ParrotNotes

Online Tone Generator

Play a pure tone at any frequency, or white, pink or brown noise, in your browser, and download it as a WAV file. Pick a frequency with the slider, type it or choose a note, sweep from low to high, and send it to the left, right or both speakers.

Frequency

440 Hz

Nearest note A4, 0 cents

Test tones

Waveform

25%

Start low and turn it up slowly. Headphones especially.

Channel

Stopped

Protect your hearing: start quietly, never play a tone loud for long, and stop if it hurts or rings in your ears. Phone and laptop speakers often cannot play very low or very high tones at all.

Download as WAV

1 to 600 seconds (10 minutes).

Channels

16-bit, 44.1 kHz, about 1.8 MB

How to use the tone generator

Start quietly: the volume begins low on purpose.

  1. 1

    Choose a sound

    Tone for one frequency, Sweep to glide from one frequency to another, or Noise for white, pink or brown noise.

  2. 2

    Set it and press Play

    Drag the slider, type the hertz or pick a note; use −1, +1, ÷2 and ×2 for fine steps and octaves. Changes play straight away, without a click.

  3. 3

    Keep it as a file

    Download the same sound as a 16-bit WAV of up to 10 minutes, in mono or stereo, written in your browser.

What it plays

  • Tones from 1 to 20,000 Hz

    Sine, square, triangle or sawtooth, with note names from A4 = 440 Hz and test tones at 50, 100, 440, 1,000 and 10,000 Hz.

  • Frequency sweeps

    From any start to any end frequency over 1 to 600 seconds, logarithmic (the same time for every octave) or linear.

  • White, pink and brown noise

    White has equal energy at every frequency, pink equal energy in every octave, brown even more weight in the lows.

  • Left, right, both and a timer

    Check each side of a headset or a stereo, and let it stop by itself after 1 to 60 minutes.

When it helps

  • Test speakers and headphones

    Play a tone on the left, then the right, to check the channels are the right way round. A slow sweep shows rattles, buzzes and where the bass fades out.

  • Check a car stereo or meeting room

    A low sweep finds what vibrates in a car door or a dashboard; a 1,000 Hz tone is an easy level check for a conference speaker before a call.

  • See which tones you hear

    Step up through the high frequencies and note where they fade for you. It is a curiosity check, not a hearing test: for that, see an audiologist.

  • Tune roughly and fill the background

    Pick a note to tune a string by ear. Some people like steady pink or brown noise as background while they work.

Recording the meeting after the check? See how to record a meeting on iPhone. To measure how loud a room is, use the Decibel Meter.

White, pink and brown noise

White noise has the same energy at every frequency, so it sounds bright, like a hiss. Pink noise has the same energy in every octave, so its level falls by about 3 dB each time the frequency doubles; it sounds softer, like steady rain. Brown noise (also called red or Brownian noise) falls by about 6 dB per octave and sounds like a low rumble.

Pink noise here is white noise through Paul Kellet's refined pinking filter; brown noise is white noise through a leaky integrator. Both start from a seeded random generator, so a download sounds the same every time.

Every A from A0 to A8

Each octave doubles the frequency. A4 = 440 Hz is the usual tuning reference.

NoteFrequency
A027.5 Hz
A155 Hz
A2110 Hz
A3220 Hz
A4440 Hz
A5880 Hz
A61,760 Hz
A73,520 Hz
A87,040 Hz
Computed with equal temperament from A4 = 440 Hz. Pick any other note in the generator.

Protect your hearing

Start with the volume low and turn it up slowly, especially with headphones. Never play a tone loud for long, and stop if it hurts or your ears ring.

Not hearing a tone does not mean a problem: phone and laptop speakers often cannot play very low or very high frequencies, and the highest tones get harder to hear with age for everyone.

Sound checked. Now record the meeting

Checked the speaker or headset before a meeting or a call? Record the meeting with ParrotNotes and you get the transcript and a summary when it ends.

Get Started Free

Related tools

Online Tone Generator FAQ

Sources