TB Strobe Tuner - Software Strobe Tuner for any OS

Screenshot and Main features

Key features

Online software strobe tuner for any OS
Also available as a standalone application for Microsoft Windows
Fast and accurate tuning (0.1 cents)
Great sensitivity
Perfect for studio recording
Harmonics tuning for detailed precision (overtones analysed concurrently)
Necessary for setting the intonation of your guitar
Strobe effect = visualization of what people with perfect pitch hear
If the pattern rotates left, the note is flat. If it rotates right, the note is sharp. If it is stationary, you are in tune.
Even though you have perfect pitch, the strobe tuner will make your life way easier when tuning in noisy environments (with guitar pickup or clip)

NEW! Built-in and user-defined presets

Piano stretch tunings, Open string tunings
Create your own tunings easily
User-defined skins (PC Windows version only)

Run TB Strobe Tuner in browser directly online - any OS, no installation required

This free version provides full functionality with no limitations. TB Strobe Tuner is ported to HTML5 and JavaScript, it runs in a web browser on any OS with no installation required.

It supports up to 12 concurrent strobe displays with different harmonics (useful for marimba calibration etc.).

JavaScript version: Run TB Strobe Tuner in browser

The browser must support AudioContext with audio input. Tested on: iOS Safari, PC Windows Chrome, Android Chrome.

Problems with "Cannot initialize Input Audio Device"? After the last Windows update, you may need to give permission for apps to access the microphone: Start -> settings -> privacy. Under App permissions, select Microphone and turn "Allow apps to access your microphone" to ON.

Note: Frequency estimation and strobe process requires fast CPU. On some old and slow devices (smartphones, tablets), the Strobe display refresh rate may not run fast enough to catch the sound input correctly.

Download full version for free - Windows

This free version provides full functionality with no limitations.

The PC Windows version works with Microsoft Windows 10, 8.1 (Desktop version), 8, 7, Vista and XP. It is designed to run on most of the recent HW configurations but I cannot guarantee 100% compatibility.

Download full version v2.20: tb_strobe_tuner.zip, 12 MB.

Download full version v2.21: tb_strobe_tuner.zip, 12 MB. Info: improved Zoom function but incompatible with some skins built for previous version.

Soundcard recording input settings

To select your sound input device, please follow the screenshot (Windows 10) or visit Control Panel, Sound, Recording tab - select your input device and click Set Default. Then, please restart TB Strobe Tuner.

Select recording input

Note: On some cheap onboard soundcards, there is a problem with inaccurate Sample rate. In the first step, try the default 44100 Hz, and then 48000 Hz. If the strobe tuning gives different outputs when changing the sample frequency, you have to decide which sample rate is the most accurate (eg. with external sound tone with known frequency).

How to measure?

How many cents my note is flat or sharp?
Let's play the tone, click on the 'Cents' scrollbar in Tuning Calibration panel and change the value (eg. with cursor keys or mouse scroll button) to the value when the rotation of the strobe pattern stops. Then the value says how many cents you are out of the tune.

Video demo

Frequently Asked Questions

How to connect my guitar with this Tuner?

If you have an acoustic guitar, you can use any cheap electret condenser microphone for PC (approx $5), they are very sensitive (instead of dynamic microphones).
Or, if you have an electric guitar, you should buy 1/4" Female Jack to 1/8" (3.5 mm) Male adapter to connect it with your Line-in soundcard input.

I have just reinstalled my computer and the Tuner runs in demo mode

Please uninstall the current version, and download and install the free full version from this webpage again. It should work fine.

I cannot get clear strobe pattern - the wheel is all gray

Please try to increase the Buffer size in the bottom settings section from 1024 to 2048.

TB Strobe Tuner fails to run, it exits with an error

Unzip the downloaded .zip file to any folder. The tuner cannot be run directly from the .zip file.

How to measure the cent offset?

Let's play the tone, click on the 'Cents' scrollbar in Tuning Calibration panel and change the value (eg. with cursor keys or mouse scroll button) to the value when the rotation of the strobe pattern stops. Then the value says how many cents you are out of the tune (and it is with the 0.1 cent accuracy of Strobe Tuner).

What does the cents adjustment do?

There are three ways how to use the Cents tuning calibration:

1) If your soundcard has a wrong sample rate timing, you can calibrate the tuner with an external source of sound. (not much often case)

2) You would like to play along an old record with a pitch slightly up / down - you can precisely calibrate the tuner to match exactly the pitch of the record and than tune your guitar to play in tune. (our favourite)

3) If you want to measure the cent offset of any tone - just play the tone and change the cent offset to stop rotating the pattern, the cent offset tells the difference of tuning. (if you are a luthier and want to calibrate saddle, nut or frets)

Tuner cannot recognize bass tones

Uncheck the 'Noise Filter (< 70 Hz)' button. The default checked value is used to filter the 60 Hz (50 Hz) power supply noise.

On your screenshot, it shows numbers 38, C#3 and -2.3c inside the main disc

These cent offsets are displayed in the case you use a Tuning Preset (eg. for tuning a piano, each string has a unique cent offset - so-called stretch tuning). And you can make your own presets simply by editing .txt files in 'presets' folder.

May I use this Tuner for piano tuning?

Yes, you can. But you should consider the piano tuning is more advanced task than tuning for example the guitar. The tone on most keys is created by two or three strings so if you are not familiar with tuning the piano, I recommend you to leave it to the specialist.
You should use presets for stretch tuning. The main idea behind the stretch tuning is that the real string vibrations do not precisely follow simple mathematical model that overtone frequencies are at integer ratios to the fundamental frequency of the string. The more longer the string is, the more ideal the rule is.

I tune a marimba and I need to check on the overtones

Please check the new JavaScript version of TB Strobe Tuner (running in web browser) - it can analyse more harmonics concurrently.

The automatic recognition fails for very low and very high tones on my piano

The low tones on the piano contain large amount of high harmonics so it can confuse the automatic note recognition. The resolution and reliability of high tones is the result of the method used for automatic note recognition. You can try to increase the Sample rate in the Sound card settings (if your computer can handle it - the processing is more CPU demanding). Or, if the Auto Note Selection fails, you can switch to Manual mode and select the notes manually.

The Tuner is great, my instrument sounds better, how can I thank you?

I am glad you like the Tuner. Just tell your friends, write a comment on internet forum etc...

Skin

It is possible to change the skin (appearance) of the TB Strobe Tuner (PC Windows version only). The skin is stored in two files directly in the TB Strobe Tuner installation folder:

skin.jpg - background picture,
skin.ini - text file (can be edited eg. via Notepad) with font color and background color of the controls.

You can make your own skins or download skins from this webpage. Or, you can delete both files for the basic simple appearance.

How to install the downloaded skin? Just extract (and overwrite) the files skin.jpg and skin.ini from the downloaded .zip archive to the TB Strobe Tuner installation folder.