Hello all -

I'm looking for a chromatic type tuner that can be used for tuning guitar,
mandolin, and banjo (for this reason, a guitar/bass-only tuner probably
wouldn't suit my needs). If possible, I'd also like to have a metronome built
in, so I can use it to rehearse parts in the same tempo as the project the
parts will go into.

I'd like to avoid those tuners that physically clamp onto the instrument being tuned.

Any suggestions? All this has to be is entry-level/midrange, nothing fancy.

While the subject of tuning is at hand, I was wondering what the standard
method is, when creating/working in a small multitrack project (such as
acoustic folk, "old-timey", or bluegrass. Does it work best to "tune
independently" of the project first - that is, to a "standard" (that standard
being your tuner)? Or, does the first instrument tracked kind of "set the standard"?

I've found that when it comes time to add in another track, I'm spending way
too much time just trying to get my instrument dialed into the same pitch as
the one that's already recorded. Not yet having a tuner (never figured I
needed one in 40 years or so of playing!), I created a MIDI song in GarageBand
with tracks for each note. Nevertheless, I can tune to that particular
"standard" and _still_ find that when I go to add the track (using Cubase),
I'm in need of "adjustment". I eventually get where I want to be... but again,
waste a lot of time "getting there"...

How do you more experienced guys resolve these kind of problems?

Thanks,
- John