Korg DTR-1 Digital Tuner

I use this in a blown out rig with no problems i get way more noise from other equipment than this but no it is not silent. I case you think im some kid I have won 2 grammy's while working on India Arie's albums

mine has worked for years

I like it a lot I guess it depends a lot on the way you set your rack up.

cake, turn it on and hit mute, to tune silently.

i have it in the loop on my eden WT-400 for about 4 or 5 years now, it is totally silent! i've been playing professionally now for about 10 years. i have never had a single problem with it. i do have it rack mounted with a power conditioner along with my eden head. i've never even tried to use it without a power conditioner, nor would i any of my equipment that i want to sound respectable with at a show.

maybe dirty power is part of the problem for some of these other users?

it's my only tuner i bring out to shows. i don't even bring anything else, it makes it real easy to load in and set-up. quick and simple!

never any dealings, never had the need. only a 5 because i never used it. bought it used on e-bay so long ago i don't remember how much i paid, maybe $150?...i don't know.

saves me time and effort nightly. i couldn't live without it. bought it used on e-bay so long ago i don't remember how much i paid, maybe $150?...i don't know.

Easy to use.

What a piece of junk. DANGER, DO NOT USE INLINE! I added the DRT-1 to my signal chain, for guitar, and could not believe the noise. I used a Sound Level Meter for comparison of a.) direct guitar and b.) the DTR-1 between guitar and amp. With the guiar direct SPL was 71db. With the DRT-1 it jumped to 84db! Now consider doubling the volume produces roughly a 6dB increase and my noise factor doubled, i.e 71 to 77 to 83db! I'd be totally embarrassed to use this thing live. Professional, hardly. Total rip off.

Not reliable at all since it can't be used onstage.

Don't bother, selling this junk on eBay.

Junk. Buy a $40 tuner and you'll be much happier.

pos, cant run in signal path of tube amp, suks

using a mesa 400+, very noisy. not suited in signal path. renders tune and mute function useless

ive had this in my rack for about a year, just tonight it died...no power, then it magically came onm,,,,,,,now its dead again.
i would never rely on this unit after tonight. pretty expensive for a pos. this gets my worst rating!

n/a.havent called wont bother,.im pissed. its going...

one word.......SUCKS......WONT POWER ON ANYMORE.

Its really easy to use. Professional and quick tune. I Like it

i have a rackmount. 8 space. i have a xr-61 rackmount wireless that i run to the input of the dtr-1, to a digitech 2101 to a peavey calssic tube power amp. And i dont ear anything. you are crazy. Don't take drugs. This is the best think ive buy ever. It seem to be true bypass not like the boss tu-2.

I depend on it, i will buy a new one if this thing broke.

never need to call it.

Its really fast and i can mute my amps sound with a footswitch. Its the best tuner you can buy.

bought mine 2nd hand after seeing all my favorite bands using them. easy to use, don't have a manual and there's a few things i don't know how to use (sounds buttons, cable check) but it tunes great.

use this with a ibanez 7620 1998 model 7 string with emg 707 active pickup and mesa boogie dual rectifier. does not affect my tone at all, no buzz or hum present. basically all i use is the amps built in distortion.

no problems ever with it. i would definately keep it in a rack though, i use skb 3 space shallow racks.

never had to. would like a manual though.

we play metal/hardcore like At the Gates meets Martyr AD (our singer sang for that band). would get another if i lost it. was a definate must have for 7 string, the B string does not register at all on most tuners. too expensive, but a good deal if you find one used.

Pretty straight forward, yet difficult to use all the features it has to offer without consulting the manual.

I run through the FX loop inline with my Marshall JCM2000 DSL 100 and a couple extra rack goodies. A lot of people say this tuner buzz's and hums, but I have yet to experience anything of the sort. Nothing a good noise gate cant clean up.

Not a problem, I always carry a little hand held korg tuner just in case, but its probably unnecessary.

Never had too...

I play mostly metal and high gain stuff. I was hesitant at first to run any tuner through the fx loop on my amp. But once i configured it in, it made no difference what so ever in my set up, as far as extra noise is concerned. Great tuner, just wish i still had the manual for it.

Quite intuitive, but if you're used to pro gear it's an advantage. The tuning is top-notch, and makes the tuner usable for both stage tuning and intonation. Oh, and it's got a little mic too, but you have to be really close to the tuner to make it react to acoustic sounds.

The result will depend on the other gear you're using: With some setups, it's just plain impossible to keep it inline because it generates a goddamn awful (ground loop) noise which in turn gets amplified later in the chain. On the other hand, with other setups it's completely quiet. Go figure. That's what we hate about racks, right? If you run your high-z guitar signal straight into the tuner, it will load your signal and you will lose some treble. But if you feed it with a low-z signal (for instance by putting a pedal between it and your guitar) it's totally transparent. Please give us a buffered input next time, Korg...

Has never gone down.

Haven't dealt with them.

A great tuner, and damn good looking too. A shame about the buffer-less input stage and the proneness to ground loops. One really shouldn't have to run it outside the signal path.

Simple enough to use. A very basic tuner with a mute switch. I selected it for these reasons and especially since it was rack mountable. The rear of the tuner allows for making all the connections without having to use the front inputs. Perfect for rack mounting.

Too Noisy. Adds ground-type hum through my two tube heads. Sounds OK with my solid state head. Why? I don't know. Why should a tuner ad so much noise? Sounds similar to a grounding problem. I tried it through both my 1969 and 1993 Ampeg SVT II tube heads and the hum was annoying, to say the least. I even tried powering the tuner from a different AC source location. I also tried removing the ground pin via an adapter, but the problem remains. Through my Acoustic 370 solid state head there was no hum. I eventually have solved the hum problem with my tube heads by not putting my bass guitar directly into the tuner and then using the tuner's output into my amp. I instead took a line out on my amp directly into the tuner. I feed my bass into the instrument input on the amp's front. By taking the tuner out of the normal instrument path the hum is eliminated and the tuner still functions properly. However, this eliminates the "mute" function. This is not the best way to use an in-line tuner, but it works. I know that Korg must have some sort of inherent problem with this tuner since I have heard this same complaint from other people on this website.

Well, now the tuner works, but not the way it was intended to do so. I have compared the tuning to a lower cost handheld unit and the tuning is accurate. It is also built very well and holds up in my rack case.

Never had contact with Korg.

The bottom line is that it works, but not in the way it was intended to do so by the manufacturer. I most likely would not buy another tuner from Korg.

Use this piece of sh*t anywhere in your path (which you shouldnt anyway, but its a 300.00 tuner with the ability to tune in mute mode, so you should be able to have it in your path and it NOT make any noise) YOU WILL HATE THIS THING, HERE IT IS SIMPLE, WANT A LOT OF NOISE FOR 300.00, THEN BUY THIS THING!!!

Didnt have the piece of sh*t long enough to waste my time.

No toll free number so the call is on you, when you do get to talk to someone, at least for me the person didnt know jack sh*t, wasnt helpful at all, couldnt understand HER poor english. Then she gave me an extension to call, I tried that for a few f*cking days to get a voice mail time and time again, with no return call. So they are a waste of time.

Like I said before, want to add NOISE even with the damn thing OFF, then buy this for 300.00 and you will be happy. As you can tell from my review I am pissed off here, and I have every right to be, I just spent 300.00 on a NOISE maker, I am sure you can run this NOT in your signal path and it will work fine, but part of the reason I bought this was to have it in my rack and use the mute mode to kill the signal to my pre > amp > effects > cab. And it doesnt cut it....

The Korg DTR-1 is a strobe, rack-mounted tuner, and comes with a comprehensive manual.

The DTR-1 produces very little background hum. At the moment I'm using it with a late 60's Hiwatt valve amp and cabs, but have used it with modern Trace gear in the recent past.

It's never given me a moments concern.

I've never had any problems, so can't comment.

I play bass in a band doing mostly Blues Brothers and soul type numbers, but in my own time love to play the bass lines of a UK punk band called 'The Stranglers'. I've been playing for around 10 years. If the Korg was stolen or lost nothing else would replace it. It has a very clear display from miles away, can be muted easily, and even displays the note you are playing. My only gripe is the price, being incredibly mean, but then it is the best product in the world in this field, and probably costs a lot to produce. The construction looks and feels first class.

This is a very easy tuner to get the hang of. I dont have a clue how to use the tone generator, I dont get it I dont want to get it, and i dont care if i dont get it. If I do figure it out its just another hasstle, and i'll break something. Three tuning modes that are great! Cent tunning mode is very accurate, Hertz is more accurate, and strbe feature is just incredible. This tuner is a must have for tunning freaks. The cable check is extremly useful, my friend bought one of these things just for that, now he loves the tuner as well.

I played with the tone generator, and it sounded good i guess. I really dont know how this tuner sounds from your guitar to the tuner to the amp, because I have mine hooked to the slave out on my amp. But it shouldnt have much affect on sound loss, or at least for $300 it better not!

I would definatly rely on this. I have had it for a little under a year, and it hasent let me down yet. No backup required.

Never needed them...

Very cool, and accurate. Not too sure about the tone generator, dont know what it does. Check some other reviews they might discrbe it better than i can.

Real easy. I bought mine 2nd hand (mint condition) and didn't come with a manual, but this thing is a no brainer. The only thing that took 2 seconds to figure out was how the tone generator worked. But as soon as I pressed both "sound" buttons I was ready to cook.

It's great that you're able to select (by footswitch if you want) to mute the unit or to select either input.

ok this is where it goes wrong. this unit costs quite a lot of money, it can do a lot, but they should at least be able to built a nice buffered signal splitter with a direct link between input (buffer) and output to prevent the signal going through the whole system. cause the noise this unit adds is just plain awfull. It's like there is a distortion pedal on at a lower volume while you playing clean. I guess this is due to the digital section, cause a lot of other (esp. older) digital gear had the same problem.

I've never placed a tuner in my signal line and never will. If you do, please find a way to get them out, cause the suck all your tone away and add horrible noise. I simply use an fx send of one of my rack gear pieces which provides the unit with signal.

There is one other minor point. If you turn the unit off it will always start up with input 1, 440 hz and at with the "cent" mode. For me this is perfect. But if you use input 2, are tuned to 438 hz and prefer the strobe mode... I just think that for this price you should be able to preserve your last setting.

Ok. It's a great unit that works good, tunes very nice, has a tone generator (real nice), 3 different tuning modes and a cable check function. But the sound degration is horrible and it always starts up in one setting, not the one you were last in. For the rest, it's just beautifull. But if you don't use the strobe function (I really do not prefer it) and could do without the large display of the note, then the DTR-2 is a nice option.

This tuner is an overpriced version of the hand-held DT1

For sound quality read accuracy, in this case, very disappointing, I wanted a tuner to gig with AND do set ups, but this thing is a joke. I really wanted a strobe but didn't have the $$$. In my rack, it hummed & buzzed. The "strobe mode" is an LED chaser sequence which has nothing to do with strobe tuning/accuracy. Either a tuner is accurate or it ain't, this ain't. My advice: buy a $20 tuner, it works just as good.

I brought it back after 3 days playing around with it. I'm now looking for a Peterson strobe (anyone got an old one?), they're expensive but what the hell, nothing else around seems to cut it.

I called them to give em a piece of my mind, but I only got some keyboard guy. He was friendly but you could tell he knew nothing about their tuner line.

Tin box with Xmas tree lights

The DTR-1 has a lot of features, some of which aren't simple to use. However, as far as tuning goes, it's really simple. Just plug into the front input and pluck away. The big, fine-resolution LED display, along with the display showing the exact note, make is super easy to tune.

I can't imagine running my main signal through the tuner on its way to the amp so I've never put it directly into my signal chain. Otherwise, the idea of sound quality is non-applicable for this item.

Built well though you need to keep it in a sturdy rack if you're going to gig with it. Mine is a few years old and still works perfectly.

I've never contacted Korg about the DTR-1 but have dealt wit them before regarding an amp. They're a huge, multi-national corp., don't expect very good customer service. However, they have a decent website that has info you can download so that's a plus.

Well worth the money. I've wanted one for years but the price was too much for me to justify: Who spends $200+ on a tuner? I lucked into finding a used one very cheap. I LOVE this thing; it makes tuning a snap and it's very accurate. If I had known then what I know now, I would have spent the money years ago to buy a new one. It's great, especially if you gig because the large display makes it easy to read. A few months ago we played an outdoor, unshaded stage at a festival and tuning was a nightmare because the glare made reading my little tuner very difficult; our other guitarist couldn't even read his LED tuner. The DTR-1 wouldn't have those kind of problems...

Very easy to use. You can use the DTR-1 to tune in three different ways: either by connecting to the front of the unit, including the unit in your effects loop, or by not plugging in at all and using the external microphone.

No noticable degradation in signal strength or sound quality. Noiseless.

I've only had this unit for a week but it's bomber. The construction is great and it seems dependable. Due to the nature of the DTR-1 (I mean, hey it's only a tuner) I wouldn't have a huge problem if it flopped on a gig though I'm not anticipating that happening.

Called them to get a new manual (the unit I bought didn't have one). They were polite and expedited my request.

When you see players that have lights flashing all over their rigs (usually Fusion or Jazz players), chances are they have a DTR-1. Even if you're not connected to the unit, if you have the internal mic turned on the tuning lights will flash and fluctuate with you as you play. You can disable this by simply pressing the "mute" button, but I have had several people tell me that the thing looks cool. Also, with the mic input mounted on the front of the unit, horn players in my band can walk right up to my rack, hit a note and instantly know if they're in tune or not. People don't make a big enough deal about the internal mic but I think it's significant. I don't believe the DTR-2 has one. All in all, musicians only have to do two things to be good in my book: play in tune, and play in time. The DTR-1 will help you and make the first one a no-brainer.

I took this unit out of the box and right into my rack. I use the rear plug cause I send it an out signal from my Roland GP-8 so I can make a mute patch and tune on the fly. I mean while the band is playing I can do a quick tune is seconds! Lots of options for type of tunning but I use the center tune on stage. It's easy to see.

I use a fairley complex setup so I don't install the tuner inline. I tried but it sometimes gets a little noisey. So sending it it's own signal in a mute patch is perfect.

This rack goes in the truck all the time and I never had a problem with the tuner. I've owned it about 6 months now and I don't know how I got along without it! I used a strobe tuner for years and I liked it but you have to tune in the dressing room or unplug and tune. This setup lets me tune any time I have to, even in the middle of the song.

So far I've never needed any service or talk to a tech. From the performance so far, it doesn't look like I'll need them.

I've been playing all types of music for 30 years and just about tried every type of guitar equipment. If this unit was stolen, I would run to buy another one. Believe me I've tried them all it seems and by far this is the one. It's easy to use, very easy to see,and dependable as hell.

Plug in and you can tune. Simple.
You can tune in three modes. In hertz, the standard.
In cents, for fine-tuning and strobo-tuning with a lot of flashy lights.
the unit also holds a cable-check function, which has proven to me as very useful. Tuning lights are red when offset, green when centered and a big red display showing the tone.
Tuning to other frequencies than 440 Hz is also possible.
The front display is readable over 5 meters (15 ft) away.
The unit is very easy to use.

You can plug in at the front or the back of the unit.
the front input overrides the rear input.
there are two selectable inputs on the back.
If you insert this unit between the signal and amp, it adds a little noise in highgain settings, hardly noticeable.
Very responsive tuner, it can even tune from distorted signals coming from a FX-loop.
I now feed it from the speakersim output of my marshall JMP-1, and it's not in the signal path. Response is immediate, whatever the setting on the JMP-1.
Because it does add noise when inserted in the signal path no maximum grade. Otherwise perfect.

I've had it for over three years, no malfunctions whatsoever.

Never dealt with 'em.

If lost I would definately replace the unit.
It is very responsive and the display is very readable even from a great distance.
Great product! although it's more expensive than a regular tuner, I can recommend it for those of you who own more rack-gear. Just plant it in your rack, and you can tune without rewiring anything or without setting it up in an awkward position (i.e. at your feet between other pedals, where you might stomp on it or on top of your amp where it falls of during playing)