iphone tuners

[AlanBartram]

Anyone have first hand experience with these and are they worth it?

[Jsn]

Originally Posted by AlanBartram

Anyone have first hand experience with these and are they worth it?

Yes, indeed. I've tried several and have been most impressed with Cleartune. Really nails the lower tones, which not all tuners do.

I know it seems like a toy, a tuner on a phone. But there's a lot of computing power packed into an iPhone; definitely more than in the circuitry of dedicated tuners. While I'll still use my Seiko when I'm in noisy setup situations (because it has a line in), the rest of the time I'm relying on Cleartune. Hey, it's a few bucks. Give it a try.

[vision]

I've been using JustTune for a few weeks now, works great! I haven't tried any other tuners on the iphone yet though.

[Bassism]

I've got Stayintune, which I haven't been very impressed with. It doesn't seem to handle any of my instruments (ranging from bass all the way to mandolin).
Maybe I'll give one of these other apps a try though.

[M Ramsey]

Alan,

I talked to Patton Wages (banjer man) and he's got something called (or similar to) Guitar toolkit. He may end up giving you a call, that way you two can use them iPhones to converse on, while being many miles apart.

[bassbrock]

I've tried all the free ones (about half a dozen or so) up until a couple of weeks ago and they did not work well for me, even in quiet environments. I have not yet tried any of the paid ones.

[vision]

Originally Posted by bassbrock

I've tried all the free ones (about half a dozen or so) up until a couple of weeks ago and they did not work well for me, even in quiet environments. I have not yet tried any of the paid ones.

Yeah, the free ones I tried didn't work well at all. But JustTune and OmniTuner (which i downloaded yesterday) work great.

[Ike Harris]

I don't have an iphone and didn't even know you could have a tuner there. Is there one you can use as a chromatic drone?

Ike

[james condino]

I used the iphone Peterson strobe tuner yesterday ($9 download!) and it worked amazing. I was able to compare it to the real Peterson tuner ($300+) - about a three year old version of the model they now call a V-SAM. The new iphone model worked better- less chatter and it was more positive in hitting the note. Both were exactly the same with the registration of the note- not a cent off.

j.
www.condino.com

[Jsn]

I've been impressed with Cleartune, but based on James' above post I purchased the Peterson strobe application and I am IMPRESSED. Amazing: all the performance of the Peterson boxes for $9! And an available line-in adapter for I think $12 more.

I also have a four-track recorder, a metronome and a fake book, all on my iPhone. These are becoming serious tools for musicians.

[61pollmann]

James,

Do you use it with the adapter, or can it tune from the built-in iphone mic? I'm also curious about the adapter. I use the effect loop out jack on my Acoustic Image amp to connect to my tuner. My Mark Bass LM-II has a dedicated tuner out. I don't know what sort of voltage these put out, but I'm wondering if they could damage the iphone if I connect directly. This would be the ideal scenario because you never have to disconnect your input cable. If anyone else has experience with this, I would appreciate any and all feedback.

Thanks in advance,

George

[james condino]

George:

I just used the built in mic. My test was on the workbench, so I can't speak for how it works at a gig or in a live situation- only on a nerdy luthier's bench.

http://www.petersontuners.com/index....ory=150&page=1

When I first heard the idea that you could also download a fakebook to the iphone, I momentarily got pretty excited. Then I remembered that half the time my rapidly diminishing eyes have trouble reading the thing on a full size printout....

j.

[Uribam]

I do not own an iPhone, though i do know people who do. The telephone I own is a Samsung Omnia. It's a windows mobile powered phone for Verizon, which is plenty powerful. I like it more than the iPhone, which is why I have it. We have a lot of applications for our Windows Mobile phones which mirror the iPhone's apps, and a bunch of them are tuner programs. I've tried them all, seriously. None of them are truely up to spec in my opinion. Case in point:
If you tune it with x tuner program, then jack directly into a real tuner (mine is a Korg CA-30), the tuner will tell you the tuning is off. Personally I trust the tuner over the phone tuner. I'd recommend doing the exact same thing I did. The iPhone does have a lot more developers for apps, therefore you might have a good tuner out for your phone. Unless you test it like I did with our Windows Mobile ones, you won't ever really know. In the end, IMO and IME, it's just cheaper to get a real chromatic tuner like the one I use. You may get lucky though and the first app you try just works.

Furthermore and somewhat off topic. Computer programs are great, phones now are nothing more than computers. I use programs on my PC's at home/work/on my phone all the time and the ones I use 99.99% of the time I have complete assurance in. Something like a tuner I do not. It's too important a tool to trust to something not designed specifically for the job. If you do try this, please please test it with a real tuner. Make sure the results you get are accurate, then post so other people know. Don't just blindly assume that a program does what it's supposed to because they say it does. I'm sure you won't, as you're asking here. You guys with the programs try that out and tell your results as well.

There is a lot to be learned from this thread! Thanks for posting it.

Scott

[Jsn]

I just got back from a gig in a your typical noisy small venue (chattering, clanking bottles, music on the house PA), and I was happy to find that the Petersen strobe tuner for the iPhone worked great just through the built-in mic, without a dedicated line in.

This is my main tuner now. That being said, of course I'll be keeping a Korg in my bag for backup. But this IS a strobe tuner, and clearly more responsive and accurate.

[Andrew McGregor]

There's a reason this app has a calibration function, which is that the clocks in the phone aren't that great (although an iPhone clock is a whole lot better than most phones, especially Windows Mobile phones)... and obviously, frequency measurement is what a tuner does, and that depends on having a decent clock. Which explains why a Windows Mobile phone doesn't do very well at being a tuner... it can't keep time to save itself.

An iPhone is going to make a great tuner, no question, once it's calibrated... after all, you're comparing it to a US$300 tuner... what does an iPhone actually cost? I paid about US$600 for mine with no subsidy. It's not like a phone radio costs much, look at the cheapest phone, nor a GPS or the camera... so about $450 of the iPhone is relevant to being a tuner.

[ToeJamFootball]

[Earl]

TuneORama works for me.

[Michael Eisenman]

Originally Posted by Andrew McGregor

There's a reason this app [iStroboTuner] has a calibration function, which is that the clocks in the phone aren't that great

I tried to calibrate the app by using A440 tones that I downloaded from the Interweb. However, none of them was at the same pitch, which could have resulted from differences in sound cards when they were recorded.

To calibrate iStroboTuner I hold an A440 tuning fork against the little thumb-tack mic that I got for my iPod touch. One reason to recalibrate is when you go to a location where the piano is not tuned to A440. As long as it's in tune with itself, you can calibrate to its A440-ish note.

It's a great app, with an input-level boost and a noise filter. For $10, it's a no-brainer.

[AlanBartram]

I've been using Cleartune now for a few months and it works great for Bass and Guitar. A bandmate just got the Peterson App and it seems to work nicely as well. Seems both would be better with a contact mic or clip.