Clear Tune: A Look at the Chromatic Tuner for iOS

Clear Tune: Chromatic Tuner for iOSI have tried most every tuner on the app store and there are many that I like for many reasons. Some look fantastic, but have accuracy issues. Some are accurate but are just plain ugly.

After trying about a dozen tuner apps, I have finally settled on Cleartune. This app is attractive, highly accurate and versatile.

Cleartune works quite well using just the built in Mic, but one can also use any third-party instrument inputs designed for iOS devices.

The primary screen for the app reveals a large spinning dial (or note wheel) with the chromatic scale clearly displayed. Plus, the “Fine Tuning Display” above it, which shows – to an accuracy of +/- 1 cent – how far you really are from the note. I’ve found it best to tune to the initial attack and then let the string settle as slightly flat (although I always err on the side of sharp, as it’s less disconcerting to the ear than a flat note. I do this with every tuner).

The accuracy is the big selling point to me here. I’ve looked quite in tune with any number of tuners only to go insane throughout a song because I’m ever so slightly off. I have that problem much less frequently with Cleartune.

Aside from precision, there are just a lot of nice options available, including:

  1. You can have Cleartune simply play the note of your choosing with the “pitch pipe”
  2. Alternate notations (solfeggio, for example. In case you are working on sight singing)
  3. 23 different tuning temperaments
  4. Transposition
  5. Calibration (if you don’t intend to tune to A=440Hz)
  6. Needle dampening (primarily for wind instruments)

Cleartune is designed to work with acoustic or electric bass, acoustic or electric guitar, bowed strings, woodwinds, brass, piano, tympani, tablas and any other instrument that can sustain a tone.

All in all, a nicely packaged and thorough tuning app. Now, I’m sure that I’ll receive a lot of comments, and I encourage you to let us all know which metronomes you use and enjoy.

Clear Tune Features:

  • Note Wheel Display
  • Ultra responsive 25 cent range fine tuning display
  • Needle Damping option
  • Precise to ±1/100 semitone (±1 cent)
  • Selectable Temperaments
  • Selectable Notations (such as Solfège)
  • User-defined temperament and notations
  • Support for transposing instruments
  • Adjustable A4 calibration in 0.1 Hz increments
  • Pitch Pipe/Tone generator
  • Selectable tone waveform
  • Automatic or manual note selection

Cleartune is a universal app, available for $3.99 on the App Store.

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Share your thoughts

  1. can it be downloaded onto a MacBook Pro?

  2. Chantelle

    Can it sustain a pitch indefinitely?