tuner

[sousaphone68]

Actually, you could get the iPod touch, which can be purchased for about 169$ + taxes, and then buy the Peterson app. That's what I use, and was going to suggest it earlier, but since it does exceed your budget by about 85$, I felt it might not be the best recommendation for you.

I downloaded the app last night after reading this thread my itouch is third generation so I use an after market microphone seems to work well knocks your confidence at first though

[Bacchanalia]

I also picked up the iStroboSoft for iPhone, and I have to say it's pretty impressive. (They also make an iPad version here) It may not be a "TRUE" stobe ...but the response time is pretty damn quick and I'm lovin' the ease of use and awesome display. I have used a clip on Korg AW2 but just wasn't thrilled with the time it took to show a readout and the display (even with the backlight) was difficult to use. The iStroboSoft is working pretty well for practice time with just the built in microphone of the iPhone, but I ordered one of these to clip on to my leadpipe for louder, noise filled situations. It comes with a 1/4 in. plug, but that's nothing a little splice job with a plug from a cheap pair of headphones won't fix, if I'm too lazy to drive to RadioShack. Peterson also sells something almost identical for 17 bucks plus shipping.

[dgpretzel]

It is not necessary for a tuner to have a physical strobe light to be a true strobe tuner.

The fundmental thing about a strobe tuner is that it is a continuous display of the difference between a target frequency and an observed frequency. The display could be neon lamps and a rotating disc, or ring of LEDs, or even a computer screen, but it is the difference frequency that is displayed directly, and not a moving average computation (which is absolutely, positively, necessarily significantly delayed).

DG

[Rick Denney]

It is not necessary for a tuner to have a physical strobe light to be a true strobe tuner.

The fundmental thing about a strobe tuner is that it is a continuous display of the difference between a target frequency and an observed frequency. The display could be neon lamps and a rotating disc, or ring of LEDs, or even a computer screen, but it is the difference frequency that is displayed directly, and not a moving average computation (which is absolutely, positively, necessarily significantly delayed).

What makes a strobe tuner interesting, though, compared to a needle, is that it shows not only how the fundamental overtone (of whatever note is being played) tunes, but also all the harmonic overtones above it. The Peterson software-based tuners show several overtones in the simulated display, but they are not independent like they are on a real strobe tuner.

Rick "who still uses iStroboSoft and a Peterson standalone tuner, too" Denney