway B's (or other piano--for each piano in the database). There is no absolute--and most likely some error, as they don't take into account subtle changes--such as my 1878 Stienway that only has 85 keys--does that make a difference--I don't know, I doubt it.

I agree with cymbals and piano. A well-recorded stand-up bass is not easy to reproduce either, especially given the issue of standing waves.