Standard Edition

With all basic functions for high-quality piano tuning

For Passionate Pianists

With the standard edition of pianoscope plus some know-how and skill you are able to tune your instrument yourself at any time. Check out the flexible features of this innovative software for iPhone & iPad.

Inharmonicity view

Before you tune an instrument for the first time, you measure its individual inharmonicity and the strength of all partials in a separate view. For this you only play a small sample of tones from several octaves, and pianoscope creates a model for all strings.

You can refine this model at any time by playing additional tones, thus allowing you to more accurately reproduce the special characteristics of your piano.

Tuning styles

Since there is no perfect tuning for a piano, pianoscope uses a sophisticated algorithm to search for a compromise in the purity of different intervals. It considers fourths, fifths, octaves, twelfths, double octaves, nineteenths and triple octaves and possible combinations of partials. By choosing a tuning style, you decide whether an interval should be preferred.

Tuning view

With the tuning view you transfer the calculated tuning to your instrument. Here pianoscope always listens to several partials in order to give you a calm yet precise and responsive feedback. The red needle indicates the deviation from the desired target frequency for each tone - with an accuracy of better than 0.01 cents over the entire range. It can be optionally combined with the strobe.

Strobe

The strobe also shows the pitch deviation. Its movement mimics the audible beats of two strings sounding simultaneously. If it runs to the left, the tone is too low. If it moves to the right, it is too high - the faster, the stronger. If it comes to rest, you have reached the tuning target. The movement can also be seen from the corner of your eye, so you don’t have to permanently focus on the screen.
If you like it tidy, you can also display the strobe without the scale and indicator.

Automatic note selection

When you strike a key on the piano, pianoscope reliably detects which note it is and automatically switches to the corresponding tuning target.
However, if your instrument is out of tune by more than 50 cents, this can not work. You can then switch off the automatic function and select the keys manually. This is also recommended in loud environments.

Documents

Even if you want to tune more than one piano, this is no problem: With pianoscope you simply create a separate document for each instrument containing all information about its tuning. You can also organize these documents in folders.
To share a document between several iPhones or iPads, just drop it into a cloud service like iCloud Drive or Dropbox in the document browser or the Files app.

What Customers Say

  • This is the most well thought out and best organized music-related app that I have seen in quite a while.

    Paul
    App Store Customer
  • Never tuned a piano in my life and I managed in a few days to learn the basics and pitch raise to tune an old small school piano that wasn’t used in many years and was completely out of tune. The result: I am now teaching my 7 year old nephew to play piano and the sound is just great. I can’t believe it’s the same piano. Thank you so very much pianoscope!

    Wendiel
    App Store Customer
  • I’ve been using pianoscope for about six months now. Initially, I only intended to use it for the two-week trial, but once I started, I realised I couldn’t go back to my old app (TuneLab). The TuneLab interface feels outdated, and its tuning curve doesn’t come close to what pianoscope offers.
    I began tuning my own instruments after some “aural-only” tuners left my piano almost perfect—but not quite. Now, with pianoscope, it’s always perfect. I can track how the tuning changes over time and refine my aural tuning skills with its many features. If you have an Apple device, give it a try — you’ll be hooked!

    Gavin Brady
    Concert Pianist & Pedagogue
  • I have a 1920 Bechstein grand, which I have owned since 1978. I have regularly payed for professional tunings only to be left with random departures from equal temperament. Various apps have helped, but a Bechstein deserves better than something that is designed to tune up a guitar. Today I have spent the afternoon using pianoscope. The piano sounds sweeter than it has for a long time. You know it's on song when you can't stop playing sustained chords just for the pleasure of listening to them hanging in the air.

    Ian Kellett
    Studio musician and producer, Scotland
  • I put the Jousse Quasi equal temperament on the Yamaha C3 using balanced style, with all iPhone microphones enabled. The results are spectacular. I am uncertain if this tuning could be exceeded by anyone or anything. The app has delivered an extraordinary result, and it was a tremendous delight to play on this evening. Noticed also by staff and guests. Both the bass and treble stretches made complete sense while playing all kinds of repertoire. The bass was supportive in just the right way to the rest of the ranges, and the progression through the treble also felt exactly right.

    William Cunningham
    Composer and pianist, Canada
  • I have used two other tuning apps for the past decade and pianoscope by far is my preferred and favorite choice now. There is something special going on with the tuning curve. I also truly appreciate all of the work that went into the tuning screen and how smooth the strobe and indicator respond while tuning. No matter how bad the piano scale is, the screen responds beautifully. Thank you for such a powerful tool!

    Kris1883
    App Store Customer
  • I have a Kawai grand. I like it to be beautifully in tune, and was often frustrated that a few notes in the 5th octave would not stay. That octave is the melody line in many romantic era pieces. I know nothing about tuning a piano, and needed more of a guide than my ear to get it precise. So I got this app, and it is very easy to use. You will need some mutes and a tuning hammer and that’s it. I got the hang of it very quickly, and my piano has never sounded better. This is all in just two days of the trial period. My instrument sings now and is a joy to play.

    JHG2512
    App Store Customer
  • I have never reviewed an app before. However, this app deserves accolades by the bushel. As a professional musician I have been mostly disappointed with tuning apps throughout the years. I found this app on YouTube and was an instant skeptic. On opening it I knew it was grade A. The UI was intuitive, it measured inharmonicity, and gave a graphical curve so I could visualize the initial dissonance. Giving me a good understanding of where my problem areas were going to be. The piano I was tuning hadn’t been tuned since 1986. And this app performed perfectly. Well done devs!

    Kane Somnus Nox
    App Store Customer
  • A pricey but great tool. Got a 1919 Knabe for free and restored it. It needed several tunings and after the free trial I found it was able to tune the extremes ends of the instrument better than I could myself. A $100 is a lot for an app but considering that’s what it costs to have the instrument tuned. I can now maintain it myself and save money in the long run. It’s much simpler to use than some of the more complicated tuners out there.

    Davis Band Dude
    App Store Customer
  • I have used a strobe tuner in the past - that’s not directly meant for piano and had trouble with detecting higher notes in the 7th octave, also the lowest in the zero octave. This app got every single note. Plus with the temperament built in, after 6-7 hours tuning my piano, it sounds fantastic. I’m considering paying the full amount for normal usage, because I tune twice a year usually. So as long as I can keep using this for years, it’s a great price. Especially considering paying someone costs more than the $100 basic price each time.

    jtownmuzikluvvr49
    App Store Customer
  • I did my first tuning with this app today. I got a wayyyyy more accurate tuning. I’ve tried so many different tuning apps. Very expensive ones and free ones. This one is top notch. This is now my go to tuning app.

    JohnnyPiano81
    App Store Customer

    Are you a pro?

    You are a professional piano tuner and need advanced features like weighted intervals, unequal temperaments or pitch raising? Then take a look at the pro edition of pianoscope.

    pianoscope pro »
    Feature comparison »

    Have we made you curious about pianoscope?

    Then Try It Out For Yourself.

    Try pianoscope for free for 14-days with all features.