You always want to sound your best, so being in tune is important. One of the more important tools a musician can have is a chromatic tuner, especially when gigging and recording. A tuner is also one of those items that often gets misplaced, goes haywire or loses battery power. Cleartune to the rescue!

Cleartune is an app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that lets your device act as a chromatic tuner. Though it’s good to have as a back up to your traditional tuner, Cleartune gets such high marks across the board that many players have reported using it as their main tuner.

Singer Rosanne Cash has said she even brings Cleartune on stage with her during performances, because it’s more precise than the old visual and analog tuners that are still popular with many performers. Other acts said to use Cleartune are The Black Keys, The Killers, The Gorillaz and Nicole Atkins. The user reviews on Google Play rate the app 4.5 out of 5. The website MusiciansWithApps.com gives Cleartune a five out of five rating, calling its educational value “superior” and recommending it for musicians of all age groups and skill levels.

Cleartune is simple to use. The built-in mic in your iPhone acts as the the tuner mic (important note: you’ll need an external mic for iPod Touch; also, Cleartune isn’t fully functional with first generation iPod Touch devices). The mic reads the tone of the note you play on your instrument and quickly gives you a reading. The visually pleasing interface looks and acts much like a “real world” tuner, except that the display is a Wheel of Fortune-like dial with notes replacing the dollar signs. The dial spins to show you what note is being played, or where you’re at between notes. When the dial hits a true note, the pointer turns green. That’s the basic functionality of the app, but it has other features as well. A lock button lets the dial turn only when a full note is struck. There’s a pitch pipe and tone generator. A Hz frequency meter is located above the dial in the interface. Cleartune works in multiple languages, can transpose notes over nine octaves, give notations in solfège and works with any instrument that can sustain a natural tone.

Unless you have the rare ability of detecting absolute pitch yourself and don’t require a tuner, the few dollars you’ll spend on the Cleartune app, along with the kudos it has received from so many others, makes it a worthwhile investment for most any musician.