The chromatic tuner that works for any instrument
Detects every note across the full musical range — C, C#, D, D# and all 12 notes — with a cents-accurate needle and frequency readout. No fixed tuning, no setup, just play.
How to use a chromatic tuner
Play one note at a time and watch the display. Any instrument, any tuning, any pitch.
Click Start and allow mic access
The tuner begins listening immediately. You do not need to select a tuning — the chromatic engine detects whatever note you play and finds the nearest pitch automatically.
Play one note and hold it
Sustain the note clearly while the display settles. Bowed, plucked and blown notes all work. The detector needs the fundamental to come through, so avoid dampening or muting the sound immediately.
Read the note name and cents
The large display shows the nearest note (C, C#, D and so on). The cents reading shows how far off you are. Zero cents is perfectly in tune; negative means flat, positive means sharp.
Tune until the needle centres on green
Adjust your pitch — tighten or loosen the peg, move the tuning slide, or adjust your embouchure — until the needle sits in the middle and turns green. That note is in tune.
All 12 notes, reference frequencies
Standard concert pitch at A=440 Hz. Each note is a semitone apart — a factor of 2^(1/12) from the last.
| Note | Freq (A=440) | Note | Freq (A=440) |
|---|---|---|---|
| C4 | 261.63 Hz | C#4 / D♭4 | 277.18 Hz |
| D4 | 293.66 Hz | D#4 / E♭4 | 311.13 Hz |
| E4 | 329.63 Hz | F4 | 349.23 Hz |
| F#4 / G♭4 | 369.99 Hz | G4 | 392.00 Hz |
| G#4 / A♭4 | 415.30 Hz | A4 | 440.00 Hz |
| A#4 / B♭4 | 466.16 Hz | B4 | 493.88 Hz |
The Tempo & Delay Cheat Sheet
Tuned up and recording? Keep this one-page reference by the desk — genre tempos and tempo-synced delay times, all on a page.
- Tempo ranges for 16 genres
- Delay times for every common BPM
- The dotted-eighth and triplet values pros actually use
- Reverb pre-delay and LFO sync tricks
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Once you are in tune
A chromatic tuner is the swiss army knife. Here are the specialised tools for specific instruments.
Questions, answered
What is a chromatic tuner?
A chromatic tuner detects all 12 notes of the Western scale — C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A# and B — rather than only fixed string pitches. It works for any instrument in any tuning.
Does it work for any instrument?
Yes. Guitar, bass, violin, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, wind instruments, brass — any instrument that produces a sustained pitch. The tuner detects the nearest note and shows the cents deviation.
What do the cents tell me?
Cents measure how far off you are from the nearest semitone. Zero is perfectly in tune. +50 cents means you are halfway between this note and the note above; -50 means halfway below. Within ±5 cents is accurate for any recording or performance.
What frequency range does it cover?
The tuner detects pitches from around 25 Hz to 4500 Hz, covering bass guitar low-B through well above a violin’s highest open string.
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