What is Instrument Tuner?

This tool turns your device into a chromatic instrument tuner. Play a string and the microphone reads its pitch straight away. You get the nearest note, how many cents sharp or flat you are, and a needle that settles green when you're in tune. Presets cover guitar, bass, ukulele, and violin, plus a chromatic mode for anything else.

Pitch detection runs on the live microphone signal, so a plucked string reads back within a fraction of a second. Presets carry alternate tunings as well: Drop D, DADGAD, Open G, half step down, five-string banjo, low-G ukulele. Reference A can be moved off 440 Hz for orchestral pitch or an old piano.

How to use

1. Allow microphone access and choose your instrument preset — guitar, bass, ukulele, violin, or chromatic.
2. Play one string at a time and watch the needle: left means flat, right means sharp.
3. Adjust the tuning peg until the needle centers and the display turns green, then move to the next string.

When to use

• Retuning a guitar to Drop D or DADGAD before working out a new song.
• Checking a violin against A=442 Hz before rehearsing with a wind section.
• Tuning a banjo or mandolin when there is no clip-on tuner in the case.

Result

Before a campfire session, pick the Guitar preset, pluck the low E — the display reads E2, 18 cents flat — and tighten the peg until the needle centers green, repeating for all six strings in under two minutes.

FAQ

Why does the needle jump around when I strum instead of picking one string?

Several pitches hit the microphone at once and the detector locks onto whichever is loudest. Damp the other strings with your palm and let a single note ring; the reading settles inside a second.

What does the reference pitch setting do, and should I move it off 440 Hz?

It fixes the frequency of the A above middle C, and every other note is measured from there. Most bands and recordings sit at 440. Orchestras in continental Europe often run 442, and old pianos sit lower.

Can I tune an instrument that has no preset, like a hammered dulcimer?

Chromatic mode drops the string list and compares whatever it hears to the nearest semitone, so any pitched instrument works. You lose the per-string targets but keep the cents readout and the needle.

How many cents off is close enough before the difference stops mattering?

The display turns green inside five cents, which is where a single note stops sounding wrong to most ears. Two instruments a bit further apart start to beat audibly, so tighter is better in a group.

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