Flow Award #2: The Intellitouch Tuner

Related link: http://www.tuners.com/

A few months ago I decided to stop griping about technology that frustrates creativity. There are so many bad examples to complain about, and it's hardly useful to go on and on about them all. More useful might be some encouragement for the good examples out there. So I took it on myself to create the Flow Award, naming it after the concept of creative flow as described by psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi. I awarded the first Flow to Masterwriter songwriting software. I have also started to recruit a distinguished Flow Academy--more about that soon. Meanwhile, I present Flow Award #2:

The Intellitouch tuner by Onboard Research reinvents the simple but crucial process of tuning a stringed instrument, making an almost pleasant experience out of what had been a necessary evil. Unlike most other tuners, which require a cable connection or the use of a built-in mic, it's designed to clip onto an instrument's headstock, where it can then sample vibrations coming up through the neck in order to determine the pitch of a note (see photo). It turns out that this simple design innovation makes a huge difference, and has led to the Intellitouch being adopted as a standard in kit bags all over the world.

As with all great tools, using the Intellitouch fits seamlessly into the actual activity at hand, in this case playing a guitar, banjo, mandolin or fiddle. There's a lot of value in just getting the tuner out of the way, since portable tuners often get tripped over or knocked off of stands. More important, though, the Intellitouch fits into the act of performing. It does so by respecting the mysterious value of sight lines.

With previous designs, the player had to make an obvious break of eye contact with the audience, either by looking down at a pedal (and probably bending and squinting at the same time) or by turning around and looking at a rack unit. That may seem like a small thing, but it sends a very flow-disrupting message: "I am now thinking about how I sound and so have transferred my attention to my gear." It's kind of like pausing while making love to check yourself out in a mirror.

With the Intellitouch, you just turn your head to the left to glance in the direction of the instrument's tuning keys. This gesture is subtle, natural and even attractive--the audience sees that you're tuning your instrument, and it looks to them like you're merely glancing at the tuning keys while you turn them. The three-quarter profile they see looks reflective, to boot. Amazing that tuning could actually be made graceful.

The Intellitouch also manages to make the animation on its LCD readout feel musical. One to three left- or right- facing chevrons appear on either side of the letter name of the note you're tuning to, indicating how sharp or flat you might be (in the dark, a single button press illuminates the display). The simplicity, clarity and positive feel of the Intellitouch helps you confidently tune a string in a second or two.

Being able to do it that fast keeps the flow of the performance going. It also makes it likely that the player will tune more often, meaning that, I'll bet, Intellitouch users play in tune for a greater percentage of the time. And that supports flow too (especially for the audience).

I've found that even Onboard's technical support is flow-worthy. The on-off button on my unit became intermittent a few months after I bought it. It was one of those irritating but not fatal problems that you might let slide for a while, and I did, for a year or more. By that time I was unsure what if any warranty coverage I might have, and too busy to go digging for the information. I emailed Onboard about it, and they responded immediately with word that I could send them the unit and a check for $20. They'd discover its warranty status when they opened it up, and either cash the check or mail it back. As it happened, in no time I had a working tuner and my $20 back. Pretty great service on something that cost $49 to buy (list price is $69.95 as of this writing), a price that you might expect would put it in the disposable category.