Free Online Cornet Tuner
Play a note, see exactly how in tune you are.
A simplified preview of what the Tunable app does. Get the full app
Allow microphone access to begin
How to use this tuner
Click Start Tuning and allow microphone access. Play a note, the tuner detects pitch in real time and shows how sharp or flat you are in cents.
The bar spans −50 to +50 cents. Zero is perfectly in tune. The history line shows where you’ve been, which is how you spot a valve combination that is consistently sharp or a long note that sags.
Cornet (B♭) is already selected, so note names match your written part. When you play a written C, the tuner shows B♭: correct for your part, a major second below concert pitch. Playing E♭ soprano cornet? Select Clarinet (E♭) from the dropdown, which applies the same minor-third transposition.
Default is A440. Tap + / − to match your ensemble, A441–442 is common in orchestras and concert bands.
The B♭ cornet is a transposing instrument: a written C sounds B♭, a major second lower. This tuner shows written note names so they match your part. The cornet uses the same fingerings and the same partial series as the B♭ trumpet, so trumpet tuning habits carry straight over, but its conical bore and deeper mouthpiece give it a slightly different set of tendencies, and brass band players tune in a section that plays together for hours, so small errors add up.
Set overall pitch with the main tuning slide, and only once the instrument is warm. Brass rises in pitch as it warms, often by ten cents or more between a cold first note and a warm one twenty minutes later, so play for a couple of minutes before you touch the slide. Tune on a written C (concert B♭) in the staff, then check written G above it and low C below, because the main slide sets only the average.
Valve combinations are the first thing to check. Each valve slide is cut to be in tune on its own, so combinations come out short and sharp: written low D (1–3) is noticeably sharp and low C♯ (1–2–3) sharper still, often twenty cents or more. That is what the first and third valve slide triggers or rings are for. Practise pushing the third slide out for D and both for C♯ until it is automatic, and use the tuner to find out how far your particular instrument needs.
Partials have their own tendencies. On most cornets the fifth partial, written E at the top of the staff and its neighbours, sits flat, and the sixth partial, written G above the staff, tends slightly sharp. Hearing these while playing is hard; seeing them on the history line is easy. Dynamics move pitch too: loud playing tends to pull flat as the embouchure loosens, and very soft playing tends sharp, so tune at the dynamic you actually play at.
Give the tuner a clear, sustained note and let it settle before you read it. Then use the history: a long note that holds level is well supported, one that drifts downward across the breath tells you exactly what to work on, and a comparison of the same note with and without the slide trigger shows you how much correction the instrument really wants.
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