Tuner and drone

Measure pitch with the tuner

Choose Practice Tools › Tuner in the menu to open the tuner. It starts listening through your microphone right away. The first time, your browser asks for microphone permission.

1. 01Play one note at a time
2. 02The nearest note and octave (such as A4), the offset in cents, and the frequency appear
3. 03Tune until the needle enters the center band. Within ±5 cents, it shows "In tune"

• Meter: left is flat, right is sharp. The ends are ±50 cents (half a semitone), with a tick every 5 cents. The needle moves smoothly with the reading
• Meter style: choose a linear scale or an arc-shaped meter. Your choice is kept for next time
• STOP / START LISTENING: stops or restarts listening through the microphone

The microphone is used only while the tuner is open. Closing it stops listening.

It measures from the low E of a 4-string bass (about 41 Hz) up to about 2000 Hz. Noisy rooms, or a drone or metronome playing at the same time, can throw off the reading.

Play a drone

Choose Practice Tools › Drone in the menu to open the drone. It keeps playing the note you choose, for practicing playing in tune against a reference or for long tones.

• Note: choose one of the 12 notes from C to B
• Octave: choose from 2 to 5 (A3 is 220 Hz)
• Sound: a pure sine wave, or an organ-like sound with overtones
• Volume: the drone's own volume, separate from the metronome's

You can change the note, octave, sound, and volume while it plays. The drone plays only while it is open and stops when you close it. The bar at the bottom of the screen stays visible, so you can press START to play the metronome along with it.

Change the reference A4

Reference A4 at the bottom of the tuner and the drone sets the frequency of A4 from 415 to 466 Hz in 1 Hz steps (440 Hz at first). Use it to match an orchestra at 442 Hz or baroque pitch at 415 Hz. Press Reset under the label to go back to 440 Hz.

The tuner and the drone each keep their own reference, and it is kept for next time.

Open from the keyboard and the bottom bar

Press U to open the tuner and ⇧D to open the drone. Press the same key again to close it.

• Open / close tunerU
• Open / close drone⇧D

Choose TUNER and DRONE in Customize footer (in the menu) to add buttons to the bar at the bottom of the screen (they are hidden at first; see the Display chapter). While a button is in the bar, the tuner or drone opens as a panel above that button, like TIMER and TAP, whether you open it from the button, the menu, or the keyboard. Press the button again to close it. While the drone plays, the DRONE icon lights in the accent color.

When the button is not in the bar, they open in the middle of the screen. The bar at the bottom of the screen stays visible, so you can still press START while they are open.