Instrument Tuner

Tune any instrument with your microphone — real-time pitch detection shows the note and how many cents sharp or flat.

Nothing is recorded or uploaded: the stream stays on your device and stops when you leave this page.

How to use

  1. Click "Start tuner" and allow the microphone. Point the instrument at the mic or play close to it.
  2. The display shows the detected note (e.g. A4), the frequency in Hz, and how many cents sharp (+) or flat (−) the pitch is.
  3. Adjust the tuning until the needle sits in the centre (0 cents). Click "Stop" when done.

About this tool

This chromatic tuner detects the pitch of any sound coming through your microphone and tells you which note it is closest to and how far off it is in cents — hundredths of a semitone. It works with any instrument: guitar, ukulele, violin, piano, voice, wind instruments, anything that produces a periodic waveform. The detection algorithm is autocorrelation, run on the raw audio samples from a Web Audio AnalyserNode with echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain control turned off so the tuner sees the actual signal.

Autocorrelation works by sliding a copy of the waveform over itself and looking for the lag at which the two copies overlap the most. That lag, measured in samples, gives the period of the fundamental frequency. The algorithm trims silence from the edges, finds the first valley in the correlation function (which marks the end of the first cycle), and then locates the peak after that valley. A parabolic interpolation refines the peak position to a fraction of a sample, which gives sub-hertz accuracy at guitar frequencies. The note is then mapped to the nearest semitone using the MIDI scale, and the difference in cents is displayed.

The needle indicator moves in real time: centre is in tune, left is flat, right is sharp. Most musicians aim for ±5 cents, which is indistinguishable to the ear in most contexts. The tuner assumes A4 = 440 Hz, the international standard. Everything runs in your browser — the microphone stream is never recorded, stored or transmitted, and the device is released the instant you press Stop.

The formula

MIDI note = 12 × log₂(f / 440) + 69. Note name = ["C","C♯","D","D♯","E","F","F♯","G","G♯","A","A♯","B"][round(MIDI) mod 12]. Cents deviation = (MIDI − round(MIDI)) × 100.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work with any instrument?

Yes — it detects the fundamental frequency of any periodic sound. It works best with a clear, sustained note. Percussive or noisy sounds confuse the algorithm.

Is my audio recorded?

No. The microphone stream is analysed in real time and never saved or transmitted.

What are cents?

A cent is one hundredth of a semitone — the smallest interval on a piano keyboard. ±5 cents is considered in tune; ±50 cents is halfway to the next note.

Can I change the reference pitch?

This version uses A4 = 440 Hz. Orchestras that tune to 442 or 443 will see a consistent +8 to +12 cent offset on every note.

Why does it flicker between two notes?

The pitch is right between two semitones. Adjust the tuning until one note stabilises. Background noise also causes flickering — play closer to the microphone.

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