Drone Tone Tool

James F. Roberts IV

About this app

Drone Tone Tool is an app created by professional musicians and music educators providing high quality reference pitches with the rich overtones of real cellos. We encourage musicians of all abilities to experience the benefits of reference tone practice!

Why real cello drones?

There are many electronic tone generators, and while they are better than nothing, they lack complexity of overtones and can be painful to listen to. Our cello drones are pleasing to the ear, rich in overtones and contain layered octaves to facilitate practice in all registers.

Purpose and benefit of reference/drone tones:

A reference (or drone) tone provides a center of harmonic stability. Our ears are able to discern the way that multiple pitches interact while strengthening our internal sense of pitch. By playing with a movable pitch (instrument or voice) relative to a fixed pitch (drone tone) we can start to perceive truly consonant perfect intervals, and 'shades' or 'colors' within Major/Minor intervals. This heightened awareness of relative pitch leads to artistry through intonation.

Ratings and reviews

Thanks for the app! It's made my own cello practice SO much less painful to listen to. Do you suppose you could add a "pause" button for the tone? Currently if I think someone is talking to me or I need to hear something, I just tap the bottom of the volume bar, but the drone continues quietly, as does the metronome. Edit: I see that unselecting the pitch works similarly, but then I have to remember what key I'm in and can't just mash the screen.

I play double bass. It's quite a resonant instrument. The Drone Tone Tool is simple to use (I routinely practice with my tablet and a bose speaker, nearby); The tones are accurate and rich in useful harmonics. Why not try the online version for free - then think: for less than two quid I could download a more responsive version that's quicker and more convenient. I find it really useful.

Does the job but is not worth the money because of its limitations: only one note at a time, doesn't continue playing when turning the screen off or switching to another app. There are enough YouTube videos with drones that do the job better.

What's new

Compatibility updates