The Pitchblack Plus gives the player or the technician the control to program the tuner to display a note as “in tune” at varying deviations from the standard zero point from equal temperament. Whether the tuning be standard or an alternate one, there are occasions where an instrument may sound more in tune or better intonated when certain notes within certain octaves are tuned up or down a given number of cents versus the standard equal temperament position. Tuning to a different temperament may also be required when playing other ethnic or historical pieces of music in the interest of being period correct or culturally correct. With the Pitchblack Plus, it is possible to specify the cent value (+/-50 cents) of a particular note in a given octave. Thus, for example, you can create a single custom tuning where C3, C4, and C5 each have different cent values. Detailed instructions regarding this functionality are provided on pages 16 through 18 of your Pitchblack Plus’ owner’s manual.

Although the Pitchblack Plus can be used with many other instruments besides guitar, there are other guitar and bass applications where temperament programming may be extremely helpful. You may find that with some alternate guitar tunings on particular instruments, that making fine adjustments to cent deviations may allow the instrument to remain better intonated when it is not practical to readjust a guitar’s neck, saddle(s), or bridge specifically for one tuning. The cent deviations from equal temperament that best suit for some tunings on some instruments may not equally suit other instruments or even other alternate tunings. Some guitar manufacturers construct guitars using certain build methods in the effort to maintain better intonation. However, as a result of such structural designs, the tuning technique will be a bit different from using a basic tuner set for equal temperament. Pedal steels are also known to be tuned at adjusted temperaments to remain properly intonated considering their structure and mechanics.

As the Pitchblack is fully chromatic, provided that the user knows the correct notes for each string in a particular tuning, a custom tuning settings is not necessary if it is desired to remain at equal temperament (the default temperament of this and many, if not most, other electronic tuners used for Western tuning). The tuner will simply display the note that the instrument is producing at the time while the meter indicates whether or not the note displayed is properly in tune. If the desired note for a string on a guitar is already known, one would simply adjust the string tension until the tuner indicates that the string is producing the desired note, and that the string is properly in tune for that note displayed. That said, a few factory-programmed alternate tuning modes and seven flat modes are provided. These are some of the more popular alternate tunings and features and may be helpful to those not yet familiar with how these tunings are structured.

As indicated above, if the note arrangement of a particular tuning is already known, the standard chromatic mode will suffice. Further, restricting the tuner to a mode where it is set only to limit itself to recognizing and displaying certain notes, this may lead to a more difficult tuning process, especially when temperament is not an issue. If a note is out of tune for a desired note programmed in a given setting, the tuner restricted to certain notes may display the closest note to the sound your instrument produces and that it is simply out of tune for the note you are close to. With some tuners on some occasions, such a restricted method may not create a reading at all if the sounded note is beyond the predetermined note. With the chromatic functionality, having the tuner be able to indicate exactly what note the instrument is producing at the time makes it easier for the user to determine just how far off from being in tune for the desired note their instrument is at the time.