Comparison

Aural Wiz vs ScaleMate

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

Head to head
About

Aural Wiz

Enhance your musical ear by learning to identify intervals, scales, modes, chords, and cadences. This app offers two modes: Learn to hear and understand musical elements, and Practice to test your recognition skills. It's designed for music students and musicians aiming to improve their aural abilities.

Highlights
  • Interval recognition
  • Scale identification
  • Mode training
  • Chord and cadence learning
  • Learn mode
  • Practice mode
Features
Read full description

Learn to recognize intervals, scales, modes chords and​ cadences with Aural Wiz. Whether you are a music student preparing for aural tests as part of your formal musical training or a musician just working towards improving your aural skills, Aural Wiz would be an indispensable companion for you. You can use Aural Wiz in two modes - Learn and Practice. In Learn mode, you can play back an interval, scale, mode, chord or a cadence to understand how it sounds. In Practice mode, a melodic or harmonic pattern will be played and you'll be asked to identify the interval, scale, mode, chord or cadence. Practicing this way has been a proven way to improve your aural skills. Make Aural Wiz part of your daily aural improvisation routine.

About

ScaleMate

This app provides an interactive reference for understanding music scales and jazz harmony. It allows users to hear, visualize, and manipulate scales to deepen their comprehension of musical concepts. Features include expert write-ups, practical usage tips, and animated transformations between scales.

Highlights
  • Hear scales as melodies
  • Visualize scales on circle of fifths
  • Expert scale write-ups
  • Manipulate scales and hear changes
  • Full library of scales
  • Automatic scale recognition
  • Animated scale transformations
Features
Read full description

ScaleMate is a modern, interactive reference to jazz harmony. ScaleMate lets you… HEAR SCALES conventionally or as random melodies. VISUALIZE SCALES in ways that help you understand them deeper. READ & LEARN through built-in, expert scale write-ups & use tips. MANIPULATE SCALES while you listen. Hear the effects instantly to understand how scales differ. ————————————————— ScaleMate is a reference that shows you & plays for you any scale you wish…. But that's just the beginning. ScaleMate helps you hear & understand scales and harmony more deeply… by teaching you to visualize scales in ways that match what they sound like. Imagine… Wouldn't it be nice to have a single image to understand all the modes of the major scale? Ever wonder why the modes are ordered so oddly, hopping between major & minor & dominant? Or notice that the Altered Scale is the "darkest", most minor sounding of all possible dominant scales? Or that its tritone-substitution, the Lydian Dominant Scale, is the "brightest" of them all? Ever notice that the minor pentatonic scale is a mode of the major pentatonic scale and wonder whether there were any other useful pentatonic modes? Ever notice that the major pentatonic scale (and its modes) are the only 5-note scale that doesn't contain any half steps or tritones? ScaleMate shows you scales in a way that makes these observations natural and immediate… and plays you the results too. Or ever just wonder what the definition of a dominant chord is and which common scales can be used for them? ScaleMate's got you covered. ——————— FEATURES ——————— USE IT RIGHT AWAY Use ScaleMate right now! Built-in help is there for you whenever you want it. LISTEN ScaleMate lets you hear what scales sound like, by playing them up & down, or by playing random melodies that use them. VISUALIZE WHAT YOU HEAR ScaleMate shows every scale both linearly (for melodic understanding) and on the circle of fifths (for harmonic understanding). FULL LIBRARY OF SCALES ScaleMate knows all the scales you're ever likely to encounter. A WELLSPRING OF KNOWLEDGE Extensive info pages on 60+ of the most common & important scales, including practical advice and usage tips. (Over 15,000 words of content.) USE IT TO TEACH ScaleMate is perfect for projecting on a screen or sharing over zoom while you teach. Its animations let you show how one scale transforms into another, and it has special features (pointing, hiding/revealing) for educators. AUTOMATIC SCALE RECOGNITION Build your own scales and ask yourself "what if I make this change…" Whenever you produce a conventional scale, ScaleMate will automatically identify it for you by name and tell you about it. ANIMATED IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES Change between one scale and another and see the differences between them, visually animated before you. SMART SPELLING ScaleMate notates perfectly, for every scale in every key. NOTE ROLES Next to each note, ScaleMate displays its function—in numbers (3, 5, b7) or in solfege (Mi, Sol, Te) or not at all, according to your preference. SIMPLE OR ADVANCED NOTATION ScaleMate shows you double flats and double sharps whenever they're called for… unless you'd rather see simpler note names. Prefer never to see notes like Cb and E#? You can have ScaleMate show them as B and F. DIMINISHED HARMONY Choose the option to color the notes in three colors so you can see which diminished seventh chord every note belongs to. Great for understanding diminished scales & chords and seeing how they relate to other scales too. JAZZ CRED ScaleMate is created by Anton Schwartz. An award-winning saxophonist & composer as well as an expert educator, he is also the creator of the highly rated RANDOM ROOTS app. Terms and conditions: https://scalemate.app/terms-conditions Privacy policy: https://scalemate.app/privacy

Screenshots

Aural Wiz4 screens
ScaleMate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Aural Wiz at Free against ScaleMate's $3.99. Aural Wiz also leads on ratings volume (641 vs 24) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.5). ScaleMate's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (100% vs 76%). On rating, 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

Aural Wiz is free to download; ScaleMate costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Aural Wiz against 4.8 for ScaleMate. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Aural Wiz has 641 ratings behind it against 24, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Aural Wiz's written reviews are positive against 100% of ScaleMate's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aural Wiz ships an update every 5 weeks, ScaleMate fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Aural Wiz versus ScaleMate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAural WizScaleMate
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.8 (641 ratings) — better4.8 (24 ratings)
Positive reviews75.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings641 — better24
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.5
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB36 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBijoy ThangarajAnton Schwartz

Customer experience

Aural Wiz

All ratings636 ratings
Positive94.5%
Neutral3.5%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews45 reviews
Positive75.6%
Neutral13.3%
Negative11.1%

ScaleMate

All ratings24 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Aural Wiz

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Cannot return to main menu after closing ads
  • App crashes or requires restart after ad closure
  • Minor 7th chord labeled incorrectly (minor-major instead of minor-minor)
  • Same intervals/chords/scales play multiple times in succession

Requested features

9 requests
  • Descending intervals and scales option
  • Speed adjustment for scales
  • Chromatic scale option
  • Intervals played from top to bottom
  • Modes of melodic/harmonic minor
Show 4 more
  • Extended chords practice
  • More cadence recording variety
  • Statistics/progress tracking section
  • Better explanations for beginners

ScaleMate

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Aural Wiz

No in-app purchases

None

ScaleMate

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Aural Wiz free?
Aural Wiz is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ScaleMate free?
ScaleMate costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Aural Wiz or ScaleMate?
Aural Wiz is rated higher. Aural Wiz averages 4.8 out of 5 from 641 ratings, while ScaleMate averages 4.8 from 24 ratings.
Do Aural Wiz or ScaleMate have ads?
Aural Wiz shows ads; ScaleMate does not.
Which is updated more often, Aural Wiz or ScaleMate?
Aural Wiz ships an update every 5 weeks, and ScaleMate fortnightly. Most recently, Aural Wiz was updated on October 24, 2026 and ScaleMate on October 24, 2026.

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