One Click Tuner – A Minimalist Guitar Tuner App With Frequency Display

The One Click Tuner comes from the unlikely source of www.seqstat.com (short for ‘Sequential Statistics’), a machine learning and algorithm-oriented site run by PhD researcher Josh Day.

Not exactly your typical guitar tuner background…

Dr. Day created and released the One Click Tuner because he was convinced he could do better than the current selection of guitar tuner apps available.

His goal for this particular guitar tuner app, as stated in his blog release statement, was fourfold:

1. The design should be minimal.
2. Don’t ask the user to buy things or play games.
3. Assume the user understands their instrument.
4. Visualize the distribution of frequencies around the target.

As I’ve had a chance to test the app, I must concede that he’s achieved his aim.

The Nitty Gritty

The app is stripped down – there are no menus, options, or buttons. You simply open it up and tune. The tuner does not have “guitar” or “bass” presets, but measures any chromatic tone you play. The only interaction possible is to adjust the A 440 cents as needed for tuning to other standards. It truly is a “one click tuner”.

The app is $3.99 in the iOS app store (alas, it is not available for Android). After that, there are absolutely no advertisements or “premium” in-app enticements.

There are no instructions or preset “guitar” settings. In fact, I’m not aware of any documentation besides the original blog post on seqstat.com where Dr. Day announced the app. Even the Apple iTunes store page is spare.

The frequency visualization is the most fascinating part of the app. Many of us are used to needles or LEDs bouncing around like on the classic Boss TU3 Chromatic Tuner (a mainstay of guitar pedalboards for decades). The frequency visualization gives you a much more accurate picture, however, of exactly what sonic information is coming from your information. You can see multiple spikes along the spectrum, and watch as the cluster of frequencies coalesce around the in-tune pitch.

Conclusion

If you’re a minimalist, and you want the most stripped down and effective tuner app available, this is it.

It’s $3.99, but it works perfectly and the mental clarity you gain from the distraction- and option-free user experience is worth the four bucks.