Strobe Guitar Tuner

Most tuners show a needle that wanders. This one shows a strobe, the display serious players use because it reads the direction and speed of a string at a glance. Flat, the bands drift left. Sharp, they drift right. In tune, they stand still.

The tuner works out which string you played by itself, names it, and says how far off it is: "Low E, 32 cents flat. Tighten the peg slowly." Hold it in tune and that peg's lamp lights. Tune all six and the whole headstock lights up.

To work on one string only, click its peg. Click it again to go back to any string.

Clicking a peg also plays that string. The reference note is a plucked string made on your PC at the exact pitch, not a recording, so it is never slightly off. Prefer to tune by ear? Play every open string in turn, lowest first. A pure tone is there too, for anyone who finds the overtones distracting. While a reference note plays, the tuner stops listening, so it never tunes to its own speaker.

A cent is a hundredth of a semitone. Most people cannot hear a difference smaller than about five. The tuner was checked against hundreds of recorded guitar and bass notes, including the low strings that trip up cheaper tuners by reading them an octave too high.

A chart of the last eight seconds shows how steady the string really is, so you can watch it hold instead of taking a needle's word for it.

16 tunings:

The headstock is drawn for whichever you choose, three pegs a side for a guitar and the right count for a bass or ukulele. A capo from the 1st to the 7th fret moves every target up to match. Any-note mode reads every note rather than the open strings, for slide, other instruments or checking intonation up the neck.

• Guitar: standard, half step down, whole step down, Drop D, Drop C, DADGAD, open G, open D, open E and open C
• Bass: 4-string, 4-string drop D and 5-string
• Ukulele: standard high G, low G and baritone

• Concert pitch from 430 to 450 Hz, for bands and recordings not at A440
• In tune within 1, 2, 3 or 5 cents: tight for the studio, forgiving in a noisy room
• A sensitivity setting, so room noise does not move the strobe
• Sharps or flats for note names
• A left-handed headstock
• Always on top, over recording software or a lesson video
• Any microphone or audio interface, with a live input level
• Number keys pick a string, P plays it, A goes back to any string

The microphone is used only while the tuner is open, and listening pauses when it is minimized. Nothing you play is recorded or uploaded. There is no account, no ads, and it works with no connection at all.