Support
Help, at the bench.
The order of work on iPhone, iPad and Mac, how to get a good signal, the Mac's keyboard shortcuts, and what to send us when something looks wrong.
Getting started
On first launch the app asks you to create a session, one per piano, and your device asks for the microphone. After that the steps are the order of work, top to bottom. You will need a tuning lever and mutes: a felt strip or rubber wedges.
- iPhone and iPad: the Home screen lists the steps and how far you are, and Continue takes you to the next one. Sessions are at the top left, Settings at the top right. On iPad the list stays beside the step you are working on.
- Mac: the steps are the sidebar.
Setup
Three short steps. First the microphone: pick it, play any note, and the bar should jump to about three quarters. Then your piano: Grand or Upright, 88 or 85 keys. Then the strings: open the lid and tell the app where the notes change from one string to two, and from two to three, and where the copper-coloured strings end (or tick I don't know). The numbers shown are typical guesses, so check them against your piano. Press Done. Measuring will not start until you have. The app assumes rubber wedges. If you use a felt strip, switch on Advanced mode in Settings and choose it under Muting.
Survey optional
Play every key from A0 to C8, one at a time, no mutes, about one second each. The keyboard fills in as you go. Skip skips a key (→ on the Mac). At the end it tells you how far the piano is from pitch and what to do next.
Pitch Raise only if needed
If the survey says the piano is far flat, do this first: a quick rough pass from A0 to C8 that aims each note a little sharp on purpose, so it settles close to pitch. Turn the pin in small steps and stop at the marker. If the piano is very flat it asks for two passes, with a fresh survey in between.
Measure
For each note it asks for, put the mutes where the picture shows, strike once, firmly, and hold the key. It listens, then asks for a second strike to confirm. If a strike is no good it gives one reason and you simply strike again. Start with about nine notes. It usually asks for a few more.
Curve
It works out the target for every note, on every device, from your measurements and says how settled the result is, for example curve reliable (0.7¢): more measuring could still move a note by up to 0.7 cents. Usable is under 1.5, reliable under 1.0, excellent under 0.5. The Curve charts are on the Mac.
Tune
One note at a time. Mute as shown, play the note, and turn the pin a tiny bit at a time until the needle sits in the middle and turns green. IN TUNE means within half a cent, held for half a second, and the app records it by itself. On iPhone and iPad, Previous and Next move between notes. On the Mac, M marks a note tuned by hand and ⌘Z undoes it.
Unisons
Take out one mute and match that string to the one you just tuned. It shows how fast the wobble is and which way to turn, and tells you when the wobble has gone. Then the next string.
Getting a good signal
Everything the app does depends on a clean signal, so check it in Setup before you start. Choose your microphone: on the Mac also the channel it is on (Input 1
, Input 2
, …). On iPhone and iPad the built-in microphone works, and so does a wired or USB one; Bluetooth headsets are not used. Play a note: the bar should jump to about three quarters. If it says Too loud. Turn the microphone level down a little.
, do that. The app uses one channel, at the device's own sample rate.
On the Mac there is more: switch on Advanced mode in Settings, and Setup gains an Input check card:
- Level. The app's own advice:
Strike a note hard; the peak should land around −12 dBFS
. Set the gain on your interface or in macOS so that a firm strike lands about there. - Clipping. If you see
Clipped — turn the gain down
, do that. A clipped strike cannot be measured. - Quiet check. Press it and stay silent for two seconds. It passes when the room is below −50 dBFS:
Quiet check OK (−58 dBFS)
. Otherwise it saysRoom too noisy
and shows the level. Fans, fridges and open windows are the usual causes. - Play A4. Play the A above middle C and the app reports what it heard, for example
Heard A4 (−3¢)
. If it hears nothing, check the device and the channel.
While measuring, a strike that is too weak against the room is turned down with Too quiet / room too noisy
. Strike more firmly, or wait for quiet. How loud the strike is matters less than how far it stands above the noise.
If the input device is unplugged, the app says Input device lost — using the default input
and carries on with the default microphone.
Microphone permission
iPhone and iPad
If the permission was refused, the Home screen says Microphone access is off.
- Press Open Settings. It opens the Settings app at Resonance, where you switch on Microphone.
Mac
If the permission was refused, the Tune view shows:
Microphone access is needed to hear the piano. Allow it under Privacy & Security › Microphone.
- Press Open System Settings on that card. It takes you straight to Privacy & Security › Microphone, where you switch on Resonance Piano Tuner.
- Or press Request again. The Microphone card in Setup also shows the permission state, with Allow microphone and Open System Settings.
- If macOS asks you to quit and reopen the app, do so.
What the app does with what it hears is set out in the privacy policy.
Keyboard shortcuts on the Mac
On the Mac, the single keys work in Tune, Measure, Pitch Raise and Unison, so your hands can stay on the lever. They are ignored while you are typing in a text field. ? shows the list inside the app, from anywhere.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ← → | Previous / next note. In the Survey, → skips a key and ← goes back. In a pitch raise, → moves on. |
| Space | Lock / unlock the note |
| M | Mark tuned (locked and confident only), then move to the next note. ⌘Z undoes. |
| U | Unison panel |
| R | Re-measure (while measuring) |
| W | Wide mode, for a string that is far off |
| Esc | Cancel / unlock. Dismisses a message first if one is showing. |
| Return | Switch to the note offered, when the app asks whether it heard a different one |
| ? | Show the shortcuts. Any key closes them. |
| Keys | Command |
|---|---|
| ⌘N | New Session… |
| ⌘O | Open Session… |
| ⌘Z | Undo mark tuned |
| ⌘/ | Keyboard shortcuts |
The Tuner menu also has Export session folder (zip)…, which has no shortcut. In Advanced mode the toolbar has a Details button that opens a pane with the raw numbers.
Sending us a session
If something looks wrong, stop and write down what you were doing and what you expected. Then export the session and send it to us with your note:
- iPhone and iPad: Settings › Export session, then choose Mail, AirDrop or Files. If we ask for the log, Settings › Share log sends that the same way.
- Mac: Tuner › Export session folder (zip)…, and save the zip.
The zip holds the whole session: the layout, the measurements, the curve, and the short sound clips of the notes you measured. A clip can hold a voice if someone was speaking, so send it only if you are happy to. It goes nowhere unless you send it.
Where your sessions live
A session holds one piano's layout, survey, measurements and tuning progress. It is saved automatically as you work, about a second after each change and again when you quit or leave the app, and the previous save is kept as a backup. The app reopens the last session when you launch it. Each device keeps its own sessions; nothing syncs.
iPhone and iPad
- Find it. In the Files app, under On My iPhone (or iPad) › Resonance › Sessions.
- Back it up. Settings › Export session makes a zip of the open session, sound clips included.
- Remove it. In Sessions, choose Move to Trash. Deleting the app deletes all its sessions.
Mac
- Find it. In Sessions, select one and choose Reveal in Finder. Settings › Session storage shows the folder of the open session and how much space your sessions use.
- Back it up. Export session folder (zip)… writes the whole session, sound clips included, to a place you choose.
- Start another piano. New Session… (⌘N) carries the layout and settings over; the survey, measurements and tuning start empty.
- Remove it. Move to Trash… sends the folder, its measurements and its recordings to the Trash, and you can put it back from there. Open another session first if it is the one in use.
Sessions are never deleted automatically.
What Resonance does not do
- It makes no sound. It does not play reference tones or a chime. It only listens.
- It is for pianos only. Grands and uprights, 88 or 85 keys. It is not a general instrument tuner.
- It does not sync. Each iPhone, iPad and Mac keeps its own sessions. There is no account and no cloud.
- A few extras are Mac-only. The curve charts, the unison numbers and the strobe. Everything you need for a whole tuning is on iPhone and iPad too.
- It needs iOS 18, iPadOS 18 or macOS 15, or later. Bluetooth headsets are not used. The app is in English.
- It does not teach lever technique. Setting a pin so that it stays is a skill of the hand. Resonance tells you where the string is and where it should be.
- It does not turn the pins. And it cannot stop a string from breaking. Go gently, above all on an old piano that is far flat.
Contact
The questions on the home page may already have your answer. If not, write to us. An exported session helps more than anything else.
support@resonancetuner.exampleSay what you were doing, what you expected, and attach the exported session.
Write to us