Heavy Brass vs Fine Tuner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Heavy Brass
This virtual instrument app provides realistic trumpet, trombone, and saxophone sounds for music production and live performance. It offers a wide variety of articulations and sound categories, supporting integration with other music apps and external MIDI controllers.
- Trumpet, Trombone, Saxophone sounds
- Multiple brass section samples
- Switchable and crossfadeable articulations
- Audio Unit v3, Inter-App Audio, Audiobus support
- External MIDI keyboard and controller support
- Integrated effects with presets
- MIDI player and recorder
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Heavy Brass delivers the most flexible and innovative approach to modern brass sounds ever provided by a virtual MIDI instrument!¹ With this ultimate brass app your productions and live performances will gain such powerful and amazing tone you previously were only able to retrieve from a real brass section! This app contains the following instruments: Trumpet, Trombone and Saxophone sampled in four different brass sections. Watch and listen to the demo video on our product website! Minimum requirement: at least iPad 3 / iPad Air 1 / iPad mini 2. This app supports Audio Unit v3, Inter-App Audio and Audiobus, so you can directly use it with other apps as well! External MIDI keyboards and controllers are supported as well of course, both via Lightning/USB cable connection, as well as wireless via Bluetooth LE MIDI.¹ There are 3 fundamental sound categories: „Singles“, „Switches“ and „Combis“, where „Switch Sounds“ allow you to either switch or crossfade between configurable articulations. Some „Combi Sounds“ allow you to switch or crossfade between predefined articulations as well. 24 Single Sounds: Solo Trumpet, Solo Sax, Solo Trombone, Heavy Brass 1-4, Section 1, Section 2, Section 3, Section 4, Crescendo, Growl, Doiks, Shaker 1, Shaker 2, Staccato 1, Staccato 2, Staccato Sax 1, Staccato Sax 2, Falls 1, Falls 2, Falls 3, Falls 4. Switch Sounds: Five base sounds: Section 1, Section 2, Section 3, Section 4 and Crescendo, which are switchable or crossfadeable to four alternative articulations: Shaker, Growl, Doiks or Falls. 16 Combi Sounds: Sections Velocity Layer 1, Sections Velocity Layer 2, Sections Velocity Layer 3, Sections Velocity Layer 4, Sections Velocity Layer 5, Sections Velocity Layer 6, Sections Modwheel Layer 1, Sections Modwheel Layer 2, Staccato Layer 1, Staccato Layer 2, Staccato Round Robin 1, Staccato Round Robin 2, Staccato Round Robin 3, Sections & Staccato Round Robin 1, Sections & Staccato Round Robin 2, Sections & Staccato Round Robin 3. General Features: • Low latency disk streaming. • Polyphony up to several hundred stereo voices.² • Configurable audio latency down to 1 ms. • Integrated effects with 18 presets. • App States: Save app's entire state as user presets. • 16 parts. • Provides Audio Unit v3 plugin version of this app, which allows it to be used as virtual instrument directly within third-party multi-track DAW apps. • Support for Apple's "Inter-App Audio" system. • Audiobus support. • MIDI velocity response curve editor. • Master Tune & Scale Tuning. • App can keep running in the background, so you can play on your keyboard while e.g. using Safari or another app to display scores or surfing the Internet. • Virtual on-screen piano keyboard with velocity support, scalable & scrollable. MIDI Player / Recorder: • Record, save and load your songs in standard MIDI file format. • Share your songs easily as audio file. • Unlimited amount of tracks. • Configurable target MIDI channel per track. • Unlimited recording and playback length. • Open MIDI (.mid) files directly from other apps (i.e. from Safari, Mail). • Download or upload MIDI files with iTunes. • Load your favorite songs as MIDI files from the Internet, and watch at the virtual keyboard how to play it. • Metronome. • Use the "Tempo Zoom" dial knob to i.e. slow down playback at any time and learn your favorite songs more easily. ¹ For more information about adapters and connecting external MIDI keyboards: https://doc.crudebyte.com/iOS/External_MIDI_devices/ ² Various sounds are using several voices per note. Polyphony depends on the exact device model being used. You find a polyphony table on our product website. Anti-Spy Commitment: We take your privacy very seriously. None of our apps contain so called „spy” behaviors and we committed ourself to a very high privacy standard. For more information read our „Privacy Policy for Mobile Apps”.
Fine Tuner
This app offers a precise and user-friendly chromatic tuning experience for a wide range of musical instruments. It allows for adjustable A4 reference frequencies and provides access to various historical and modern tuning standards, all within a clean interface optimized for Apple devices.
- Adjustable A4 reference frequency (1 Hz to 990 Hz)
- Built-in reference tone
- Multiple historical and modern tuning standards
- Optimized for iPhone and iPad
- Clean, distraction-free design
- Precision slider and manual frequency input
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FineTuner is a clean, accurate, and musician-friendly tuning app designed for beginners and professionals alike. Whether you’re tuning a guitar, violin, piano, or any acoustic instrument, FineTuner gives you full control over pitch reference with a modern and intuitive interface. Adjustable A4 Reference Frequency Fine-tune your instrument exactly the way you want. • Set A4 frequency from 1 Hz to 990 Hz • Use a precision slider or manual frequency input • Instantly hear changes with a built-in reference tone Perfect for orchestras, historical tuning systems, and personal preference. Common Historical & Modern Standards Quickly switch between widely used tuning standards: • Modern Standard (A440) • Baroque (A415) • Classical (A430) • Verdi (A432) • Early Music & Historical Tunings • High & Low A4 presets Designed for iPhone & iPad FineTuner is fully optimized for all screen sizes. • Adaptive layouts for iPhone and iPad • Smooth animations and responsive controls • Clean, distraction-free design Perfect For • Guitarists & bass players • Violinists & string musicians • Pianists & keyboard players • Vocalists & music students • Classical, orchestral, and early-music performers FineTuner gives you total control over tuning — simple, precise, and beautifully designed.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Heavy Brass at 81% against Fine Tuner's 0%. Heavy Brass also leads on rating (4.2 vs 1.0) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 62 months). Fine Tuner's advantage is price ($1.99 vs $9.99) and device support (3 vs 1). On ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Heavy Brass costs $9.99 and Fine Tuner $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Heavy Brass holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Heavy Brass has 37 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Heavy Brass's written reviews are positive against 0% of Fine Tuner's.
Heavy Brass ships an update every 2 months, Fine Tuner every 62 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Heavy Brass | Fine Tuner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.2 (37 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.3% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 37 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 62 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 353 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Christian Schoenebeck d/b/a Crudebyte | Purnima Verma |
Customer experience
Heavy Brass
Fine Tuner
In-app purchases
Heavy Brass
No in-app purchases
Fine Tuner
No in-app purchases









