Voice Tuner

How to use the voice tuner

Use it for one note or a slow scale, in your browser, with nothing to install.

1. 1

   Choose a note, or leave it open

   Any note compares you with whichever note is nearest. Pick a target from E2 to C6 when you want to aim at one note, for example the first note of a song.

2. 2

   Hear the note if you want

   With a target set, Play reference tone sounds that note until you stop it, or for 30 seconds at most. Turn your volume down first. On speakers the tuner stops reading while the tone plays, so that it does not measure its own sound.

3. 3

   Sing and watch the needle

   Press Start, allow the microphone and hold a steady vowel. Left of center is flat, right is sharp, and the green zone is your tolerance. The timers show this hold, your longest hold and your total time in tune.

What cents sharp or flat means

What a few cents come to in hertz

Each row is one note, and each octave up doubles every number.

How close is close enough?

Reading the needle while you sing

A needle shows more movement than you hear. These are the usual reasons.

• Vibrato swings it

  A solo singer's vibrato usually runs less than a semitone either side of the note, which can take the needle right across the dial. Look at the middle of the swing. The display takes the median of the last quarter second, which steadies it only a little.

• The start of a note scoops

  Sung notes often settle after they begin, so the first moment can read flat or sharp. Give it about a second before you judge the note. The in-tune timer lets gaps up to 0.2 seconds pass, so it survives a small wobble.

• Any note follows you

  With no target, the tuner compares you with the nearest note and lets go of it once you are 60 cents away. A flat A can read as an in-tune G♯, so choose a target when you need to know you hit that note.

What this tuner does not do

It is a meter. It listens and shows a number.

• It is not autotune

  Autotune software changes the pitch of a voice. This page changes nothing: no sound of yours is played back, altered or saved, so you hear only your own voice as it is.

• It does not take a file

  The tuner reads the microphone only. To see the pitch through a saved recording, use the Voice Pitch Analyzer, which reads files as well as the mic.

• It needs one clear voice

  A choir, a backing track or a loud room can give unclear readings or none. Sing near the mic, and use headphones if you want to sing along with the reference tone.

• It does not grade your singing

  Pitch is one part of singing. The tuner says nothing about tone, breath, words or feel, and it gives no advice on your voice. If singing hurts, stop.