User Recommended Viola Tuners
![The Peterson StroboClip HD™ (SC-HD) has the same tenth-of-a-cent accuracy as all Peterson Strobe Tuners. | Peterson Strobe Tuners](/imageServ/bank/stroboClipHDC_800x800.jpg)
StroboClip HDC
$79.99
![Featuring the largest tuning display Peterson Tuners has ever incorporated into one of their pedal tuners, the StroboStomp HD boasts a high-definition, LCD screen that incorporates a variable color LED backlight. | Peterson Strobe Tuners](/imageServ/bank/StompLE_OLS_800x800.jpg)
StroboStomp LE
$169.99
![The StroboPLUS HDC encompasses decades of tuning authority and technology to deliver the ultimate strobe tuner/metronome combo!
The StroboPLUS HDC’s 0. | Peterson Strobe Tuners](/imageServ/bank/PlusHDC_Store_Imge_800x800.jpg)
StroboPLUS HDC
$179.99
![Featuring the largest tuning display Peterson Tuners has ever incorporated into one of their pedal tuners, the StroboStomp HD boasts a high-definition, LCD screen that incorporates a variable color LED backlight. | Peterson Strobe Tuners](/imageServ/bank/Stomp_HD_800x800_2.jpg)
StroboStomp HD
$149.00
![The Peterson StroboClip HD™ (SC-HD) has the same tenth-of-a-cent accuracy as all Peterson Strobe Tuners. | Peterson Strobe Tuners](/imageServ/bank/StroboClipHD_Hero_800x800.jpg)
StroboClip HD
$59.99
![The Peterson StroboPlus HD (SP-1) is THE premier desktop digital tuner on the market! Equally as comfortable on a tech’s workbench as it is in a player’s guitar case, this tuner, with all of its features, is no exception to Peterson’s reputation for being THE most accurate in the industry — don’t let its demure palm size fool you! Players of both acoustic and electric instruments can rest assured— a built-in electret condenser microphone and ¼” input jack provide excellent connectivity. | Peterson Strobe Tuners](/imageServ/bank/800_hd.jpg)
StroboPLUS HD
$149.99
![iStroboSoft™ offers the unmatched accuracy of a mechanical strobe tuner for the highest degree of precision available in a software tuning application. | Peterson Strobe Tuners](/imageServ/bank/iPhone_6_Plus_portrait-landscape_perspective2.jpg)
iStroboSoft (iOS)
$9.99
![The Peterson StroboSoft2 Tuning Suite gives you the power to route your audio through your DAW on an insert point or to strap it across your buss and tune with unrivaled accuracy. | Peterson Strobe Tuners](/imageServ/bank/800_ss.jpg)
StroboSoft 2.0
$49.99 - $99.99
Strobe Tuning a Viola
Like violinists, Violists have a love/hate relationship with electronic tuners for good reason, up to now most electronic tuners made are not suitable for tuning a viola, the interval spacing between the strings of a viola is slightly wider than electronic tuners indicate, this is astonishingly true even for tuners which are marketed specifically to violists!
The viola, which many believe to have predated the violin, is tuned to the notes C G D A with the lowest open string pitch being C and the highest pitch being A. The intervals C to G, G to D and D to A on a correctly tuned viola are all Perfect Fifth intervals. The interval C to G, G to D and D to A on an electronic tuner are Equally Tempered Fifths, so what does that mean?
The notes that make a perfect fifth interval are in total consonance with one another, there is no oscillation or beating heard when played together. The notes that make up an equally tempered fifth are not in consonance with one another and a slight oscillation or beating will be heard when played together. Equally Tempered fifths are 1.9 cents narrower than perfect fifths and the cumulative error caused by tuning using a tuner without a Viola Sweetener can be as much as eight cents in the case of a five string viola, a totally unacceptable result.
The result is that violists don’t like tuners, they tune by ear. Tuning by ear is not a problem when time and ambient noise allows. It is however a problem when working professionally in an orchestra pit, studio or live situation where time is tight, standards exacting and conditions less than optimal.
If you are someone who plays professionally, then tuning will be a consideration and a tuner that works professionally is what you need. Peterson tuners feature the correct interval tuning target displays for viola, just dial in the VLA Sweetener and let the tuner do the work for you!
Begin with the first string A, it’s located closest to the bow when holding the viola in the normal playing position.