Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Tools for the Task: Tuning Apps

Misplaced your tuner? Dead battery? There’s an app for that.

When your tuner’s acting up, you can’t find it, or don’t have (gasp) one, there are plenty of phone app tuners that feature other built-in goodies, too. Here are 10 apps, with most also having a free version.

FENDER

Fender Tune Player PackThis enhanced-accuracy tuner with a variety of modes and tunings is part of a tool kit that includes chords, scales, beats, and a metronome.
$5
fender.com

YOUSICIAN

GuitarTuna ProThis customizable app for iOS and Android has over 100 different tunings for 15 instruments and features a variety of tools, including a chord guide, ear training, and other exercises.
$13
guitartuna.com

IK MULTIMEDIA

UltraTuner
Providing accurate readings down to .01 of a cent, this app for iOS and Android features tuning modes for stage and studio, as well as tuning history to record variations over time.
$10
ikmultimedia.com

EUMLAB

insTuner
This easy-to-use app provides five different tuning modes for different situations, while offering a variety of advanced features.
$4
eumlab.com

TC ELECTRONIC

PolyTune
Featuring PolyTune technology, which allows all the strings to be strummed and tuned simultaneously, this iOS app can be set for drop tunings up to five semitones down.
$5
tcelectronic.com

OTREUS

VITALtuner Pro
This iOS app offers four unique tuning modes, 100 temperaments, and 130 tunings for 40 different instruments.
$15
otreus.com

PROGUITAR

Pro Guitar Tuner Premium
This chromatic tuner for iOS and Android features a large library of different tunings and provides high-quality samples of real instruments to tune by ear, if that’s preferred.
$6
proguitar.com

BOSS

Chromatic Tuner
Featuring the display style of their popular pedal tuner, this app has two different skins to choose from and brings Boss’s tuning technology to iOS and Android devices.
Free
boss.info

BITCOUNT

Cleartune
Featuring an easy-to-read note-wheel display, this app has selectable temperaments and notations, and reports tuning accuracy of +/- .01 semitone.
$4
bitcount.com

N-TRACK SOFTWARE

n-Track Tuner Pro
Featuring six different views to choose from, this app offers both Western and Latin note namings, and the ability to calibrate for non-standard tunings.
$8
ntrack.com

No matter what (or where) you are recording, organizing your files will save you hours of time.

A well-organized sample library is crucial for musicians, producers, and sound designers. It enables smoother workflows, saves time, and nurtures creativity by providing easy access to the perfect sounds.

Greetings, and welcome! Last month, I began the first of a multi-part Dojo series centered around field recording and making your own sound libraries by focusing on the recording process. This time, I’m going to show you ways to organize and create a library from the recordings you’ve made. We discover things by noticing patterns in nature, and we create things by imposing our own patterns back into nature as well. This is exactly what you’re doing by taking the uncontrolled, purely observant recordings you’ve made in the natural world and prepping them as raw material for new patterned, controlled forms of musical expression. Tighten up your belts, the Dojo is now open.

Read MoreShow less

This versatile ramping phaser is distinguished by a fat voice, vibrato section, and practical preamp.

Uncommonly thick phaser voice. Useful range of ramping effects. The practical preamp section can be used independently. Nice vibrato mode.

Visually cluttered design. Some ramping effects can be difficult to dial in with precision.

$249

Beetronics FX
beetronicsfx.com

4.5
4.5
4
4.5

The notion behind a ramping phaser predates the phaser pedal by many moons—namely in the form of thetwo-speed Leslie rotating speaker. A Leslie isn’t a phaser in the strictest sense, though the physics behind what the listener perceives are not dissimilar, and as any phaser devotee can tell you, there are many audible similarities between the two. At many phase rates and intensities, a phaser stands in convincingly for a Leslie, and the original king of phasers, theUniVibe was conceived as a portable alternative to rotary speakers.

Read MoreShow less

David Gilmour, making sounds barely contained by the walls of Madison Square Garden.

Photo by Emma Wannie/MSGE

The voice of the guitar can make the unfamiliar familiar, expand the mind, and fill the heart with inspiration. Don’t be afraid to reach for sounds that elevate. A host of great players, and listening experiences, are available to inspire you.

In late fall, I had the good fortune of hearing David Gilmour and Adrian Belew live, within the same week. Although it’s been nearly two months now, I’m still buzzing. Why? Because I’m hooked on tone, and Gilmour and Belew craft some of the finest, most exciting guitar tones I’ve ever heard.

Read MoreShow less

With 350W RMS, AMP TONE control, and custom Celestion speaker, the TONEX is designed to deliver "unmatched realism."

Read MoreShow less