Comparison

Synesthesia vs AudioTheory Guitars

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Synesthesia

Experience music through a spectrum of colors, mimicking the sensory phenomenon of synesthesia. Use it as a dynamic mood light, a calming night light, or to visualize the pitches of songs and instruments.

Highlights
  • Music visualization
  • Mood lighting
  • Night light functionality
  • Pitch to color mapping
  • Microphone access for real-time audio
Features
Read full description

Synesthesia makes listening to music a colorful experience and is a wonderful mood light and soft night light when you want to calm down. Do you want to see colors when playing certain tones like people with synesthesia / chromestesia do? The app "Synesthesia - See the music in colors" enables you to experience music in color as well. Whether you use it to train you perfect pitch, to help you remember melodies or just for entertainment as a light organ while listening to your favorite songs - Synesthesia helps you to see the current pitch in colors. To experience the colors simply allow the app to access the microphone on the first start and then play your instrument or a song, sing, ... or just enjoy many color changing patterns even without music as a mood light or night light. Please note: People with synesthesia may experiences different colors for the same pitch. The app therefore uses it's own color scale (each musical note C displays a red color for example). Some of our users use the app as an replacement for their old light organs ... so that should work very well ;-) If you like music apps be sure to check out our other apps as well -> Piano Champion, Guitar Champion, Drum Champion, Voice Back .... and many more to come

About

AudioTheory Guitars

This app serves as a comprehensive reference for guitarists, offering interactive chord and fretboard diagrams. It simplifies music theory by allowing seamless transcription between piano and guitar, with customizable tuning and note exclusion features.

Highlights
  • Interactive chord and fretboard diagrams
  • Piano to guitar transcription
  • Customizable tuning and capo settings
  • Chord sheet playback
  • Note exclusion for playing in key
  • Left-handed mode
Read full description

AudioTheory Guitars is the ultimate reference tool for guitar notes and chords. Featuring a built-in keyboard, each note reacts to your input across the customisable chord and fretboard diagrams. For anyone who's ever wished music theory was that little bit more straightforward – this is the software you need. Features: –Seamlessly transcribe between piano and guitar using a straight-forward colour coding system and notation highlighting. Play a note on the keyboard, or directly from the chord and fretboard diagrams to see where it is across all formats. –Set your tuning and capo. Everything else adjusts accordingly – no need for a chord transposition chart. –Choose your chords with open, power, barre, sus2 and dim7 chord sheets with fullscreen diagrams and playback options. –Exclude notes and never play out of key again. Your fretboard diagram now only shows the notes you need and your keyboard doesn't play the ones you don't. –Full customisation. Select the chords you want. Left-handed mode for left-handed players. Set your fretboard size, number of strings, start fret and per-string tuning.

Screenshots

Synesthesia4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Synesthesia at Free against AudioTheory Guitars's $6.99. Synesthesia also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). AudioTheory Guitars's advantage is review sentiment (67% vs 38%). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Synesthesia is free to download; AudioTheory Guitars costs $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Synesthesia ships an update monthly, AudioTheory Guitars every 3 months. Both last shipped on June 1, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Synesthesia versus AudioTheory Guitars: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSynesthesiaAudioTheory Guitars
PriceFree — better$6.99
Rating2.3 (16 ratings) — better
Positive reviews37.5% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings16 — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad, Mac
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB318 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChristian AuzingerFraser Mackenzie

Customer experience

Synesthesia

All ratings16 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative62.5%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive37.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative62.5%

AudioTheory Guitars

Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

Synesthesia

No in-app purchases

None

AudioTheory Guitars

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Synesthesia free?
Synesthesia is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is AudioTheory Guitars free?
AudioTheory Guitars costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Synesthesia or AudioTheory Guitars have ads?
Neither Synesthesia nor AudioTheory Guitars shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Synesthesia or AudioTheory Guitars?
Synesthesia ships an update monthly, and AudioTheory Guitars every 3 months. Most recently, Synesthesia was updated on June 1, 2026 and AudioTheory Guitars on June 1, 2026.

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