Real-Time Guitar Note Recognition: A Browser Setup Guide

What recognition can and cannot do

Real-time note detection on guitar works with one sound at a time: it finds the pitch, names the note, shows how far above or below you are and suggests a possible string and fret. It does not recognize chords made of several notes, which is a separate hard problem. That is why these exercises are built on single notes: scales, melodies and licks.

Test it on this page

Press Start tuner and allow access. The browser calls it microphone access even when the guitar comes through a cable and an audio interface. Pick your interface in the list, choose the input channel the guitar is plugged into and play one open string. The sound is processed right in your browser and is not sent anywhere. The page must be opened over https, otherwise the browser will not give access.

Guitar audio interface in the browser: setup

If the guitar is connected through an interface or a cable, you get a clean signal without room noise:

• Plug the guitar into the interface input and the interface into USB.
• In the browser allow access and pick the device, not just the default.
• In Riffonic open Settings: it has the same block where you choose the device, the cable / interface type and the input channel the guitar is plugged into.
• Raise the preamp until the signal level is clearly visible but not clipping.
• Press Start tuner and play one string.

No interface: the room microphone

Guitar play recognition online also works from an ordinary microphone. Choose the Microphone mode, play in a quiet room and keep the microphone close to the sound hole. Noise, talking and background music make pitch detection harder. An electric guitar is better played with a clean tone than with heavy distortion.

Latency and accuracy

There is always a small delay between playing and the answer: input, processing and output. Riffonic Settings has input latency calibration, and it is taken into account when timing is checked. For tuning strings and finding the right note the delay does not matter. For precise tuning start with how to tune a guitar.

If it does not work

The most common causes and what to do:

• No signal: check the other input channel, the cable and the volume on the interface.
• There is a signal but the note is not read: reduce noise, move closer, play one string.
• The note jumps an octave: play shorter and cleaner, without overtones from neighboring strings.
• No microphone permission: enable it in the browser site settings and reload the page.