An alternative Ziegler-Nichols (1942) controller tuning technique was proposed in this study. Under the proportional control of a single-loop control system, an arbitrary pulse testing in the set point was introduced to the system. The ultimate frequency and gain could both be directly calculated from the transients by frequency response techniques without any trial and error procedures. PID controller settings were thus obtained according to the Ziegler and Nichols’ rules. Furthermore, this technique was extended to the tuning of a cascade control system. A procedure for simultaneously tuning the primary and secondary controllers with both loops in proportional control from a single pulse testing also is presented.