I can't trust mobile apps (tuner, metronome) any more, you may not too

[wqking]

Today I received my new instrument, a Kalimba. I was a little lazy to use my dedicate tuning and metronome hardware, so I used a mobile app tuner to test the Kalimba tuning. There were several low pitch notes (Low F, G, A, B) out of tune. I was a little surprised because what I read is that usually a Kalimba is in tune when out of the factory.
So I started tuning the Low F. Unlike how easy to tune the Ukulele, it's pretty difficult to tune a Kalimba, I need to use a small hammer to knock the tines.
I tuned the Low F pretty much and it was still not in tune. Then I used my that electronic tuner (not any software/app, just the hardware) to test it, and I just found all Low G, A, and B are in tune almost perfectly, except the Low F which had been changed by me.
Apparently I was fooled by the mobile app, or maybe fooled by my mobile phone that doesn't recognize the sound properly.
That app is my most trusted one, I used it for all the tuning before I bought the electronic one, and now seems it doesn't work well on some edge cases.
Also I read that some mobile metronome apps (even the most recommended ones) can be out of speed sometimes.

I won't use any software/apps for metronome and tuner any more, dedicated hardware and software are the proper choice. Computer and mobile are versatile, but not accurate for music work.

 

[bellgamin]

Good to know. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[wqking]

I am going to suggest that you do some research to check if your Kalimba arrived in tune with the audio frequencies of the notes generated in the Just Temperament system and the reference A note is not A=440Hz. Your software could have worked fine, you just had the wrong reference and wrong temperament.

Both my electronic tuner and the app are in twelve-tone equal temperament. The electronic tuner displays all notes on the Kalimba (Low F to two octave high E) are in tune, while the app displays Low F~Low B out of tune, and all others are in tune. Obviously the app doesn't detect the low pitches well. Though I highly suspect that's because my phone doesn't receive low pitches well.

I was using the Guitar Tuna app, but it didn't seem to support lower tunings like B or Bb, so I switched to another, called Pano Tuner, which does all that well.

I used the app I mentioned for years, I used it for Hulusi, Bamboo flute, Xun (all of those can't be tuned, I only test the pitch), and Ukulele, it works very well, until Kalimba...
I didn't mean which software is more reliable than the other, I mean, the dedicated hardware, such as a physical metronome, or electronic tuner, are more reliable than the computer/mobile software.

BTW, the new forum has the multiple quote function, it's great!

 

[clear]

I actually wrote a tuner so I have some experience here.

Some suggestions: The room needs to be very quiet for the mic to pick up just the uke sound. Try using it a room with less echo; also hold the phone instead of putting it on a surface. We're trying to avoid attenuated and reflected sound waves; we only want the uke's source sound.

If you look at the designs of many dedicated tuners, they have little feet to raise them off a surface. This improves the mic'ed sound significantly. Of course, many simply use contact mics, which isolates the uke sound even better.

Technically, the phone has more processing power and can store sound sample so the app, potentially, can give much better precision. Its weakness is that it uses a mic that's sitting far from the uke.

 

[PeteyHoudini]

I've had no problems with the Fender Tune app. It does uke tuning but no uke chords.

 

[plunker]

I have found the cli[p on tuner much better. The phone tuner picks up ambient noise. And now I know what a Kalimba is.

 

[EDW]

I have found the apps that I use to be very accurate. As mentioned, sounds in the room can "distract" the tuner.