This comparison tests whether online tools called strobe tuners actually perform phase-based harmonic tracking, or only imitate the visual style. Our opinion is that tuners that call themselves “Strobe Tuners” should really be true strobe tuners, and not only “strobe tuner visualizations”
With the advent of Vibe Coding, there are a whole bunch of self-declared “Strobe Tuners” hitting the web, but they are of varying quality, so I decided to do a comparison of online strobe tuners.
I don’t want to gatekeep, but when I started StroboPro, as far as I could tell, it was the ONLY online Strobe Tuner PWA. Competition and capitalism being what it is, there were bound to be competitors.
I’m not bitter (or am I?)… but this is how the world works, and I need to up my SEO game if StroboPro is to stay on top.
While I’m at that SEO, however, I decided to test some of these so-called online Strobe Tuners, so you don’t have to. It’s important for musicians to get what is advertised. Strobe Tuners have very clear advantages over “standard needle” tuners, but a “Strobe Tuner Visualization” is basically just another needle tuner with a fancy visualization/simulation, but without the full precision of a true strobe tuner.
Crazy Strobe Test
To truly tell if a multi-harmonic strobe is, in fact, a strobe tuner or a high fidelity simulation, I used the “Crazy Strobe Test” button on applicaudia.se/fakepiano/. This outputs 110Hz (perfect fundamental), but each of the harmonics are +/- 2 Hz off. StroboPro can visualize the independent harmonics spinning in different directions, but a hi-fi strobe simulation/visualizations cannot.
Online Strobe Tuner App Testing Results
Tunerino
www.tunerino.com: Tunerino emulates a strobe tuner visualization using a large, precise FFT to emulate a strobe tuner, but, from the testing,Tunerino is not a true strobe tuner with independent harmonics-tracking.
Strobe Browser Tuner
https://jeffvandyke.github.io/strobe-browser-tuner: Strobe Browser Tuner one is a true strobe tuner; it is what it says it is. When running the Crazy Strobe Test test, it struggled to visualize the independent harmonics well, apparently due to aliasing in the screen refresh rate. As a user, you need to manually choose the note to set the strobe references in Strobe Browser Tuner.
Sweet Strobe Tuner
sweetstrobetuner.com: Sweetstrobetuner is made with manus so it’s vibe coded. Sweetstrobetuner, in the tests, was very inaccurate. (see the video). Sweetstrobetuner.com is not a strobe tuner, it’s a visualization of a strobe tuner based on the output of an FFT… somewhat of a recurring theme here.
Lumituner
https://lumituner.com: Is a visualization of a Strobe Tuner, based on the output of an FFT and likely other pitch detection algorithms. The underlying algorithms are solid, because it could nail in-tune/out of tune from the “ideal piano” fakepiano test. Lumituner fails the “Crazy Strobe Test” independent-strobe sanity check, so it’s not a true strobe tuner, but it has nice particle effects and lots of SEO, so there’s that!
StroboPro
StroboPro contains an inner filtering layer that does noise reduction, automatic detection of pitch and, when auto-locked, bandpass filtering and realtime phase tracking of up to 10 independent harmonics. It isn’t a strobe tuner in the ‘classic’ sense; it substitutes advanced DSP for the emulated strobe light flashing on a spinning pattern used by some other true strobe tuners like Linotune.
Conclusion
Not every tuner on the market that calls itself is truly a Strobe Tuner. Peterson was one of the first. LinoTune is a true strobe tuner, TB Strobe Tuner, Precision Strobe Tuner, StroboPro, etc.
If you are unsure if your tuner is a True Strobe Tuner, press the “Crazy Strobe Test” button on applicaudia.se/fakepiano to find out.
Read the companion guides: interactive strobe tuner comparison, free online tuner, and online guitar tuner.
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