I've been looking for a good program to help me tune my guitar for a while now. There were some ones for Windows I played with but had never found one for Mac - until now.

Freeverse (makers of such software as Comic Life) has recently released an app and widget dynamic duo for troubled Mac guitar tuners everywhere. The best part is the software package is free!

The main program window shows you mic level, note (both the name of the note and the wavelength), and a little meter that moves your note between flat and sharp. The little white dot repreenting your note grows in sized based on Tuna Pitch's confidence in its sampling. The size of the dot and the confidence meter, therefore, show the same thing.

The widget version of Tuna pitch works much the same way, except sites on you dashboard ready to use at any time. Occupying only a small space, hitting the power button causes the Tuna Pitch widget to expand like in the picture. This is a nice feature because you don't want yet another big widget in the way - Tuna Pitch stays minimal until you need it.

In the widget version, instead of the confidence dot, you have this yellow ball that represents ... well I'm not sure what it is supposed to be. You again get mic and confidence levels up at the top.

In both versions you can select between auto tuning (i.e. the program tries to figure out which note you're tuning) or manual note selection (which is good if you're waaaayyyy off). Tuna Pitch comes with preset tunings for standard, drop D, drop C, open G, and open D. You can also go in and create your own tunings if you want to get really crazy.

For people who demand a little more perfection, tuna pitch will also do tone references. In other words, you can play the tone back from the computer and tune it by ear. The cool part is that the auto tuner still works in the background, so you can use your own ears and the computer as reference.

Tuna Pitch is a bit squirly - it seems to jump around quite a bit before settling on your note, which can be annoying and increase the time it takes to tune a string. The reference tone helps this out quite a bit, but it would be nice if it could be a little more accurate. Still, the app does good enough to make it a definite keeper.

Get it here: Tuna Pitch Gutar Tuner for Mac