Favorite Digital Tuners

Jerryc41

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I have over a dozen tuners of various types. They are so small that I misplace them or leave them in a case with the uke. And, of course, the batteries die. One of my favorites is the Snark SN6X ukulele tuner.
https://smile.amazon.com/Snark-SN6X...pID=41t502hSubL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Reverb had Snark look-a-likes for $3.00, but they don't work very well. I got Enya tuners included with Enya ukes I bought, and they are very good.

I saw Vic do a review of the Kala rechargeable tuner, so I got one. It works nice, and it will never need batteries, but I have to be careful about what instrument it's set to tune.

This tiny D'Addario is very nice, and it's virtually invisible from the audience. I put in on the bottom of the headstock. It's so small that I've forgotten it was there and put the uke back into the case with the tuner attached.
https://smile.amazon.com/DAddario-N...pID=51eCqBxrUuL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I've seen very expensive tuners that are super accurate, but I have no need for something like that.

I don't like the kind that require me to hold the power button for a couple of seconds. I find that it's too easy to switch to a different instrument. I buy CR2032 batteries from Amazon a bunch at a time.

The best(?) tuners.
https://www.ukulelemusicinfo.com/best-ukulele-tuner/
http://musicalpros.com/best-ukulele-tuner/

What Tuners do you use?
 
Jerry, you’re going to get as many different answers as if you asked what strings do people prefer.
But that said I use:
TC Electronics polytune mini 2 on my pedalboard
TC Electronics clips
Peterson Stroboclip HD
 
I like the D'Addario Planet Waves NS Micro and NS soundhole tuners. Have several of both, the headstock version works really well, the soundhole version doesn't work that well on my Ubass. They're small and unobtrusive, so you can leave them on all the time.
 
I like the D'Addario Planet Waves NS Micro and NS soundhole tuners. Have several of both, the headstock version works really well, the soundhole version doesn't work that well on my Ubass. They're small and unobtrusive, so you can leave them on all the time.

I second the D’Addario Planet Waves NS Micro. I have about 4 of them and keep them on the ukes I play the most. I have heard some complaints about rattles, but I have not had any issues. Mine are rock solid.
 
I only use the D'Addario Planet Waves NS Micro. I have one for every uke and bass I own that does not have a built-in tuner, which is 19. I leave them on each instrument permanently and I'm very careful about turning them off, but they have a 10 minute auto shut off. Not one of mine rattles, maybe because I make sure I clamp them down nice and tight.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 9 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/videos
 
I get the cheapest... ( most economical :) ) ones I can find on Ebay and use them and
provide them to my students.

whenever my tuner starts to get weird, it's probably the battery, which I replace with...
again, the least costly ones I find on Ebay :) They seem to work OK for me and then I
have a bunch I can share with anyone in desperate need of a battery at a jam or gig, or
song circle. They end up costing just pennies. My contribution to the local ukiulele
community I happen to be near :)

keep uke'in', and sharing stuff :)
 
Eno ET-33....
 
whenever my tuner starts to get weird, it's probably the battery, which I replace with...
again, the least costly ones I find on Ebay :) They seem to work OK for me and then I
have a bunch I can share with anyone in desperate need of a battery at a jam or gig, or
song circle.

I always carry extra batteries. They're certainly small enough that they aren't a problem to carry.
 
I have the Peterson Strobo Clip and the Peterson PlusHD. When I am at home, I want to know the uke I am playing is accurately in tune. They are too fiddly for club or gigs.

At uke club or at a gig, I use a Snark or a D'Addario Micro. The Snark has too much leeway in it. It says the string is in tune but if I tighten the tuner just a hair I find that there can be quite a ways to actually get it in tune. I can turn the tuner quite a bit and it will say it's in tune.

Kliq has a pretty good tuner, but it takes too long to use. You have to hold down the button to turn it off and then it slowly displays the color bars and decays.

All of them require that you let the display clear and then play the string to get the fine adjustment and make sure it's in tune.

I find the Snark reacts to ambient noise from ukes playing or being tuned near me, so that it's difficult to get a clean reading. Yes, it's in vibration mode and is supposed to be immune to ambient noise.
 
I find the Snark reacts to ambient noise from ukes playing or being tuned near me, so that it's difficult to get a clean reading. Yes, it's in vibration mode and is supposed to be immune to ambient noise.

Sometimes, your strings are vibrating with the other instruments, and the tuner reacts to that.

Janis Ian once did a recording where she put about a dozen guitars on stands around her, and then played her acoustic guitar. All of the instruments on stands responded to the instrument she was playing, about 6 feet away from her.

-Kurt​
 
Most tuners have an accurate A=440Hz. I tune the open A string, then if there is time use it to tune to the A note on the other strings by ear, then check the A notes with the tuner. If I am in a hurry I just use the tuner to tune the A notes on each string.
When I am at home with plenty of time, I then check the open strings for GCEA. Usually they don't need changing, which confirms my ear and the intonation.
So if you just worry about the A note, you usually do not need a fancy tuner. You can get the A from a tuning fork if you need to. Or from the guitar player or piano player. Your fret board has been designed and built using a system which has the A note as the reference point, so generally if you get the A note right on a well built and well set up uke, all the other ducks will line up.
The links in the first post are very targeted at specific brands of tuners. I like to search by brand and favour the brands that have a larger range of models to choose from.
People who like perfect pitch should put in some time to understand how audio frequencies relate to Equal Temperament and should look at tuners which display the actual audio frequencies so they can see what is happening. People who just like to tune up and start playing in a social group or jam can usually get by with the cheapest tuners.
I like the ideas of Uncle Rod and think that he has a good example to follow by having some low cost tuners to share at events.

No Bill1, this is not a first time you bring confusion about this subject. The fretboards are not based on any specific frequency like your A 440 Hz rant above.

Ideally they are based on the 12 note equal temperament, but we get always some errors because of action with nut and bridge and also the placement of bridge and string gauges. Regarding strings notice the heavy steel string bridge slant compensation. So we fine tune with digital tuners the instuments's intonation and the current tuning as best we can.

Makes not much sense to try tune a fixed pitch instrument to just one chord or key in general, if maybe to a specific tune as a special case.
 
Putting in another vote for the TC Electronics Unitune. I have two and they're fantastic.

You can get it from Sweetwater here in the US for $30 including shipping- well worth it. There's not much point in getting the Polytune (which costs more, but in my experience that extra polyphonic tuning is useless with ukes).

It's a very accurate tuner that is easy to read and that picks up well even in a group jam setting. Battery life is great too unlike others I've used.
 
Or if you are happy with your tuner, or just don't care too much about perfect pitch, just tune the open strings to GCEA and get on with the playing.
I still like tuner brands which offer a range of models and not just one or two cheap models. The one I have at the moment is a Korg.

You talk of equal temperament frequences from mathematical formula having errors. I'd rather say that they don't contain harmonically pure intervals except in octaves and almost in fifths and fourths. Even your piano, as I remember you being a piano tuner, usually has the octaves stretched, all this very mystical of course and another subject.

But we can't really talk of such "errors" quantitavely because we have to always base the pure intervals to a root note of a melody, and that can be any.

Now some people possess a so called absolute pitch that they develop at youth. Adults can't develop it later. I'm pretty sure it is not based on some A root, or even C scale, but it is based on the variety of music that child listens. Also on the orchestral tuning pitch height what an individual's absolute pitch notes are developed.

Probably some flexibility and tolerance there too. Has to be because how else possible to sing or play say a violin most purely. Ideally I would expect those individual's absolute pitch frequences being close to some A4 reference pitch equal temperament ones than any just intonation. But of course some keys are used more often than others.
It has also risen/changed from the older times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch

TC Electronic clip-on tuners have a reference A4 note adjustment range from 435 to 445 HZ or about +-20 cents from the 440Hz popular music standard. So the hippy/geek/esoteric 432 Hz can't be explored with it lol.

From my knowledge any just intonation can't be achieved with fretted instruments. Piano has keys for single specific notes, so those strings can be tuned like that too. Ukulele/guitar can be only tuned based on equal temperament.
 
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