This afternoon at the 2012 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California, TC Electronic introduced the PolyTune, a tiny version of its popular PolyTune tuner.
No pun intended, but the new PolyTune Mini leaves a smaller footprint for musicians and can fit on any pedal board. In fact, it leaves more room for other pedals.
Like its larger cousin, PolyTune Mini shows you the tuning state of all strings simultaneously by strumming your guitar. The tuner is very precise, tuning with +/- 0.5 cent precision in chromatic mode and +/- 1 cent accuracy in polyphonic mode. It automatically switches between chromatic and polyphonic modes depending on whether you strum all strings at once or pick each string individually.
PolyTune Mini Main Features
* Ultra-small Footprint – Will Fit on Any Pedal Board
* PolyTune – Tune All Strings Simultaneously
* +/- 0.5 Cent Tuning Accuracy
* True Bypass w/ Silent Tuning
* Super-bright LED Display
* Up to 5 Semitones Flat Tunings
* Drop-D and Capo Tuning
PolyTune is extremely flexible as well. The reference pitch can be set to your preference and ranges from 435Hz to 445Hz. This guarantees you'll be able to play along with anyone, with any instrument and in any situation.
Besides the Polyphonic tuner, PolyTune Mini has a chromatic tuner that can hang with the best current tuning technology out there, with an amazing 0.5 cent accuracy. But we are never satisfied with the current norm, and added some features to make this tuner's chromatic section stand out from the crowd. Let's start with the two separate chromatic tuning modes, which cater to your individual preferences and needs. Needle mode is for those that are used to the classic view on a tuner. If you want a little more real-time information, we have included stream-mode, which measures even the slightest pitch variation and instantly feeds the info back to you via a rotating motion on the display.
Key to both these great chromatic modes is an ultra-fast and precise response, which is achieved via the use of the unique tuner magnet feature. This slows down the needle once you get close to the desired pitch, making it much easier to get the job done quickly.
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Whether you want to use the polyphonic tuner to get in tune, or prefer to go the chromatic route, this pedal has you covered. PolyTune Mini features "MonoPoly", a jaw-dropping new technology that recognizes whether you play one or more strings and instantly replies with the appropriate poly- or monophonic tuning mode.
Of course, all of these amazing features would not mean a thing if they were a pain to use or set up. So, we added some traits to ensure this tuner is calibrated to the guitarist. Unlike most other tuners, PolyTune stores your preferences. From pitch reference to tuning mode, it hangs on to this information even after it is powered down, making sure you only have to set how you want things to happen once. The next time you power up again, it will show you the settings, so you instantly know Everything is exactly how you want it to be.
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
