Tune guitars and other instruments with the Tuner

Tune guitars and other instruments with the Tuner

MainStage includes a Tuner that you can use to tune guitars and other instruments you play through an audio channel strip. The Tuner shows pitch on a circular scale with the note name and octave displayed in the center of the scale. When you play a single note on your instrument, the pitch is shown in relation to the correct pitch for the note displayed.

You can use the Tuner on an instrument connected to the first audio channel strip in a patch. To use a different channel strip, you can reorder channel strips in the patch. Channel strips that can use the Tuner are indicated by a tuning fork icon near the top of the channel strip.

Tune an instrument using the Tuner

  1. Click the Tuner icon in the toolbar (or press Command-T).

    The Tuner appears in the workspace.

    Figure. The Tuner, showing the note G in tune.

  2. Play a single note on your instrument, and watch the Tuner display.

    As you play, the Tuner shows the note name of the closest note. If the note is not in tune, red vertical bars appear, showing whether the note is sharp or flat. The bars appear to the right of the note name if the note is sharp, and to the left if the note is flat.

  3. Adjust the tuning peg for the string you are tuning.

    When the note is in tune, a blue vertical bar appears in the center, above the note name.

Be sure to play only a single note at a time while tuning. The Tuner can’t tune to a chord or interval or if you play different notes rapidly.

When using the Tuner with a patch containing multiple channel strips, only audio from the first audio channel strip is sent to the Tuner, even if other channel strips in the patch have the same input source. Before using the Tuner, make sure that the first audio channel strip is active and not muted.

In the Channel Strips area, the channel strip that will send audio to the Tuner is indicated by a tuning fork icon at the top of the channel strip. To use a different channel strip, reorder the channel strips in the patch.

If other channel strips in the patch have the same audio input source as the first channel strip, the sound from those channel strips is still audible (unlike the output from the Tuner). For example, if you are using a twin-amp patch from the Rock guitar concert template, the output for the second amp is audible while you tune the guitar, unless you mute its output (by setting the Expression pedal screen control to zero).