Everything about pitch detection, notes, tuning, keys, and tones.
This is the FAQ hub for every PitchTester tool. Pick a topic below — pitch & notes, tuning, song keys, vocal range, or privacy — or jump straight to the tool that answers your question. New here? Start with the pitch detector.
A pitch detector uses your microphone to identify the musical note you sing or play, showing its name, frequency in Hz, and how many cents sharp or flat you are. It is the core tool behind vocal practice, ear training, and quick instrument tuning. Try it on the main pitch detector, or use the pitch tester to score your accuracy in cents.
A pitch can appear one octave too high or too low when the algorithm compares harmonics. Select your voice range — soprano, mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, or bass — before detecting so the tool focuses on the correct octave band and avoids this common error.
A cent is 1/100th of a semitone. The cents meter shows -50 to +50 around the nearest note: 0 means perfectly in tune, negative means flat, positive means sharp. Within about 12 cents most listeners hear the note as in tune.
They share the same engine but emphasize different words. A pitch tester highlights frequency and cents, a note finder focuses on naming the note and octave, and a note detector stresses real-time detection. Pick whichever term you naturally search for — the result is the same.
The detector supports 440 Hz standard concert pitch, 442 Hz orchestral pitch, 438 Hz, and 432 Hz vintage tuning. The selected reference changes how notes are named and how cents are measured.
Yes. Play an open string and the detector shows the nearest note plus whether it is sharp or flat. For a dedicated tuning view use the online tuner; for a reference pitch use the tone generator.
A440 is the international standard concert pitch — the A above middle C is tuned to exactly 440 Hz, and every other note is derived from it. Some players prefer 432 Hz, claiming a warmer or "vintage" feel, but it is not the studio standard and can clash with recorded music. We support 440, 442 (orchestral), 438, and 432 Hz so you can match your reference to the music you play along with.
Play a known reference pitch from the tone generator (A4 = 440 Hz is the easiest), then match each string to that pitch by ear. Tune the lower string first, then tune upward so each new string is higher than the last. A tuner is faster and more exact, but ear tuning trains your intonation over time.
A song key finder listens to the notes in a performance, counts how often each of the 12 pitch classes appears, and correlates that profile with the 24 major and minor keys using the Krumhansl-Schmuckler algorithm. It reports the most likely key plus a close runner-up.
For a reliable key result, play or sing a clear verse or chorus section for 10–30 seconds with as little background noise as possible. A single held note is not enough — the detector needs a spread of notes to match a key profile.
Relative major and minor keys share exactly the same notes, such as C major and A minor, so a pitch-class profile cannot always distinguish them. The tool shows the strongest match and the closest alternative; use your ear to decide which note feels like home.
Warm up, then open a detection tool and sing from your most comfortable mid note down to your lowest steady pitch, then back up to your highest steady pitch. The lowest and highest notes you can hold reliably define your current range. Compare them to the standard voice types — soprano (roughly F3–G5), mezzo (E3–F5), alto (D3–E5), tenor (C3–C5), baritone (A2–A4), bass (E2–E4). Your range shifts with hydration and training, so test on several days and use the average.
Yes. Sing a scale degree or interval and watch the detector confirm the exact note and cents — when you think you are on G but the tool shows F#, you get instant corrective feedback. Practice intervals (root, then a fifth above), solfège syllables (Do Re Mi), or match a reference tone from the tone generator. The real-time note name is what turns "I think I hear it" into "I know I hear it."
A tone generator produces a steady sound at an exact frequency. It is used as a reference pitch for singing and tuning, to test speakers and headphones, and to explore waveforms. The tone generator supports sine, triangle, square, and sawtooth waves and any custom frequency from 20 to 20000 Hz.
Use a sine wave for a clean reference pitch — it is a single pure frequency. Triangle is softer and slightly richer; square and sawtooth contain many harmonics and sound brighter or buzzier, which is useful for synth sounds and equipment testing. Keep the volume low with the brighter waves.
Yes. Every tool on PitchTester is 100% free forever, with no sign-up and no download.
No. All audio processing happens locally in your browser using the Web Audio API. No audio is ever sent to a server, stored, or shared. The tools are private by design.
Yes. Every tool works in any modern browser on phone, tablet, or desktop, including iOS Safari and Android Chrome. You only need to grant microphone access when a tool asks for it.
Yes. On pages with a piano keyboard, the keys A S D F G H J K L and semicolon play the white keys from C3 upward, so you can tap reference notes without using the mouse.
Because the tools are static files that run entirely in the browser, a page will keep working after it has loaded even if your connection drops. Refreshing the page requires an internet connection.
Not sure where to start? If you want to check whether a sung note is on key, open the pitch detector or the pitch tester for a cents score. To name a note you heard, use the note finder; for a live readout while you play, the note detector. Converting a pitch to a frequency points you to the pitch finder, tuning an instrument to the online tuner, finding a song's key to the song key finder, and generating a reference tone to the tone generator. They all share one engine, so the note you see is always the same — pick the page that matches what you are trying to do.
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