Tone Generator
Generate pure audio tones at any frequency. Play live or download as WAV for speaker testing, calibration, and audio cues.
What is a tone generator?
A tone generator produces a continuous audio signal at a specific frequency and waveform shape. Pure tones — most commonly sine waves — are used by audio engineers, musicians, and developers to test speakers, headphones, and audio processing chains. Because a sine wave contains only one frequency, it is easy to isolate problems such as resonance, distortion, or frequency roll-off in playback equipment. Square, sawtooth, and triangle waveforms add harmonics and are the building blocks of classic analogue synthesis.
How to use
- Enter the frequency in Hz (default 440 Hz = concert A).
- Set the duration in milliseconds.
- Choose a waveform type from the dropdown.
- Adjust volume with the slider.
- Click Play to hear it immediately, or Generate WAV to download a file.
Common use cases
- Speaker testing: Play 100 Hz, 1 kHz, and 10 kHz tones to check full-range reproduction.
- Notification sounds: Generate a short beep for app or game alerts.
- DTMF reference: Produce dual-tone multi-frequency signals for telephony testing.
- Hearing test baseline: Check which frequencies you can and cannot hear.
- Music production: Use as a reference tone when calibrating studio monitors.
Related tools: Audio Trimmer · Audio Merger · Audio Fade · Voice Recorder
Preguntas frecuentes
- What is a tone generator used for?
- Tone generators are used for testing speaker and headphone frequency response, calibrating audio equipment, creating notification and alert sounds, producing DTMF tones, and generating ringtones or simple audio cues for apps and games.
- What frequency range can I generate?
- This tool generates tones from 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz, which covers the full range of human hearing. Frequencies below 20 Hz (infrasound) and above 20 kHz (ultrasound) can be entered but may not be audible or reproducible on most speakers.
- What is the difference between sine, square, sawtooth, and triangle waves?
- A sine wave is a pure tone with no harmonics — the simplest waveform. A square wave has a buzzy, hollow sound with strong odd harmonics. A sawtooth wave sounds bright and aggressive, containing all harmonics. A triangle wave is softer than square, with weaker harmonics. Sine is best for testing; square and sawtooth are classic synthesis waveforms.
- What is A440 and why is it the default?
- A440 (440 Hz) is the international tuning standard for the musical note A above middle C. It is used by orchestras worldwide as the reference pitch. It is a convenient default for quickly checking if audio equipment is working correctly.
- How do I use the generated tone for speaker testing?
- Generate a tone at a specific frequency, play it through your speaker or headphones, and listen for distortion, rattling, or absence of output. Sweep through several frequencies (100 Hz, 1 kHz, 10 kHz) to check across the frequency range. Compare playback levels at different frequencies to reveal uneven response.
- Can I download the tone as a WAV file?
- Yes. Click "Generate WAV" to encode the tone as a 16-bit PCM WAV file at 44 100 Hz sample rate. The download link appears immediately. The file name includes the frequency and duration for easy identification.
- Is the generated audio sent to any server?
- No. The tone is synthesised entirely in your browser using the Web Audio API OscillatorNode and OfflineAudioContext. No audio data is transmitted anywhere.
- What duration should I use for calibration tones?
- For quick A/B testing, 500 ms is usually enough to hear the tone clearly. For equipment calibration or recording reference tones, use 3–10 seconds so the level has time to stabilise.