Chromatic Tuner
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Other online tuners
Try our browser tuning tools built for different instruments.
A chromatic tuner that shows the note, the cents, and what happened after you played
Open the mic, play one steady note, and this chromatic tuner names the nearest pitch, shows how many cents you are sharp or flat, and keeps a short pitch curve of the pass. It runs in the browser—no app, no account. Use Auto when you want the meter to follow whatever you play. Switch to Single when you already know the target note and want the gauge locked to that pitch while you adjust.
What is a chromatic tuner?
A chromatic tuner listens across all twelve notes in the octave. Play any pitch; it finds the closest note name and tells you how far you are from the center of that note, usually in cents (one hundredths of a semitone). That is different from a guitar-only tuner that expects open-string targets like E–A–D–G–B–E. Chromatic mode is the reason the same meter works for trumpet, violin, voice, keyboard, and fretted instruments without picking an instrument preset first.
Hardware pedals and phone apps follow the same idea. This page is the browser version of that job: mic in, equal-tempered grid out, A4 at 440 Hz. Where we add something most free meters skip is reviewability. Auto and Single sit side by side, and the pitch curve stays after you stop the mic so you can see whether the note settled, drifted, or overshot while you turned a peg.
Auto for any pitch
Play what you play. The gauge locks to the nearest chromatic note and shows flat, sharp, or in tune with a cents offset.
Single-note mode
Pick a target from the piano range when you already know the note you want. The meter guides you to that pitch instead of jumping to a neighbor if you start far away.
Pitch curve history
The chart draws your recent reading and keeps it after you stop listening—so tuning becomes something you can review, not only a fleeting needle.
Chromatic tuner vs guitar tuner: when each one makes sense
Same microphone, different jobs. Use this page when you need the full chromatic grid; use a string map when you want peg-by-peg prompts for one instrument.
When chromatic mode is the right tool
Reach for a chromatic tuner when the target is “whatever pitch I am making right now”—checking a sung note, matching a piano, tuning a brass partial, or verifying a fretted note that is not an open string. You care about the nearest letter name and how many cents you sit off center. You do not need the meter to know which string you meant.
- Full chromatic detection in Auto—no instrument preset required.
- Single-note mode to hold a chosen target while you adjust.
- Live pitch curve that remains after you stop the microphone.
- Note name, Hz, and cents with flat / sharp / in-tune guidance.
How to use a chromatic tuner in the browser
Set up a clean signal
Allow microphone access, keep the room reasonably quiet, and play one note at a time. Headphones help if anything else on the page is making sound. A medium pluck, a steady bow, or a sustained vowel gives a clearer fundamental than a hard attack or a scoop into the note.
Choose Auto or Single
Stay in Auto for open exploration—whatever you play, the nearest chromatic note appears. Switch to Single when you already know the target (for example A4 or the D you want on a string). Locking the target stops the meter from hopping to a neighboring note while you are still climbing toward pitch.
Read cents, then check the curve
Get the note name right first, then watch cents move toward zero. When the needle looks good, glance at the curve: a flat line near the target means you settled; a rise-and-fall often means you overshot the peg or the note sagged after the attack. Stop the mic and the history stays so you can decide whether to retune before moving on.
Where single-note mode and the pitch curve help most
Composite practice moments—situations where a live letter alone is not enough, and a short visual record of the pass is.
Auto is fine for a quick check, but when I am pulling a string up from way flat I switch to Single so the gauge stays on the note I want. The curve shows me when I stopped early versus when I flew past the center.
Jordan M.
Electric guitar, home practice
"Students chase every flicker on a needle. I ask them to watch the curve settle for half a second after the bow change—then decide if they are actually sharp."
Elena V.
Strings teacher / Lesson warm-ups
"Vibrato made other tuners look broken. Here I can see the wave around the target and keep the center close enough for rehearsal."
Sam T.
Choir singer / Before sectionals
"I leave the curve up after I mute the mic. If the last string drifted while I tuned the next one, I catch it without restringing the whole pass from memory."
Priya N.
Acoustic sessions / Quick between-song checks