When I pick up a guitar, pretty much the only thing I can do is tune the thing. Well, that’s not entirely true: I can coil the strings and keep a burning cigarette in there, Eric Clapton-style, but as I quit smoking a few years back that’s not so useful anymore.
However, I’m fully aware that there are people out there who can thrash some amazing sounds out of their axes, and yet have trouble keeping the things in tune. SteadyTune, a Mac app that’s always waiting in the menu bar, is there to help.
SteadyTune comes from Agile Partners, the folks behind TabToolKit, AmpKit and other fine Mac and iOS apps. The app was made to scratch the developers’ own itch: If you’re sitting in front of your Mac writing awesome software, and you fancy playing a few tunes to take a break, then you shouldn’t need to find your iPhone or iPad just to tune your guitar, right? That’s why SteadyTunes sits up in the menu bar ready to be used.
The app has 13 instruments built in, plus 200 tunings (take that, concert pitch). It’s Retina-ready and can work with your computer’s own mic or with “with AmpKit LiNK HD and other USB guitar interfaces.”
It’s also gorgeous to look at, and looks really easy to use, with visual feedback telling you just how far off you are.
In fact, if you let your Mac grow a beard and put on 200 pounds, then dress it in a filthy, ripped black T-shirt and Dr. Martens boots, then you could fire your roadies.
SteadyTune costs $5 on the Mac App Store.
