ScaleMate vs MelodEar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
MelodEar
Enhance your musical ear and understanding of music theory. This app helps musicians and singers grasp harmonic progressions, improvise, and create melodies. Practice intervals, scales, and chords with interactive exercises and video lessons.
- Harmonic progression understanding
- Melody creation and improvisation
- Ear training for intervals and notes
- Music theory video lessons
- Piano chords and scales practice
- Vocal training exercises
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Welcome to MelodEar – A music learning tool that is designed to help musicians and singers where they can understand and hear harmonic progressions and sing their favorite melodies. It is an advanced tool to help singers and instrumentalists by connecting their voice and music instruments to make them more expressive. + Experience different piano chords and scales + Watch music theory videos and practice daily with music reading exercises + Recognize music intervals and notes with ear training and understanding harmonic progression Whether you want to understand and improve harmonic progressions and improvisation skills or want to create your own melodies then MelodEar has got you covered ! Here you learn how to sing along with instrumental music. DAVID ESKENAZY VISION: MelodEar is designed by David Eskenazy, a musician, singer, and a facilitator who spent 15 years in developing real-life teaching methods and music theory exercises focused on helping musicians and vocalists to understand and improve their harmonic progression and melodic skill. Why and for Whom MelodEar is designed? For Musicians: It is a tool that’s designed to help instrumentalists connect their fingers with inner ear. The only aim of the tool (specifically for musicians) is to help them sing with their music instruments to improve their ability of improvising and creating melodies. For Singers: It allows singers to engage with jazz harmony and melodic modes in a more creative way. Improve pitch accuracy and melodic creativity. Improve your sight reading skills and engage in the vocal training to improve vocal agility and understand the flow within and between different harmonic structures. + Learn piano scales to improve understanding of scales and intervals + Enter the training mode to develop improvisation skills and increase + Learn piano chords and build strong connection between what you hear and what you play! How does MelodEar work? MelodEar provides an intuitive and easy-to-use interface to help musicians and singers understand and improve their musical skills. Following is step-by-step method of how it works: + Edit Window: Start creating and editing your song including selecting and modifying chords. Customize the structure of your music by choosing melodic modes that match the harmonic progression of the song. + The Library: Once the song is created, it gets stored in the library which also contains pre-filled smooth jazz standards. You can access, modify, or use them as templates for learning purposes. + Session Window: It is the core of MelodEar where you start the real practice. Here you view the harmonic progression of a song with a visual display of the melodic modes that are connected to each chord. See how notes and intervals relate to each other Play with chords (jazz chords, guitar chords), scales, and melodies in real-time using the chord player and vocal keyboard which plays the piano notes of the chosen mode. “Pitch recognition” feature allows you to highlight the notes you’re singing to hit the right pitch. You can also adjust the pitch with a “fine tuner” and focus on specific sections of song with a “looper” for repeated practice. + See It, Hear It, Sing It: See the musical structure visually, hear the melodic intervals, and sing. Get real-time feedback to check your accuracy. + Learning and Skill Building: Learn music notes from tutorials and get a guidance through music reading exercises to improve your pitch, ear training, and improvisational skills. Develop deep understanding of harmony and melodic patterns to improve your musical creativity. + MelodEar Tutorial Pack: Get detailed guidance and comprehensive learning resources to improve your musical skills. Get step-by-step instructions, skill-development exercises, improvisation training, understanding music theory, and improving musical creativity. Terms of Use: https://vocal-improv.com/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://vocal-improv.com/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: MelodEar at Free against ScaleMate's $3.99. MelodEar also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.5). ScaleMate's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6) and review sentiment (100% vs 77%). On rating, ratings volume, ads 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
MelodEar is free to download; ScaleMate costs $3.99 up front. MelodEar sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. ScaleMate asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for ScaleMate against 4.6 for MelodEar. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 69 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of ScaleMate's written reviews are positive against 77% of MelodEar's.
ScaleMate ships an update fortnightly, MelodEar every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ScaleMate | MelodEar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (24 ratings) — better | 4.6 (69 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 76.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 24 | 69 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 200 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Anton Schwartz | David Eskenazy |
Customer experience
ScaleMate
MelodEar
In-app purchases
ScaleMate
No in-app purchases
MelodEar
- MelodEar Premium3 Days trial$9.991 Year
- MelodEar Premium3 Days trial$14.991 Year
- MelodEar Full Version 1 year7 Days trial$29.491 Year
- 3-day free trialFree
- MelodEar Premium$19.99
- MelodEar Premium$29.99









