The popular Roadie automatic guitar tuner is getting an upgrade.
Band Industries has announced Roadie 2, which offers all the features of the original but also works as a standalone unit. The original Roadie consisted of a motorized unit that synced to your Smartphone, which stored the selected tunings. Roadie 2 stores all of its tunings within the unit itself.
In addition, whereas the original Roadie “heard” your guitar’s strings through your smartphone’s mic, Roadie 2 uses a vibration sensor that allows you to tune in noisy environments.
Like the original, Roadie 2 is fast, easy to use and three times more accurate than the human ear. It can tune all sorts of stringed instruments, including electric, acoustic, classical, and steel guitars, 7- and 12-string guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, and banjos. There’s also a Roadie for tuning bass guitars. Roadie 2 also lets you restring quickly and easily with the automatic winding feature. The motor rotates at 60 rpm.
The new model lets you choose from 12 preset alternate and open tunings or create your own custom tunings.
And it comes with an optional and free app that acts as your upgraded control center. With it, you can:
• Create and store a profile for all of your instruments, and sync it across devices.
• Refine your advanced tuning options, such as reference pitch and capo tuning.
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• Choose from a multitude of alternate tunings for your instrument, or create your own custom tunings.
• Access music news, our latest updates, and tips on how to improve your playing.
• Keep track of your tuning stats and strings' quality and know when to change them.
• Use the manual tuner included on the app as a chromatic tuner when Roadie is not with you.
• Create custom instruments such as a dulcimer or a santour or anything else with geared pegs.
• Customize the speed and accuracy of your Roadie.
Roadie 2 is estimated to ship in October 2017 and will retail for $129. Band Industries is taking pre-orders and offering discounts via Kickstarter. You can get more information at RoadieTuner.com. Check out the videos below to see it in action.
Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.
