Visual Pitch Pipe — a tuner you read instead of hear

Why I built it

I sing in a choir. In rehearsal the director gives a starting pitch, the section scatters, and I need my note, from the ink on my page, fast. I'd find my starting note on the staff and then guess. Hum around until it sounded right. It wasted time and I never trusted it.

I wanted the reverse of a tuner. A tuner listens to what you sing. I wanted something that reads what I see: this note, in this key, in my clef, just play it. Hence the name. A visual pitch pipe. You match the music with your eyes; it gives you the pitch.

How it works

Pick your clef. Treble, bass, alto, tenor. I sing wherever the section needs me, so all four are in.
Set the key signature. Up to 7 sharps or 7 flats, rendered on a real staff with VexFlow.
Slide the note. Move the note to the line or space that matches your music. Add a per-note accidental if the measure calls for one.
Play pitch. Web Audio plays the exact pitch. Underneath it's a small pipeline: clef plus staff position gives a note name, the key signature plus accidental adjusts it, and MIDI math turns it into a frequency.

Try it

This is the live app, running below. Set the clef, key, and note to match your music, then play your pitch.

Live build at pitchpipe.balass.one. Opens full-screen there if you'd rather.

Coming next: camera mode

Setting all of that by hand works, but it's slow when the music is already in your hands. The next version skips the form entirely: point your phone camera at your sheet music, tap the key signature, then tap any note. Same pitch engine underneath. The camera just replaces the typing.

Tap the key signature. Point at your music and tap the sharps or flats at the start of the line. The app reads that spot and locks in the key.
Tap a note. Then tap any note on the page. The app maps where you tapped to a line or space on the staff and works out the pitch.
Playing note. It sounds your pitch, with a one-tap nudge if the read was off by a line.

Tap, hear, tap, hear. Eyes on the music the whole time.