iOS tuner apps?

[Scodiddly]

Well, it happened, as it always does - my best-loved tuner app got orphaned and didn't survive the latest big iOS update. That was "AP Tuner", which was a $10 that was really accurate, really sensitive, and I even used for (amateur) piano tuning.

Any suggestions on a replacement? I don't mind spending a few bucks. Is the Peterson app actually worth a damn these days? I tried to make that one work way too long.

[kslight]

Hmm I was gonna say Polytune but that seems to be orphaned also. Not a big deal, it was free but worked well. I don’t think about it much bc I have tuners in like everything now…

[emrr]

The Peterson still rules here.

[Scodiddly]

The Peterson still rules here.

I had one of their clip-ons which was great. But the app plain sucked, always got the D string on my acoustic wrong by about 4 cents. They couldn't figure it out, I traded a few emails with tech support and sent sound samples and everything.

[Nick Sevilla]

Fender has a free one for iDevices.

[alexdingley]

The Peterson still rules here.

Peterson for the win — it's been so good to me over the years.

[emrr]

The Peterson still rules here.

I had one of their clip-ons which was great. But the app plain sucked, always got the D string on my acoustic wrong by about 4 cents. They couldn't figure it out, I traded a few emails with tech support and sent sound samples and everything.

Interesting! Can’t say I’ve seen that. Wonder if it could be hardware related in some way?

[analogika]

I've been using the Peterson app (including the "Sweetened Rhodes" stretch tuning) ever since it came out.

been fine.

[Scodiddly]

The Peterson still rules here.

I had one of their clip-ons which was great. But the app plain sucked, always got the D string on my acoustic wrong by about 4 cents. They couldn't figure it out, I traded a few emails with tech support and sent sound samples and everything.

Interesting! Can’t say I’ve seen that. Wonder if it could be hardware related in some way?

Dunno, it's been that way across 3 phones and an iPad. Peterson gave me their little plug-in mic dongle and 1/4" input, neither of which improved matters. Also it shows the D on my piano as about 4 cents off what it really is.

[emrr]

I had one of their clip-ons which was great. But the app plain sucked, always got the D string on my acoustic wrong by about 4 cents. They couldn't figure it out, I traded a few emails with tech support and sent sound samples and everything.

Interesting! Can’t say I’ve seen that. Wonder if it could be hardware related in some way?

Dunno, it's been that way across 3 phones and an iPad. Peterson gave me their little plug-in mic dongle and 1/4" input, neither of which improved matters. Also it shows the D on my piano as about 4 cents off what it really is.

Well now I can't help but wonder what your other reference standard is, which confirms this? Not saying you're wrong, want to know more.

[Scodiddly]

Well now I can't help but wonder what your other reference standard is, which confirms this? Not saying you're wrong, want to know more.

It's a fair question. Other tuner apps, hardware tuners, and "why is the D string out of tune when I just tuned it with this $10 app?"

Also it gives different readings for open D (4 cents off) vs. 12th fret harmonic D (dead on).

[Nick Sevilla]

It's a fair question. Other tuner apps, hardware tuners, and "why is the D string out of tune when I just tuned it with this $10 app?"

Also it gives different readings for open D (4 cents off) vs. 12th fret harmonic D (dead on).

A harmonic, if you play it exactly at the midpoint, should return the correct pitch, which should be the same as the open D string.

Since yours does not, maybe there is another string ringing out sympathetically, but off by a bit? A string which gets muted when you do the harmonic on the string, because you put your hands where they mute some or all the other strings?

I have had this happen.

The other possibility, is the intonation of the instrument being off...

[Scodiddly]

The other possibility, is the intonation of the instrument being off...

Nope, it's a Taylor and the intonation is dead-nuts on. Also middle D on my piano gives the same 4 cents off. Also if I tune my guitar up with the Peterson and play a chord, the D is definitely out of tune even when it's the open string in the chord.

I do tune pianos as a hobby, so I'm reasonably sure I have higher standards now than a lot of other tuner users.

[Scodiddly]

My boss (who played steel guitar professionally for many years) suggested Cleartune, which has been around quite a while, and it's pretty nice. My only complaint is that it doesn't cover the extreme high and low octaves.

One really cool feature of AP Tuner was that it had a real strobe tuning mode. Not just a gimmick display, it actually showed the differing pitches of the various octave harmonics on a note.

[Colorblind]

I was also not blown away by the Peterson app (iStrobosoft). It's possible I'm just using it wrong, but sometimes I'd have issues getting low guitar notes to even register as a pitch. I ended getting an app called Pitch Lab, and using its reference pitches to tune guitar, etc.