Benchmark · 808 tuner
808 tuner benchmark
How close the 808 tuner gets to the root note, and where it says the glide ends and the tail begins: 780 synthesised 808s whose note, glide and tail are known, 28 retunes, and four notes below its floor.
Mika has no opinion on 808s. The analyser read 780 of them, and the misses are listed too.
Measured on 28 October 2026, with the analyser behind the 808 tuner and the root-note finder.
The numbers
Root note, B0 to B2
| 808s | |
|---|---|
| Read as one note | 780 of 780 |
| Within 10 cents | 780 of 780 |
| Octave errors | 0 |
| Cents off (median / 90% / worst) | 0.1 / 1.1 / 3 |
| Confidence shown as high | 780 of 780 |
| Tail decays in | Cents off (median / worst) |
|---|---|
| 2 s | 0.1 / 0.2 |
| 0.25 s | 0.6 / 3 |
| 0.7 s | 0.1 / 0.3 |
The glide
| Drop | Glide labelled | Tail starts (median) | Glide it shows (median) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 semitones | 229 of 234 | 1 ms late | 5.1 semitones |
| 12 semitones | 234 of 234 | 1 ms late | 9.2 semitones |
| 24 semitones | 234 of 234 | 1 ms late | 20.6 semitones |
| Time constant | Glide labelled | Tail starts (median) |
|---|---|---|
| 15 ms | 229 of 234 | 2 ms late |
| 40 ms | 234 of 234 | 1 ms late |
| 100 ms | 234 of 234 | 1 ms early |
Retunes
26 retunes from −3 to +4 semitones read back within 2.1 cents of the target (median 0.6); all 28 kept their length to the sample. 2 targets fell below B0 and were not read back.
Below the floor (B0, 30.9 Hz)
| 808 at | Read as |
|---|---|
| 24.5 Hz (G0) | too low to read |
| 26 Hz (G♯0) | too low to read |
| 27.5 Hz (A0) | too low to read |
| 29.1 Hz (A♯0) | too low to read |
How it was measured
- Each 808 is a sine whose pitch drops from 0, 7, 12 or 24 semitones above the note to the note, with a time constant of 15, 40 or 100 ms. The tail decays in 0.25, 0.7 or 2 seconds. Half are driven (soft clipping); all start with a 4 ms click and carry a little noise.
- Notes every two semitones from B0 (30.9 Hz) to B2 (123.5 Hz), each detuned by a random amount up to ±45 cents. Seeded: every run gives the same numbers.
- The analyser is the 808 tuner's own code, built as the site serves it and run in headless Chromium.
- The glide really ends when the pitch is within half a semitone of the note; the analyser's tail starts where its stable region begins.
- Retunes: one 808 every four semitones, moved to the note −3, −1, +2 and +4 semitones away, then read again.
Where the numbers stop
- The 808s are synthesised: a sine with a pitch envelope. A sample with layered harmonics, a distorted top or a second sound under it may read worse.
- The analyser reads the drop from the 808's own cycles: the tail starts within 18 ms of where the pitch is really within half a semitone (median 1 ms late). Its first cycle comes after the click, so it shows less of the glide than there is (median 8.9 semitones for drops of 7 to 24).
- A very fast drop (15 ms) is mostly inside the click: the glide was labelled on 229 of 234.
- Below B0 (30.9 Hz) it names no note and says it is too low to read, as the last table shows.
- A file is read for its first 30 seconds; longer sounds were not measured.