Korg CA-50 Chromatic Tuner for Orchestral Instruments w/ Memory Backup and Auto Power-Off Function

I’m a professional musician, and I’ve owned Korg tuners for decades. I recommend them highly to students, amateurs and the professionals. They are accurate, sturdy (I’ve dropped mine on the floor many times with no damage), lightweight and batteries last a long time in them, unlike some other brands of tuner. This model is a tuner only; no metronome is included. I actually used to use the Korg combo of tuner and metronome, but that model goes through batteries a lot faster, and the metronome isn’t loud enough. My current favorite set up is to have the Korg chromatic tuner (no metronome) plus the Seiko quartz metronome model SQ50V in my bag at all times. The batteries last seemingly forever and they’re reliable, sturdy, and top quality, at a reasonable cost. I don’t want to use my phone for tuning and a metronome unless I need a back up for a very brief time., and is used only for a very short time. I don’t want my phone out in rehearsals, concerts and practice times. Have top quality in the Korg instead. Really, this is the best.

Works really well. Not only tells you if its the right note but also how far you are from the note - makes it easy to tune a flute.

This is a quality tuner, instructions for use are easy to follow. It is large enough to see the screen information without being cumbersome.

This is my third Korg tuner of this nature. I have a CA-30, a CA-40 and now the CA-50. They are all good. The CA-30 has one feature lacking in the CA-40; an output jack. The CA-40 and CA-50 has both in and out, so you can plug in a guitar or device on the input side and then plut into an amp on other device on the output side. I have routinely plugged my CA-40 into another tuner (usually a Korg pitchblack). Why? Because the CA-40 was easier to read, particularly at distance or in bright sunlight. The Pitchblack then became largely a mute switch while I was tuning even though the Pitchblack costs $100+. The reason I got the CA-50 was because after many years the mic on the CA-40 stopped working. I could still plug in/out of the CA-40 and could still use the CA-30 for that... but for the price the CA-50 with the larger display seemed like something I wanted to add. The CA-50 is essentially the same tuner as the CA-40, but again, with the larger display. It seems to have the same accuracy. About the accuracy of all these Korg tuners? They are SO accurate that I can intonate my guitars and basses with them. They are much more accurate than most clip-on tuners, particularly Snark tuners. This is particularly a great instrument for tuning band instruments. It's response time is very fast, much faster than many cell phone tuners. Because it is a dedicated tuner you can get it turned on quickly without having to scroll through menus. Any downsides to this tuner? If you're in a quiet room the mic works great. If you're in a loud (or quiet) environment the plug-in feature works great. However, if you're in a loud environment and don't want to plug in, only then are you better off with a clip-on tuner. And for that I recommend the Korg Pitchcrow over all but the TC Electronic Polytune or the Peterson clip-on Strobotune. The only other downside that I can see is that this model does not have a built-in metronome. I have several stand-alone metronomes so that was not an important feature for me. I guess this review makes me a Korg fan-boy, but I assure you I have no relationship to Korg other than being a customer.

The unit works okay in the middle of the piano, but it's a struggle at both the upper and lower end. I'm sure that there are far better devices that can be used to tune a piano. If you have a middle range instrument I'm sure this device will work, but for pianos, find a different tuner. Updated: I’m moving my review up to a 4, from the 3 I had originally made. I didn’t like the idea of spending more cash on the factory recommend microphone. Being an electrical engineer and a guitar player, also finding outside noises will affect the device, I decided a different approach might work. I wired a guitar pickup and placed it on the soundboard of the piano, and it works. Only on the very low strings didi I need to place the pickup in proximity of the string. I did have to move the pickup from spot to spot, but overall I had great success, especially at the high end. The device work until A7.

These little KORG tuners are somewhat of a best kept secret. They tune really well, have a jack so that if you need to tune in a noisy environment you can do that. The display is easy to see, even if the light isn't brilliant. The tuner isn't very expensive and is comparitively cheap to. They also have the feature in which you can flatten or sharpen the root note, so you can keep all strings proportionally sharp or flat, which is cool if you're trying to replicate a particualr sound or version of a song precisely. They don't chew batteries and the batteries can last for a pretty long time if you tune and turn off. Don't drop them, I had my previous one for about ten years and replaced it because I dropped it and broke it. UPDATE: It turns out that whoever manufactured the one I had for ten yeas either isn't still manufacturing these or have lowered their quality standards significantly. The new KORG tuner isn't anywhere near as good as the previous one. I'd go so far as to say that this tuner is fine as a tuner for electric guitars because the input is direct and not through the mic. That does make it a bit inconvenient to use because one either needs a spare cable out and available for tuning or one needs to turn the amp up or put the tuner right in front of the amp. Not useful for gigs. Also the accuracy of the tuner is questionable, If I tune the guitar using this then using another tuner I need to re-tune the guitar. If I compare the other tuner with a third brand I don't need to re-tune the guitar to fit in with the third tuner. Upsides, it's cheap,

Excellent instrument for wory

Easy to use. Small and compact size. Useful for tunning.

Excelente funciona de maravilla. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.

思ったより、使い易い。

Brilliant upgrade on my previous tuner, the ability to tune outside of EADGBE is so good, have been playing a lot in CGCEGC lately and this picks up the other notes very accurately. Very reasonably priced. My last tuner was also a Korg and is over 20 years old, still works perfectly, I would hope this will stand the test of time in the same way.

Works well. Pretty accurate.

Es valor seguro: funciona perfectamente.