Carnatic Tuner

Carnatic Tuner is a tuner made for Indian classical music. It listens to your voice or instrument and shows the swara you are on — S R1 R2 G2 G3 M1 M2 P D1 D2 N2 N3 — and how many cents sharp or flat you are. Use it to tune a veena, violin, flute, mridangam or tabla, or to check your own singing against your shruti. THE SWARA DIAL The whole octave is laid out like a clock face, with Sa at 12 o'clock and pitch rising clockwise. Each swara is marked at its true position, and a marker moves around the ring to show exactly where your note sits between them. The note name and its ratio to Sa are shown in the centre. TUNED THE WAY YOU PLAY Swaras are measured against pure just-intonation ratios relative to your Sa — Pa is a perfect 3/2, Ga a pure 5/4 — not against the equal-tempered notes of a keyboard. What reads as "in tune" here is what sounds in tune against a tambura. SET YOUR SA YOUR WAY • Pick any of the 12 standard pitches (C, C#, D …), or step through them with the arrows. • Or tap Auto-detect Sa and hold a steady note. The app takes that exact pitch as Sa and shows how far it is from the nearest standard pitch, for example "C# +12¢". 22 SHRUTIS Turn on 22-shruti mode in Settings to add the other ten shruti positions to the dial, numbered by their distance from Sa. Notes are then matched to all 22, and the meter becomes twice as fine. MADE TO BE READ AT A GLANCE • Green, yellow and red show in tune, close and off. • A bar meter gives a fine cents reading; turn it off if you prefer the dial alone. • Choose how the display responds: Fast, Normal or Steady. • Five colour themes, with light and dark appearance. • The screen stays awake while you tune. • Works on iPhone and iPad.