Automatic Guitar Tuner

Product Description

Top Reviews

Not worth the money
by M. Tompkins (1 out of 5 stars)
December 28, 2017

Works off and on again at best. Doesn't connect half the time and the app is buggy. I logged off and back again and lost all of my guitar tunings and settings. Has a lot of trouble staying connected from The Roadie and the app. It has a habit of tuning the string halfway and then giving the error "Something went wrong while calibrating" or "Please make sure Roadie is connected to the peg of the string you are plucking". This has been a constant issue. It also has a bad habit of losing the connection and overtightening the string until it breaks. It seems there is now a Roadie 2 out. I don't know if it works any better but I don't think I would waste my money to try it out. Wasting $100 the first time is enough. I've gone back to tuning it by hand.
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Works great until it does not
by Mitch (2 out of 5 stars)
June 27, 2017

Works great until it does not. Very very fragile gears. First one broke after a couple of months. Note the warranty is very limited. Thirty days I believe.

OK... So it's so useful when it works, that I bought another one. 26 days after purchase I start getting error messages. A day or two later, i hear the gears slipping again. This time still within the return period.

The thing is, there is no alternative. So after the return is processed I'll get another one.If it's used just for small adjustments, I think it will hold up. Get the guitar nearly om tune and the "polish it off" with the tool. Never use the winder.

Also beware of broken strings. A couple of time, it's gotten confused and snapped a string. It's a bit weak on drop tunings on the very low notes. I play a Baritone guitar in drop C. It has trouble with the low note.

If you can afford to blow a hundred bucks and are a bit lazy with tuning, go for it. "Band Industries" Please fix this!!@!@
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****WILL NOT CALIBRATE LOW "E" OR "A" STRING ON ACOUSTIC GUITAR****
by Amazon Customer (1 out of 5 stars)
February 11, 2018

This was a terrible waste of money and time. I don't know about the second generation of this device, but this one sucks the bag. I contacted the customer service agent, but he couldn't give me any help and eventually quit responding to my emails. I am a former professional guitar player and I can speak from experience that you could manually tune and re-string 3 guitars in the time it would take you to tune one with the "Roadie." First, if you don't have a fairly current version of a cell phone it won't open the app properly. It also would not work on any of my current Samsung tablets. Okay, so I got a replacement thinking I just got a bad device. But the replacement was the same, it wouldn't work on my tablets. I did recently upgrade my phone so the app did load. But, it still would not work for "Roadie Two," but did work partially on "Roadie One." However, it would not calibrate the low "E" or "A" strings on any of my acoustic guitars. It also is a very slow response to the "string plucking." I am asking Amazon to give me a refund. So, if you are hoping you will find a device that will save you time and effort, this "ain't" it. . .
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A Goodie To Keep Your Guitars and You Happy!
by Dr. B. Gubar (5 out of 5 stars)
April 2, 2016

How many tuners and gadgets find their way into our gig bags, never to be heard from again? Well I have to say, this isn't one of them! This is definitely one that will be used daily. Initially, I was a bit skeptical. What with having to use an IOS device to tune with this tuner. I've downloaded a bunch of tuner apps, but once I started to use the tuner, I knew I was hooked.

Upon unpacking the Roadie Tuner, I noticed that the tuner itself was very lightweight. It seemed almost flimsy at first blush. More about that later. Included with the tuner is a small cable to connect the tuner to a USB port, and another cable to connect the guitar itself to my iPhone (standard 6.35mm to ¼ inch guitar lead jack). In the user's manual, there's a QR code for the IOS or Android app. You can also look it up manually, if so inclined. The tuner itself connects to the app via Bluetooth, so make sure it's enabled on your phone. After entering the basic parameters for the guitar (i.e. 6 string, 7 string, etc.) you can name the guitar profile. Now, the magic begins.

To start using the tuner, you need to calibrate the tuner with the guitar. When I saw the word "calibrate," I began to get a bit nervous. Calibration can sometimes be complicated and tedious. Not with the Roadie Tuner. You just tap calibrate on the app, put the tuner on the peg, pluck it again and again, and the Roadie tuner emits a tone when it's finished. That's all there is to it. No fuss at all. Initially, I used the iPhone 6's mic, and it seemed to take forever to calibrate. At that point I switched to the guitar adapter, and with just 3 or 4 plucks of the string, and it's done. Calibration and tuning the guitar took a total of approximately 3-4 minutes from low E to high E.

Since my Fender Strat is my "go to" axe, it really wasn't badly out of tune. I then tried out the Roadie Tuner on my Hot Rodded Traveler Guitar. To me this was going to make or break this tuner. Why? Well, first because I haven't used it since the early fall, and has sat in its case in a winter's worth of temperature and humidity changes, and also because the tuning pegs for this guitar are situated in the body, in a very tight space. Again, it only took less than 5 minutes to tune a badly out-of-tune guitar, and it fit well into a limited space! It was so easy, it's unbelievable! I'm looking forward to trying it on my Ric 360/12 with the tuning pegs at right angles to each other. Heck, I may just de-tune that guitar so I can have the fun of tuning it!...LOL.

Regarding the fact that it is so lightweight: At first it was difficult to determine how firmly to grip the Roadie Tuner as it calibrated and tuned my guitar. After the first automated spin of the peg holder though, I was able to match my grip to the force of the rotation of the peg holder. I honestly thought if I held it too tightly, I would break it, but not the case. It does seem to be sturdy enough to do its intended job.

While I haven't gone through all of the portions of the app, I've noticed that it can accomplish various tunings. Also, it can custom tune for times, when you just want to drop a string down a half step, and keep the rest of the strings in regular tuning. Heck, it even tells you when to change the strings!

I know that the Roadie Tuner is more expensive than most tuners. I have a whole bunch of 10-12 dollar ones that I bought in the past, since each one was never quite accurate enough, Then I went for the well known and expensive strobe tuners. They're great and very accurate, but it entails me moving the tuning peg back and forth for what seemed like forever. Now, with the Roadie Tuner, I can get the accuracy I want, at a speed that doesn't make people think I'm playing the "Tuning Song."

The Roadie Tuner is not cheap, but every time you use it, you'll appreciate the investment.
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Nice but pricey, and some glaring omissions in current app. Hope they will update.
by jmhr (3 out of 5 stars)
November 18, 2016

Much easier to calibrate than some have said.

Much faster than some have said.

Took a few hours to fully charge out of the box. No problem there.

It has a "serial" mode that jumps from string to string. It works fine but you have to silence the string you just tuned before going to the next. Takes a little getting used to. No big deal.

A little awkward to hold, and the chuck bumps the other tuners on some guitars.
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What I don't like:

It should always tune below then note and then back UP. If you've played guitar for more than 2 weeks you should know this. This device, with all it's clever technology, can't seem to manage that. As a result, if you give you strings a quick tug after tuning, as I always do, you're outta tune again. The tug is to make sure the string does not bind at the nut, and then release while I'm playing. This is a no-brainer.

So my recommended workaround is to detune your strings before using the Roadie, and then I will still give them a tug and retune once more.

Second complaint.

Anybody who uses a capo knows even the best capo can throw a guitar out of tune. Maybe it's intonation. Maybe it's the capo tension on the strings. Some guitars seem more prone than others.

The roadie has "standard" tuning, plus a laundry list of suggested alternate tunings, plus the ability to create your own alternate tunings. You can also name them, which is great for finding them fast.

What it does NOT have is a simple capo mode, where you can effectively say, "tune this in standard mode for the 6th fret." Standard plus 6. That should be it.

INSTEAD, you have to create an alternate tuning for Bb Eb Ab Db F and Bb. And another one for the first fret, 2nd fret, 3rd fret, and any other fret you want to put a capo on.

I am hoping they will update the app with a capo mode some time in the future. As it stands now, I'm still testing. Mandolin and 12 string (both tuned down half a step) are next.
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If you want to share this device with someone else, you will need to add the guitar to the device and sync it up. Easy enough, but if you're in a hurry and need to tune a guitar not sync'd up, then it may be easier to use a standard tuner.
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Great when you own many instruments.
by Kyle Jaquemare (5 out of 5 stars)
November 8, 2016

If you're a musician like myself, you own many stringed instruments, and alternate your tunings depending on the style.

I am capable of tuning a guitar without help, by 'ear.' Though sometimes, having to know so many different tunings can become tedious, especially when playing 12 string guitars; Which is what got me to buy this tuner. I had to grease my pegs a little bit before it had the strength to turn some of them, but after that it worked like a charm.

Very rarely it picks up a note off pitch, or doesn't register it correctly, but 95% of the time it's accurate. I find that when changing strings, if you try to tune the string before winding it tight enough, it can't register how out of tune it is, and will give up, asking to re-calibrate the string, just make sure your strings are fairly tight before trying to tune them after a restring.

When I first got it, the auto-detect feature was extremely faulty, picking up the wrong strings over and over and nearly breaking my strings due to this, however they have patched the app, and the last 2 times I used that feature, it worked very well.

The app holding any custom tuning you wish is truly a great thing, I have a guitar with Tronical Tune(Which is really a pain to use compared to this), but I'd prefer this tuner any day, keeping the guitar more natural feeling, while also doing away with the inconsistencies of the human ear, and simplifying the process of achieving complicated, or unknown tunings that you might not have not tried before.

I also used to dread having to change strings, this makes it much simpler, albeit I do wish the head would rotate a little faster to speed up the process, I still cant complain, it's easier than doing it by hand.

Each instrument you have can be programmed into the App. Overall, this is probably one of the best 100 dollars I have spent on musical equipment in a while, and that's saying a lot.
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Very Disappointed !!!!
by Sheryl M (1 out of 5 stars)
June 9, 2018

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ON9WQ1A/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_0?tag=c-t-20

I purchased your Roadie tuner on 8/1/16 downloaded the app followed all the directions and everything worked fine. I have had medical issues since then and haven't been able to pick up my guitars until this week. The unit has been housed in the original box it came in and I decided to charge the device before using it. Unfortunately that was just about the only thing that worked. I made sure the app was up to date. The wind and unwind function worked but that was about it. The app kept quitting when I went to tune my guitar (iphone 6splus). Added a uke to tune my daughters instrument same thing. I deleted app re-installed and did a hard reset to no avail. For the price I paid for this $99.00 you would think it would work more than once. What can you do to remedy the situation. I see that you have a new version that doesn't need an app. I look forward to your response.
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Great Tuner, Excellent Customer Service
by William H. Whitsett (5 out of 5 stars)
March 24, 2017

Roadie works very well for both my Ibanez hollow body electric and my mandolin. Calibration of both instruments was straightforward. In performance, switching between these two, I needed to minimize my tuning time-I perform solo with no tech's assistance. Actual tuning is fast and accurate. I do have a Peterson strobe on my pedalboard, but Roadie is so much faster and seemingly just as accurate! (I also, naturally, have numerous Snarks, and I love their affordability.) Roadie is accurate, very fast and if needed will accommodate a variety of specialized tunings, including A=432. I have also had occasion to contact the company and their customer service is superb! Highly recommend.
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The Killer Feature: Cents.
by Nathan Reeves (5 out of 5 stars)
December 7, 2016

Here's what I love most about the Roadie, as I rely on it for on-the-money tuning in my church music job.....custom tunings. Now, I don't mean established alternate tunings like Drop D or DADGAD, though it'll do that, and it's sure useful. But I mean custom specification for each string pitch, down to the CENT.

A while back, I saw a wonderful tutorial by James Taylor, explaining how he handled his tuning through frequent capo changes during his shows. You can search Youtube for "Bonus Lesson: Tuning", and his lesson will be the top result. In short, he detunes each of his guitar strings by a few specific cents as a way of achieving a sort of equal temperament compromise. He came to this realization over the years, during his long career.

The problem, when I saw this, is that I wanted to do that for my own tuning....but I couldn't find a pedal tuner that was precise to the cent. There's a "10 cents" indicator on most tuners, but that's not close enough; I found an Android app called UltraTuner that did individual cents, but it was so jumpy as to be unusable with the precision I needed. Short of yet another standalone tuner purchase, of the kind Taylor was using for his demonstration, I couldn't find a solution.

Until Roadie. In fact, Roadie is a better solution for the custom tuning than even the tuner James Taylor used for his demonstration! With Roadie, I programmed in James Taylor's advice for the perfect compromise tuning: E -3, B -6, G -4, D -8, A -10, and E -12. The app lets me dial that in exactly beforehand, save the profile, and then assign it as the default tuning for as many guitars as I want.

Then it just does it for me, without me having to think about which number I'm aiming for on which string, and trying to guess "close enough". If Roadie hiccups occasionally on a harmonic and doesn't get a string right on, I just tune the string again briefly, and it always cleans it up. A slow strum after each Roadie tune will confirm if it's spot-on, or if an anomaly made it so you have to quickly redo a string to get it perfectly exact.

Roadie is user friendly, it's full-featured, it's exact, and it's better than any non-custom tuning with a manual device.....I'll no longer leave home without it!
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Much better at tuning than I am ... however ....
by J. Martin (4 out of 5 stars)
October 19, 2016

This tunes my guitars much better than I can. I've used it on two different guitars, a Takamine EC132 nylon classical and a Martin custom D steel acoustic and the ending result was, well, amazing. However, it does not seem to go far on a charge. You'll want to make sure it is fully charged before tuning something. It does not take much time to bring it to a full charge, but make sure you take the time to do so. I did not have a full charge when I tried to tune the 4th "D" string on my Martin custom D, and I think it was having trouble communicating with my cell phone, so it wound the string so tight it broke the string. While installing a new string, I plugged it in to the charger and when I was done with the new string, it had a full charge and worked fine. It tuned the Martin much better than I could have ever tuned it with my ears. If you have multiple instruments, or want to change the tuning, just remember to have it completely charged before you begin.

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