Comparison

Deadsound vs TuneTheory

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

Head to head
About

Deadsound

Access and stream over 17,000 Grateful Dead live recordings. Search shows by date, venue, song, or source, and build a personal library of your favorite performances. Enjoy offline playback and daily historical discoveries.

Highlights
  • Search 17,000+ Grateful Dead recordings
  • Filter by date, venue, song, or source
  • Intelligent caching for offline playback
  • Background playback with lock screen controls
  • Gapless audio
  • Favorite and track listened shows
  • Daily historical discoveries
Features
Read full description

Every Dead show. One app. We built Deadsound because finding the best tapes on should be easy. Now you can search 17,000+ Grateful Dead recordings by date, venue, song, or source, and start listening in seconds. FIND ANYTHING Search by setlist to find every "Dark Star," or every show where they played "Dark Star" plus "Estimated" and also "Blow Away." Filter by Charlie Miller transfers or Betty Boards, or by AUD/SBD/Matrix. Narrow by year, city, or venue. LISTEN ANYWHERE Intelligent caching means your music keeps playing even when your signal doesn't. Full background playback with lock screen controls, all with gapless audio. BUILD YOUR LIBRARY Favorite the shows that matter. Track what you've heard. Pick up where you left off. DISCOVER DAILY See what happened today in Dead history. A new discovery every day. Completely free. No ads. No subscription. The music belongs to everyone. Streams from Archive.org. Not affiliated with the Grateful Dead.

About

TuneTheory

Features
Read full description

The tuner and metronome built for musicians who care about precision and feel. TuneTheory hears your instrument ten milliseconds at a time and shows pitch to a fraction of a cent, with a live waveform that stands perfectly still the moment you land the note. Its metronome is sample-accurate: every click lands exactly where it should, at any tempo, no drift, no jitter. INSTRUMENT TUNER • 45 instruments: guitar, bass, ukulele, violin, viola, cello, banjo, mandolin, and many more • 217 playable tunings, from Standard and Drop D to open tunings and artist favorites, with new artist tunings added every month • Retune guide: pick a new tuning and see which way each string goes, one peg at a time • Not sure what you're in? Play your strings and TuneTheory names your tuning • Auto string detection, capo support, and a locked-in color the instant you're there CHROMATIC TUNER • Full chromatic detection with the nearest note, frequency, and cents • Strobe mode: a real-time waveform locked to the note, motionless when in tune • Reference pitch from A4 = 415 to 466 Hz for orchestral, baroque, and worship tuning METRONOME • Sample-accurate timing that never drifts • Grooves: Backbeat, Shuffle, Waltz, 6/8 Jig, Bossa Nova, One Drop, Train Beat, at the tempo you feel • Living grooves: Challenge drops beats out so you hold the time yourself, Evolve builds over sixteen bars, Surprise rewrites the pattern every four • Eight kits, from clean clicks to felt kicks and kalimba, plus Pulse, a synthesized kit that shifts with every accent • Grid editor: hold any step to rest it, accent it, or give it its own sound • 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8, and 7/8, swing feel, tempo ramps, and presets • Sound, haptic, and visual feedback, with a room setting for a little air around each beat ONE UPGRADE, EVERYTHING UNLOCKED TuneTheory is free with generous basics. A single purchase unlocks every instrument and tuning, strobe mode, and the full metronome: every kit, every groove, living grooves, odd meters, swing, tempo ramps, and presets. No subscriptions. No ads. Pay once, own it forever. No tracking. No accounts. Nothing leaves your device.

Screenshots

Deadsound4 screens
TuneTheory4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Deadsound at none against TuneTheory's 3. Deadsound also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 months) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. TuneTheory sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Deadsound asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Deadsound ships an update fortnightly, TuneTheory every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Deadsound versus TuneTheory: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeadsoundTuneTheory
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB5 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperJames BarnesChristopher Paul Cortez

In-app purchases

None

Deadsound

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

TuneTheory

One-time3
  • TuneTheory Pro Metronome$4.99
  • Pro Tuner$4.99
  • Pro Studio$9.99

Questions

Is Deadsound free?
Deadsound is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is TuneTheory free?
TuneTheory is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Deadsound or TuneTheory have ads?
Neither Deadsound nor TuneTheory shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Deadsound or TuneTheory?
Deadsound ships an update fortnightly, and TuneTheory every 6 months. Most recently, Deadsound was updated on October 24, 2026 and TuneTheory on October 13, 2026.

Other comparisons