Pianist vs Solo Harmony
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pianist
Experience a realistic piano on your mobile device with a full 88-key keyboard. Record, overdub, and save your musical compositions. Features include virtual pedals, dual keyboard layout, and a configurable metronome for practice.
- Full 88 key piano keyboard
- Record and save compositions
- Overdubbing and note removal
- Virtual soft and sustain pedals
- Dual keyboard layout
- Configurable metronome
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The first widely available mobile multi-touch piano, Pianist has been featured in a number of Apple advertising campaigns and was one of the 'Awesome iOS4 Apps' in an Apple iTunes promotion. Sound On Sound magazine listed Pianist in its pick of the Top 20 iPhone Apps, and T3 Magazine in its Top 100 iPhone Apps. Pianist has also been recommended by media sources such as the Mail On Sunday and Fox News. Pianist is considered so influential that it has now been listed as one of three examples of musical instrument apps in the primary academic reference: "The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments". - Full 88 key piano keyboard sampled from a real piano for maximum authenticity. - Record and save your compositions for later playback. Overdub as many times as you want, and remove unwanted notes. - Virtual "Soft" and "Sustain" pedals, and expression depending on where you press the key. - Optional dual keyboard layout allows you to reach even more keys without the need to scroll. Up to four octaves can be displayed and played at once. - Stay in time with a completely configurable metronome. To take your music creation to the next step, be sure to also check out our new app: Looptical Music Studio.
Solo Harmony
This app synthesizes harmony parts with your solo singing in real-time. Mix up to five harmony parts using an ad-lib keyboard and adjust pitch for chorus effects. Record and playback synthesized sounds, or use it for karaoke practice.
- Ad-lib Harmony Mix engine
- Real-time multi-part mixing
- Subtle pitch shift for chorus effect
- Recording and playback
- Input from microphone, files, and other apps
- Karaoke practice mode
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Automatically harmonizes with your solo singing. ◆ Equipped with an [Ad-lib Harmony Mix] engine, allowing you to synthesize harmony parts with ad-lib performances while singing. ◆ Use the ad-lib keyboard to mix up to 5 parts simultaneously in real-time. ◆ The subtle pitch shift setting allows you to produce a chorus effect. ◆ Supports recording and playback of synthesized sounds. ◆ Supports not only microphone input, but also recording files and shared files from other apps. ◆ You can mix harmony parts while playing audio files. ◆ Useful for practicing karaoke harmony by playing the original vocals quietly and the harmony parts loudly. ◆ Recorded files can be sent to AirDrop, SNS, etc. as shared files. ● Notes: ・To prevent howling, the app automatically disables the microphone input signal while playing audio files. ・When using Bluetooth earphones, it may not be possible to monitor the sound being recorded.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pianist at 68% against Solo Harmony's 20%. Pianist also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 13.0). Solo Harmony's advantage is rating (4.0 vs 3.6) and price ($0.99 vs $3.99). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Pianist costs $3.99 and Solo Harmony $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Solo Harmony holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 68% of Pianist's written reviews are positive against 20% of Solo Harmony's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Pianist ships an update every 6 months, Solo Harmony every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pianist | Solo Harmony |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.6 (8 ratings) | 4.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.3% of reviews — better | 20.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MooCowMusic Ltd. | Masanori Katsuta |
Customer experience
Pianist
Solo Harmony
Bugs and requests
Pianist
Reported bugs
4 issues- Keyboard gets stuck or changes configuration
- App freezes or crashes after extended use
- Sustain pedal not functioning properly
- Bluetooth speaker connectivity issues
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for iPhone 5/newer displays
- Implement MIDI export/import
- Integrate with music streaming apps
- Expand sound library with more instruments
- Improve scrolling and key accessibility
Solo Harmony
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Pianist
No in-app purchases
Solo Harmony
No in-app purchases
