Some newbie questions

[qwvb1111]

Greetings, I would like to ask some newbie questions.

1) I would like to buy a clip-on tuner, but don't know which is the most accurate. My choices are:

- NDSP plugin's built-in tuner
- D'addario Eclipse Tuner
- TC Electronic POLYTUNE CLIP Clip-On Tuner

Please tell me which one is the most accurate, and why there is a big price gap between D'addario and TC Electronic.

2) I am new to audio interface and daw, signal hotness is a new concept to me. For now I only know that if I pluck a string and output bar displayed on the interface cranked to red, that means the signal is too hot and it shouldn't be like that. I play high gain tone in bedroom only, so I would like to know what is the most appropriate level I should adjust to, including inout and output?

For now input is below half of the signal bar, and output is around yellow and just right before red.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

2) I am new to audio interface and daw, signal hotness is a new concept to me. For now I only know that if I pluck a string and output bar displayed on the interface cranked to red, that means the signal is too hot and it shouldn't be like that. I play high gain tone in bedroom only, so I would like to know what is the most appropriate level I should adjust to, including inout and output?

For now input is below half of the signal bar, and output is around yellow and just right before red.

For consistent results it’s actually best to set I out gain to the lowest setting on your interface and then adjust the input trim/level in the plugin you are using.

Historically what has been most important is the signal to noise ratio, but with modern hardware it is basically a non-issue. The challenge is instead gain-staging and making sure the plugins receive an adequate signal for the processing it then does. And that differs from vendor to vendor.

Reference this table or the audio interface manufacturers specifications for the maximum input gain (in dBu) and leverage that against the plugin vendor in this table:


I have no idea about the tuner question though but I think the NDSP built in one is serviceable.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

 

[Byrdman]

IMO, just spend the money on a good tuner pedal. All those clip on's are okay, but none I have played have been as good as a good tuner pedal or strobe settings on something like an HX Stomp. If you continue to play, you will end up getting a decent one eventually so you might as well spend once vs spending more in the long run by trying to save money now.

If you do decide to get one, I have a Super Snark, do one string at a time and mute each string completely before you move to the next one for better accuracy.

BTW, welcome to the forum

 

[laxu]

I actually find myself using my Peterson Stroboclip HD tuners a lot. I'm not always plugged into my pedalboard so it's pretty quick to just clip the tuner to the headstock of the guitar. They are often on sale at Thomann.

 

[dronerstone]

After years of using Korg's small black clip-on tuners (they're alright, at least no design eyesore) I recently bought a D'addario-branded rechargeable clip-on, and it's a bit faster than the Korg, does the job nicely.

No more batteries, that's a good thing.

There's a Korg Pitchblack X Mini in the mail though.

 

[Lysander]

1) I would like to buy a clip-on tuner, but don't know which is the most accurate. My choices are:

TC Electronic's Polytune is probably the best of that bunch - the polyphonic tuning mode alone is worth it.

I have the Unitune version, and always found it dead accurate.