Functional Ear Trainer vs UltimateScale
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Functional Ear Trainer
Develop your musical ear by learning to recognize tones within the context of a specific musical key. This app helps you understand the function of each note, improving your ability to transcribe, improvise, and play music by ear. Suitable for all ages and skill levels, with just 10 minutes of daily practice.
- Recognize tones in musical key context
- Understand note function
- Improve transcription skills
- Enhance improvisation
- Develop perfect pitch
- Daily 10-minute practice
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Have you (or maybe one of your friends) ever wanted to learn to transcribe or play music by ear? It is so important for a musician to know what you are hearing. A good musical ear helps when you are composing, improvising, transcribing melodies, or playing with others. Most likely you have already tried different programs to learn to recognize intervals or even to acquire perfect pitch. However, although such programs develop your ear, but can you actually play any melody you hear as soon as you listen to it? Imagine you could understand music... It is like when somebody is talking to you, you not only hear pleasant sounds, but you recognize words and their meaning. One day I came across Alain Benbassat's program called "Functional Ear Trainer" and have been using it ever since. It is based on Alain's method to learn to recognize tones. The main difference between the Functional Ear Trainer and other methods is that it teaches you to distinguish between tones in the context of a particular musical key. You begin to recognize the role (or function) of each tone in this key, which is incredibly similar to its role in other keys of the same scale. And it is *guaranteed* anyone can gradually develop this skill. It does not matter: - who you are - an absolute beginner in music or a virtuoso professional musician; - how old you are - a 3 yo kid or a 90+ adult; - what musical instrument you play (you don't even have to play one). The only requirement is to practice for 10 minutes a day. I was so excited about this ear trainer that I have developed a mobile app based on the Alain Benbassat method. I hope you will find it useful.
UltimateScale
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UtimateScale is a music scale learning assistant. Are you confused and tired of difficult terms and complex scale structures such as Mixolydian and Locrian? With UltimateScale, you can learn by looking at a composition in staff score, directly touching a synth keyboard key on the app, listening by ear, and moving freely in key. In addition, you can learn the scale efficiently through a quiz using the Leitner System, which is famous for learning by memorization. In addition, you can upload and share comments of various scales and your own learning know-how through the Internet Archive. - Learn the scale by looking at the sheet music and listening to the sound. - The built-in touch synth keyboard allows you to learn while directly pressing the keys. - This app does not support only C key. You can transpose from C to B and see how it performs in different situations. - You can adjust the speed and octave during playback, and you can set the playback instrument as you like. - In the quiz menu, learn various scales by solving problems and using flashcards. - For quiz questions, effective learning is possible using the famous Leitner system as a memorization method. - You can share and download new scales that have not yet been discovered through the Internet Archive, scales with comments containing your own learning know-how, etc. This app is also - Support dark mode. - Compatible with both iPad and iPhone devices. - Press scales using a hardware MIDI keyboard connected via Bluetooth or USB. - MIDI keyboard is also supported in quiz mode.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Functional Ear Trainer at none against UltimateScale's shown. On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Functional Ear Trainer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and UltimateScale sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Functional Ear Trainer ships an update every 7 months, UltimateScale every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Functional Ear Trainer | UltimateScale |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (3.7K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 96.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3.7K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 5 months — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Serhii Korchan | Bum Tae Yoon |
Bugs and requests
Functional Ear Trainer
Reported bugs
2 issues- Keyboard display issues when selecting all chromatic notes
- Inconsistent note resolutions in some exercises
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for multiple notes/chords at once
- Implement a mode for training key recognition
- Provide more customization options for exercises
- Include voice input to play the notes
- Add support for German/Norwegian key names
UltimateScale
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Functional Ear Trainer
- Functional Ear Trainer Plus$19.99
UltimateScale
- 1: Remove all ads$9.99
Questions
Is Functional Ear Trainer free?
Is UltimateScale free?
Do Functional Ear Trainer or UltimateScale have ads?
Which is updated more often, Functional Ear Trainer or UltimateScale?
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