Tuner

Available on which products

• Axe-Fx III: yes
• FM9: yes
• FM3: yes
• Axe-Fx II: yes
• AX8: yes
• FX8: yes

Tuner on the Axe-Fx III, FM9 and FM3

The Tuner in the Axe-Fx III, FM9 and FM3 has an improved interface and better pitch detection. The eight-ball has been replaced with a spinning strobe wheel.

Mini-tuners appear on various places on the hardware GUI of the Axe-Fx III, FM9 and FM3.

Input source(s)

Axe-Fx III — lets you select which input should be used. You can also set the Axe-Fx III to listen to all inputs.

FM9 — lets you select which input should be used. You can also set the FM3 to listen to all inputs.

FM3 — lets you select which input should be used. You can also set the FM3 to listen to all inputs.

Axe-Fx II — detects signals at the front input of the Axe-Fx II, at Input 1 at the rear and in the SPDIF signal. This cannot be changed. If Input 1 Mode is set to Left Only in the I/O menu, the Tuner picks up the source signal at the rear left input only. If it is set to Sum L+R, the Tuner picks up the source signal at the left and right rear input.

AX8 — detects signals at the front input.

FX8 — detects signals at the PRE input. You can change the Global Detector to POST input, which you'll want to do when using the FX8 in a POST-only setup.

Mute the sound

The output signal can be muted when the Tuner is engaged. The Mute parameter is in the Tuner menu. You have the choice of muting at the input or output. Muting at the input allows delay and reverb trails to ring out when engaging the Tuner.

Axe-Fx III — Only Inputs 1 and 2 are subject to tuner muting (by design).

Downtune

This control (firmware Ares and later) allows for simplified tuning when tuning down one to four semitones. The Tuner display will read the “natural” name of the note, i.e. if tuning down one semitone an Eb will read E. In addition any blocks that utilize pitch information will also be transposed accordingly.

Display Mode

This control allows selecting between all flats, all sharps or a mixture of sharps/flats for the displayed note name.

Remote control

Footswitch

Scroll to the Tuner CC (I/O menu) and hit Enter. Click the switch on the footswitch that you want to assign the Tuner to.

Or configure it manually by assigning the Tuner MIDI CC to a switch on a MIDI controller.

An external switch, connected to the FM3, can activate the Tuner.

(FM3) "Any button can be assigned to activate the tuner."

MIDI CC

The default MIDI CC for the Tuner is 15 on the Axe-Fx II, AX8 and FX8. Keep it like this to avoid issues.

The Axe-Fx III, FM9 and FM3 let you set the Tuner CC manually in the I/O menu.

MFC-101

The MFC-101 MIDI foot controller has a dedicated Tuner command for the Axe-Fx II, when it's running in Axe-Fx Mode.

You can also program the MFC-101 to turn on the Tuner by pressing a "preset" switch:

1. In Edit > MIDI, set IntCC00 to CC15.
2. In Edit > Preset, scroll to the designated preset and set IntCC01 to On.

3rd-party MIDI controllers

Certain MIDI foot controllers (i.e. Gordius, RJM, Liquid-Foot) can show a graphical tuner display when used with the Axe-Fx II. This requires the following:

1. Enable real-time MIDI SysEx communication on the Axe-Fx II (I/O > MIDI) by setting it to “Tuner” or "All"
2. Use a suitable cable connection which allows full bi-directional MIDI communication

To work with the Axe-Fx III, fm9 or FM3, these controllers must either implement Fractal Audio's proprietary communications protocol for those devices and act as a client, or use real-time MIDI SysEx communication (PDF).

FC controllers

The FC-6 and FC-12 foot controllers provide a dedicated Tuner command.

Expression pedal: display Tuner on heel down

The Axe-Fx III, FM9 and FM3 can be set to automatically display the tuner when an expression pedal is at "heel down" position.

"Added “Tuner on Heel Down” to MIDI/Remote. The corresponding controller will automatically display the tuner when the value is less than 5%. Typically the user would set this to the same CC# (or internal/external pedal) that they use for their primary volume control, whether that is assigned to a global volume control or to a modifier in a Volume block. For example, if you use CC #23 as External Control 1 and connect that to the Volume 1 block in all your presets then set this to 23. Likewise if you use FC 1 Pedal 1 as a global Input 1 Volume control then set this to FC 1 Pedal 1. Now when you set your expression pedal to the heel down position the tuner will automatically display."

Sweetened tunings

Use the offsets below in the Tuner configuration for Peterson GTR Sweetened tuning, according to this thread:

E1 = -2.3 cent
B2 = -2.1
G3 = -0.4
D4 = 0
A5 = 0
E6 = -2.3 Cent

Tuner types

"The strobe tuner and bar tuner use different algorithms. The bar tuner measures the average period of the waveform. The strobe tuner works like, well, a strobe tuner. It "demodulates" the signal with a quadrature oscillator. This effectively measures the fundamental ONLY. The frequency of the fundamental will not necessarily match that of the overall waveform. So it's like having two tuners, a traditional tuner and a strobe tuner running simultaneously and, just as with separate physical tuners, the results may not necessarily be the same. A guitar string is not perfect. The resonances of the overtones aren't always perfect integer multiples of the fundamental. This is exacerbated by the pickups which pull on the strings and cause the overtones to be off (in extreme cases causing the dreaded "stratitis"). Which measurement is correct? That's up to you decide. Some people prefer the sound of the strings being tuned to the frequency of the overall waveform. Others prefer the results of a strobe tuner." [1]

Troubleshooting

How to tune

"With any tuner the rule of thumb is to use the neck pickup. The "fullest volume" is not necessary." [2]

Intonating Your Guitar With The Tuner

When intonating your guitar and checking the high octave at the 12th fret on open strings, use the strobe tuner feature on the unit. From Fractal Audio:

"The needle tuner is not designed to tune that high. It's designed to tune open strings. Use the strobe tuner for intonation." [3]

Flickering Axe-Fx II display

"Display flickering on the tuner is normal. Some do it more than other. It's just the nature of the display. The display uses a ping-pong buffer. One page is updated while the other is displayed. Then the pages are switched. Some flickering can occur during the page switch. The reason it is noticeable more on the tuner is that the display is updated more frequently." [4]

Wrong tuner value when not using 48kHz sample rate

If the device is connected to a DAW which is not set to a 48kHz clock (sample rate), the tuner settings may be off.

"The Axe-Fx requires a 48 kHz clock. Anything else will screw up the calculations." [5]

Tuner won't appear or "Waiting for tuner..." message

If the tuner won't appear after pressing the Tuner switch, verify that the Tuner menu is set to display the first tab page.

Also, for 3rd-party MIDI controllers, SEND REALTIME SYSEX must be enabled in the I/O menu, and the MIDI CC (Axe-Fx II, AX8, FX8) must be set to default.