HardWire HT6 FastTune Tuner app review

  • £2.99
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The HT6 FastTune's clear display mimics that of its hardware counterpart.

MusicRadar Verdict

If you're an iPhone user, now you'll never be without a polyphonic tuner.

Pros

  • +

    Clear display; automatically senses whether you are tuning all or a single string.

Cons

  • -

    More altered tunings would be nice.

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When TC Electronic brought out the very first polyphonic guitar tuner, the Polytune, it swiftly followed it up with a Polytune guitar tuner app.

Now DigiTech has made a similar move with the HT6 FastTune Tuner app for iOS, based on its hardware HT-6, introduced last year. You can operate the app with input from an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad's built-in mic or any instrument plugged into the headphone input or 30-pin connection.

Guitar, plus four-, five- or six-string basses are all supported, as is drop-D tuning and dropped tunings up to six semitones. There's also automatic capo detection.

In Use

The app's main tuner display is the same as the hardware version, designed to resemble a guitar tab with a nicely intuitive vertical LED array featuring a central blue line with yellow each side. Any
out-of-tune string is indicated by red LEDs to the left (flat) or right (sharp).

Whether tuning acoustically or plugged in, the display is stable and helps you to tune with accuracy. Strum all the strings and you'll get the polyphonic display but if you pick individual strings you'll also get a useful standard chromatic tuner display with the note name.

A second page enables you to select settings, so if you prefer the mono, chromatic one-string-at-a-time approach, you can choose that as the default - normal or strobe modes are available.

Trevor Curwen

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.