Question 1

How does the online tuner detect pitch?

Accepted Answer

It records short bursts from your microphone and runs an autocorrelation algorithm on the time-domain audio. The lag that produces the strongest correlation corresponds to the period of the dominant pitch, which is converted to a frequency and mapped to the nearest musical note with a cents offset.

Question 2

Can I tune a guitar with this?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Standard guitar tuning is E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4 (low to high). Pluck a string, watch the detected note and the cents meter — when the meter is centered on 0 and the color is green, the string is in tune. Flat (negative cents) means loosen the string is needed? Actually: negative cents = too low, tighten; positive cents = too high, loosen.

Question 3

Why is the reading jumping around?

Accepted Answer

Pitch detection works best on a clear sustained single note. Background noise, chords, harmonics or very quiet sounds cause unstable readings. Move closer to the source, play one clean note, and let it ring.

Question 4

Is my audio uploaded?

Accepted Answer

No. All pitch analysis runs entirely in your browser. The microphone stream is analyzed locally and never recorded or sent to any server.