This pitch detector listens through your microphone and names the note you sing or play, with its octave, its frequency in hertz and how many cents it sits above or below the nearest note.
How to use the pitch detector
- Pick Voice for singing or Instrument for anything else. Voice mode listens from C2 to C6 and tolerates vibrato; Instrument mode covers the whole piano, A0 to C8.
- Press Start and allow the microphone. The sound is analysed in your browser and never uploaded.
- Sing or play one note at a time. The big letter is the note, the small number its octave, and the needle shows cents sharp or flat.
- Hold each note for about a third of a second to add it to the log. Leave a short breath between repeated notes so both are counted.
- Press Copy notes as text to paste the melody anywhere as plain names such as
E4 D4 C4, or Play logged notes to hear it back.
Note finder: what note am I singing?
Press Start, sing a comfortable "ah" and hold it. The letter and number in the middle of the screen are your note and its octave: A3 is the A below middle C, A4 the A above it. The cents figure says how far sharp (+) or flat (−) you are.
To name a melody you can't place, hum it slowly, one note at a time. Each held note goes into the note log, so the tune comes out as note names you can copy or play back. To find the lowest and highest notes you can sing, and your voice type, take the vocal range test.
What the readings mean
Notes use scientific pitch notation: middle C is C4, and the A above it, A4, is 440 Hz, the international standard pitch. Many orchestras tune a little higher, to 442 or 443 Hz. A cent is one hundredth of a semitone, so a reading of +20 means the note is a fifth of a semitone sharp. Most listeners hear anything within about 5 cents as in tune. The pitch history graph shows the last 10 seconds, so you can see a slide, a scoop or a wavering vibrato.
For long tones, watch the hold meter: it counts how long you stay on one note and keeps your best time, which makes it a simple breath and support exercise for singers and wind players. To tune a guitar or violin string by string, use the online tuner; for a ukulele, the ukulele tuner.
Note frequency chart
Each note's frequency is the A4 reference multiplied by 2 to the power of its distance in semitones divided by 12, so every octave doubles the frequency. If your ensemble tunes to 442 or 432 Hz, change the calibration above.
| Note | Octave 2 | Octave 3 | Octave 4 | Octave 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 65.41 | 130.81 | 261.63 | 523.25 |
| C# / Db | 69.30 | 138.59 | 277.18 | 554.37 |
| D | 73.42 | 146.83 | 293.66 | 587.33 |
| D# / Eb | 77.78 | 155.56 | 311.13 | 622.25 |
| E | 82.41 | 164.81 | 329.63 | 659.26 |
| F | 87.31 | 174.61 | 349.23 | 698.46 |
| F# / Gb | 92.50 | 185.00 | 369.99 | 739.99 |
| G | 98.00 | 196.00 | 392.00 | 783.99 |
| G# / Ab | 103.83 | 207.65 | 415.30 | 830.61 |
| A | 110.00 | 220.00 | 440.00 | 880.00 |
| A# / Bb | 116.54 | 233.08 | 466.16 | 932.33 |
| B | 123.47 | 246.94 | 493.88 | 987.77 |
Scroll sideways to see every octave
Pitch detector questions
How does an online pitch detector work?
It records short slices of sound from your microphone, about 40 milliseconds each, and measures how often the waveform repeats. That repetition rate is the fundamental frequency in hertz, which is then converted to the nearest note and the distance from it in cents. It updates dozens of times per second.
How accurate is it?
On a clean, steady tone the reading is within about one cent from 41 Hz to 2,000 Hz. Real voices and instruments move more than that, so the note name is the dependable part and the cents show the trend. A quiet room and a microphone close to the sound help the most.
Can it find the notes of a song?
It hears one note at a time, so sing or play the melody line slowly and the note log will collect it. It cannot pick out a melody from a full mix with drums and chords, and it does not read MP3 files.
Why does it show the wrong octave or jump between notes?
Very breathy singing, a strong bass note in the room or a low-quality microphone can confuse the fundamental with its overtones. Sing closer to the microphone, try Voice mode for singing, and turn off any noise suppression in your headset settings.
Does it work on a phone, and is my audio recorded?
Yes, it runs in current browsers on phones, tablets and computers, with nothing to install. Nothing is recorded or uploaded: the audio is analysed on your device and the page keeps only your mode and A4 setting.