Chromatic Tuner Metronome

Chromatic Tuner Metronome

The BOSS TU-80 brings super-accurate LCD tuning to musicians at a very lowpriced price, while adding distinctive high-end features like a built-in metronome and Accu-Pitch?. The pocket-sized TU-80 runs on batteries and may tune almost any instrument, thanks to a chromatic tuning mode and ultra wide tuning range. It even tunes 7-string guitars and 6-string basses–putting the TU-80 in a class all it is own.

The Snark Chromatic Clip-on Tuner is presently available in 4 models and 3 colors: the SN-1, SN-2, SN-5 and SN-6. This Snark tuner review will look at the following:

• features
• design and build
• accuracy

Features

SN-1 (blue): This model is primarily designed for use with a guitar and works well with a base guitar, tuning by vibration only. It does not have sound tuning and the device must be attached to the instrument.

SN-2 (red): This model is the most usual because of it’s versatility. It may be applied to tune most instruments including brass. It is peculiarly good for tuning stringed acoustic instruments using the vibration feature, or by sound using the built in microphone. The sound feature allows you to clip the tuner to something else other than the instrument which may be useful. This SN-2 model tunes to a wider range of notes than does the SN-1 model.

Both the above tuners have a built in metronome set by tapping the required timing or by the up/down buttons on the back of the unit. The metronome is visible but can not be heard. Pitch calibration and transpose for guitar are also included (the transpose feature is purposed more towards those playing with a capo).The pitch calibration setting allows you to modify it’s reference to anyplace among 415 and 466Hz. The tuners are powered by a long-life 3V lithium “button” battery, and the power switch effortlessly located on the front of the device.

SN-5 (black) and SN-6 (black): are not rather as general as the models above. The reason being, they are more basic and do not have the visible metronome, pitch calibration or transpose. They tune by vibration only. The SN-5 is genuinely a knocked down version of the SN-1. The SN-6 is identical to the SN-5 but specifically designed for the ukulele.

Design & Build

The basic design of all models is pleasing. The Snark SN-1 and SN-2 have a rubberised coating making them more aesthetically delighting and less prone to harm if dropped, etc. The SN-5 and SN-6 have a less robust construction. The tuning meter and pitch display are made up of bright LEDs which are far superior to the LCD screens of a heap of a tuner making this idealisti for low light scenarios. The colours (red, green and yellow) are applied on the meter to measure the musicians intonation.

The digital display is multi-coloured, big and well lit for tuning ease – great for dimly lit environments. The rubberised clip-on grip keeps the gadget with resolute determination in place on the scroll without damaging the instrument and you may pivot the dial from two distinguished points permitting you to see the display from awkward angles.

Accuracy

The tuner is both fast and accurate. The most apparent part of my testing was to determine how responsive the Snark tuner was. There was no waiting for the tuner to register a pitch modify and the “holds” feature that freezes momentarily when it detects a steady pitch, is spot on. This means one never misses locking in the centre frequency of a string.

Conclusion

Snark genuinely does have the working musician in mind with this tuner. We have considered design, ergonomics and the tuners feature set. Aesthetically, the tuner looks the part. The versatile positioning, transposing, calibration and metronomic features (not forgetting the brilliant and visually superior LED display) make this gadget great.

Chromatic Tuner Metronome Image

Chromatic Tuner Metronome Picture

Chromatic Tuner Metronome Picture

Chromatic Tuner Metronome Pic

Most helpful client reviews

15 of 15 persons found the following review helpful.
Good as a tuner, but not as a metronome
By John
I like the accuracy of the tuner, and it “hears” my acoustic guitar rather well if I put it on the music stand so that it’s angled toward me. As a metronome, however, it leaves much to be desired: (1) the volume is not adaptable and I consider it not deafening enough, (2) it makes a cheesy electronic chirp rather of a mechanical-sounding knock as numerous of the electronic metronomes can, and (3) the rhythm is “dotted,” i.e., it puts a milder electronic chirp in amid the “main chirps” and there’s no way to turn it off (but this may be more or less remedied by setting it to 1-4 time).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Average tuner, useless metronome
By Paul Weiss
The tuning capability is only mediocre; the “Accu-Pitch” function might better be sold as “Approxi-Pitch.” When I check my 2 TU-80 tuners versus a high-end one, I find that the Accu-Pitch beep may sound as much as 5 cents out of tune, which is bad sufficient so that I have to retune.

As far as the metronome goes, as other reviewers have noted, it’s just not piercing sufficient to be anything but a toy. Too bad, too – there was an prospect to send the metronome signal out of the output jack, so that it could have driven an earphone, or could have been fed into a mixer, which was a choice that Boss itself made in it is much-superior DB-12 metronome, but absent that feature, this metronome can’t be used as an support for practicing any real-world instrument.

6 of 6 persons found the following review helpful.
Doesn’t work with background noise.
By Mick McNeela
Works great in a quiet room. When I used it at a performance at a pub the ambient noise renders the tuner useless. Even with a plug-in clip-on mic on the instrument it did not register the note reliably. When this happened I would borrow a Yamaha TD-10 from my guitarist which worked great w/o a plug-in mic. I’ve since sold the TD-10 and purchased a new Yamaha TD-10, which is sadly discontinued.

See all 22 client reviews…