Tuning Apps

[Bacchanalia]

The problem with almost all of the tuner apps (at least if you play tuba) is that they start get "jumpy" or just straight up lie to you at some point well below the staff (exactly where depends on the app). Yes, Tonal Energy is a wonderful app (on the iPhone--the Android is still pretty buggy), with lots of very handy bells and whistles--but it definitely has that same problem.

However, the Peterson iStroboSoft will give you a solid readout all the way down to the floor. Kinda funny how people would have RAVED about a tuner that worked well for only $10 years ago but these days people talk about an app being expensive if its more than a couple of bucks

[BMadsen]

Kinda funny how people would have RAVED about a tuner that worked well for only $10 years ago but these days people talk about an app being expensive if its more than a couple of bucks

Well, a couple of bucks plus the hundreds invested in the phone….

That being said, I love Tunable for myself (on an iPhone). Haven't tested the lowest range of of the tuba yet, but seems to be stable well below the staff for me. And it's $5 or less, last I saw.

A great metronome app, btw (since it's related) is Time Guru. Easily programable for a wide variety of time signatures, can program multimeter signatures easily (like 7/4 being divided as 3/4 - 4/4 is very easily programmed to give the proper stresses), and it has a random mute feature that helps you to internalize the pulse. And, you can save setups to make it easy to return to in the future. Similar price - $5 or less.

[Bacchanalia]

There's always the "el cheap-o" option too. Instead of putting an adapter on your real mic, you could just buy one of these, one of these, and get busy with the solder

I agree about useless clutter on the phone. But I'll point our that Tonal Energy isn't exactly useless even if you can't really depend on it as a tuner. It's a very feature rich little app with a nice met, tone generator that lets you build chords and then apply the various temperaments to them, all while outputting the screen on a monitor (or projector) make it very popular with teachers.

[Bacchanalia]

Yes, Tunable is a nice little package too, but it suffered from the same low-range problems when I tested it out. I'll admit, the Peterson is a bit of a one trick pony. But that trick is well worth $10 to get right every time, imho. Besides, the "strobe" effect is mesmerizing

[Jobey Wilson]

Musician's Kit on Iphone or Ipad...FREE!! It has a pretty darn good drone, tuner, metronome & recording device. jobey

[Bacchanalia]

I'm picturing Bloke carefully testing the water with a toe in the App Store pool--then the next day it's this:
http://m.imgur.com/gallery/CyXkMV2

[Rick F]

One thing you might consider if your tuner app is not picking up your sound well -- or is sensing other players too much is how you orient the smart phone on your stand. The mic is in the bottom of the phone. Consider placing the phone sideways. If verticle the metal stand is probably shielding you sound - or could be acting like a baffle and picking up other instruments.

[smitwill1]

Thanks for the reminder, Rick--I've found that TE is more stable in the low range on my iPad (mini, with mics on the top and back) placed on my stand in "landscape" rather than "portrait ". Clearer shot to the mics? Better mics? Better noise suppression software? I don't know, but it seems more stable below the staff than my iPhone or the iPad placed vertically...fwiw.
Bill

[UDELBR]

Yes, Tunable is a nice little package too, but it suffered from the same low-range problems when I tested it out.

Tunable works consistently for me down to (and including) pedal C.

EDIT: The Tunable website says the app goes down to 24hz, which is pedal G (below pedal C). I believe it, based on my own experience.

[Mark]

I also like Tonal Energy.

One thought: which would you rather have fall off your music stand when the violist bumps it: a $19.95 Korg or a $600 smart phone?

[GC]

I sometimes use Tonal Energy for its versatility, but I really prefer a cheap clip-on tuner, like a chromatic Snark. It's a little more to keep up with, but it zeroes in on the pitch of MY horn, not somebody else's, even in a noisy environment. The TE is a little too responsive, while the Snark is responsive without waving all over the place at the tiniest variation in pitch.