PolyTune 4+

I love the polytune, I use an actual polytune on my board and it never lets me down but lately I've been having a single annoying problem with it.

I like taking my Apogee Jam to practice to avoid taking my whole board with me and the polytune app doesn't respond at all to input through the Jam. I've got a couple of other tuner apps that work fine with it but id really love to use this app. 5 stars when this compatibility happens.

I already own a polytune pedal for comparison. Using the Peterson iPhone Tuner Cable this app works amazingly well with an Electric Guitar or Bass. Accuracy is not an issue, in stream mode the polytune and Peterson apps are practically equivalent. The really impressive feature of the polytune app is that running on an iPhone 3Gs which has deep low cut on its microphone inputs the polytune app still works perfectly on bass guitars. Many other tuner apps sometimes have problems locking on the low E string while the polytune app works without any fuss. I have seven other iPhone tuning apps and this is so far the easiest to use and most practical with an electric guitar or bass, especially when using a suitable cable. I have found the polyphonic display best to identify which string/s need tuning with a single strum but prefer the needle or stream mode to tune the individual strings. Since the mode switch is automatic the whole process is very quick. For live performances the polytune hardware is still a more practical option but in most other circumstances the polytune app is an excellent choice.

This is easily the best iPhone app I have purchased. The polyphonic tuning mode is amazing and is so easy to use. Same goes for the chromatic tuning mode plus having a choice between needle and strobe is also cool. I also really dig that you can change the colour of the display from red/green to blue/yellow. As someone who suffers from red/green colour blindness, you have no idea how much I appreciate this feature!! And this thing works just as well with bass as it does with guitar.

My only gripe is that there is no support for open tunings. Support for open tunings seems like an easy enough add on (in fact I'd be happy to pay extra for a plugin that would allow this). Of course you can use the chromatic mode to do open tunings, but the polyphonic mode does not allow/support open tunings. Despite this, I heartily recommend this app to all fellow guitarists who wish to turn their iPhones or iPod touch into a fantastic guitar tuner.