Korg Pitchblack Poly

The Korg Pitchblack Poly is a polyphonic pedal tuner: instead of checking one string at a time, you strum all of them and it displays every tuning result at once, on individual meters for each string¹. Korg pitched it as "a revolutionary advance in polyphonic tuners that will shorten your tuning time"². It was Korg's first polyphonic tuner, released in 2012, and it is built for both guitar and bass, including four-, five-, and six-string instruments¹³.

It sits in the pedal format, designed to sit comfortably on a variety of pedalboards, in a diecast aluminum body¹⁴. It followed the original Korg Pitchblack Chromatic Tuner in the Pitchblack line, which later grew to include the Pitchblack Advance, Pitchblack Custom and Pitchblack X.

Display modes and controls

The display is a bright, high-contrast, double-meter design that Korg says offers reliable performance under any lighting conditions⁵. Four selectable metering modes let you pick the readout that suits you¹:

The headline feature is what Korg calls String Seeker, exclusive to this tuner, which works alongside the polyphonic display: strum the open strings and every string's tuning result appears at once on its own meter, so you can see which strings need attention without hunting for them one by one²¹.

Tuning accuracy is ±1 cent, and the calibration frequency is adjustable from 436 to 445 Hz, so you can tune to a reference other than A440 when the situation calls for it¹³.

Power and bypass

The Pitchblack Poly runs on 9V DC, center negative, drawing 45mA². Unlike the smaller Pitchblack Mini, it can also be run by a single 9V battery⁶. An optional AC adapter is available, and when you use it, the pedal's DC-out jack can feed cascade power to other pedals in your rig or pedalboard¹⁴.

The tone-preserving true bypass design keeps your signal untouched when the tuner is disengaged, which Korg describes as ideal for on-stage or recording work¹.

Where it came from and what it cost

Korg introduced the Pitchblack Poly, its first polyphonic tuner, at the summer 2012 show season; Premier Guitar reported it as currently available in July 2012 with a U.S. street price of $99.99¹. Earlier announcements had put it at $175 with availability in July 2012⁵, and No Treble reported an expected price of around $100.00 with availability in June 2012⁴.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar's Simon Bradley reviewed the Pitchblack Poly and concluded:

How it compares

Against other polyphonic pedal tuners of its era, such as the TC Electronic PolyTune and the HardWire HT-6 Polyphonic Tuner, the Pitchblack Poly's distinguishing features are its String Seeker display, its four metering modes, and its ability to power other pedals from its DC-out jack²¹⁴. For players who only need single-string chromatic tuning, the original Pitchblack line covers that ground, while later Korg models like the Pitchblack Pro rack unit took the display concept further.

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